During the night, on Monday 21st December, SeaWorld announced the passing of one of the killer whales who had been in their San Antonio park for over 18 years. This is now the third orca to have died in one of the SeaWorld parks in the past 6 months. Unna was being treated for an infection caused by a mushroom in September. Sadly, the treatment was not effective and an autopsy will be carried out to determine her cause of death.
Source : @TheDodo
Unna had been living in captivity for over 18 years, torn from her natural habitat and forced to perform daily for screaming crowds.In the wild, female orcas live to about fifty years old on average. However, scientists have come across several orcas aged over 100 years old.
Source : @The Dodo
This recent tragedy has now blackened SeaWorld's reputation even further. Since the documentaryBlackfishcame out in2013, which condemns the cruel living conditions of these captive orcas, a lot of people have turned against SeaWorld. Fewer and fewer people are now visiting the parks, which harbour these beautiful marine animals in horrifyingly small pens.Today, PETA, the organisation promoting animal rights, has reacted strongly to the news of Unna's passing.https://twitter.com/peta/status/679097534363492356?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwIn a long series ofTweets, the charity hounded SeaWorld for the misery and hell they put these orcas through:
Unna is the 38th orca used by #SeaWorld to die far short of how long she was expected to live. Her ‘life’ consisted of being taken away from her mother just before her sixth birthday, being impregnated at eight years old and giving birth to a stillborn. She was so deprived of enrichment and the ability to engage in a natural behaviour that she began obsessively picking at the bottom of her pool, which left her with injuries to her face. While the infection that killed Unna is common captivity, there is no suggestion that the same is true of orcas in nature. PETA is calling on #SeaWorld to stop sentencing orcas to miserable lives of deprivation in dismal tanks. Thirty-eight dead orcas is 38 too many.
Under the fire of criticism they've received over the past few years, SeaWorld have recently announced that they are making significant changes to the orca shows and they are enlarging some of the orca's enclosures.In 2016, their SanDiego park is meant to be offering "a new experience" to spectators which will highlight the importance of protecting these huge marine animals. These announcements have hardly settled animal rights activists.
Source : @The Dodo
Like this American CEO has suggested, we'd prefer it if all captive orcas were freed into a sanctuary adapted for them in the sea. No orca's life should be confined to going round in circles in a tiny tank as a source of entertainment.If you agree with us and think that we should put an end to aquatic parks like SeaWorld which keep these magnificent marine creatures captive, sign this PETA petitionhere.
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