The unknown emotional capabilities of Orca ~ PART 2

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CAPTIVE ORCA ~ WHY THE PROBLEMS?

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When I meet some people for the first time and they discover of what it is I do for “work”, I am typically asked "If I am pro or anti-captivity of Orca?" Allow me to frank with you all by stating I am 100% anti-captivity. I have spent too much of my life with these marine mammals in their natural habitat to understand what is a “natural” behaviour and what is a “suggested” behaviour influenced through food rewards. I have gotten to the point that even the thought of going to see these animals in an aquarium aka prison (in my mind) I begin to feel upset. I don’t understand how you can say you truly love these animals and then still be willing and able to keep them in those conditions, as well as, breed more animals into that same toxic, negative environment.

Orca are wild, apex predators of the oceans - no other predator can come close to competing to their natural abilities. They hunt sharks for fun at times and typically only eat shark liver and testes before moving onto their next shark meal. However, humans aren’t on the menu…

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Their has only been fatal orca attacks towards humans in captivity
WHY?

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Orca are highly developed from a mental aspect. This we know from performing MRI scans on orca brains ~ (deceased orca), determining their brain size relative to their body size & and the amount of lobes and section somewhat closely resembling our own. This by all means simply screams intelligence.

If Orca had a taste of humans or were naturally aggressive towards humans then there would be a lot less people on this planet right now. There has been no real observations of orca being aggressive towards human when in their natural state. Why only in captivity?

Its pretty simple really.. They are frustrated, bored and in a tiny little space for years and sometimes decades with no room to really stretch out and burn off that built up energy. The best way I find to describe this is to people is as follows:

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Most of us have taken a long international flight before or taken long road trips that can last 8 - 12 hours or perhaps even more. You are sitting there for that long time with very little room, you can barely stretch your legs out at all. After this long, long period of time you are a little agitated and at times could quite easily put your hands around someones neck, which is a horrible thing to do but in that state you would be ok about it… That is what it is for these animals but not for a short period of time - it is for the entire lives.

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We know these animals are capable of traveling 100’s of km|miles in a day. Simply put… they never stop moving, even when they are resting they are still moving - given its a very slow speed when they are resting and they don’t really move in a straight line, as half their brain is in rest mode but my point is they are moving. We now contain them in small tiny pools & expect them to be naturally happy about it - millions of years of evolution and adaptation to roaming huge, open oceans to being forced into a little puddle… No doubt you are going to have problems

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Personally, I don’t quite understand people when they say they love these animals more than anything and then go to defend parks like sea world and marine land - you can’t say you love something then knowing feel ok about defending the environment they are kept in. It feels very selfish of the people who are in constant close contact with them, as it is quite the addictive high when you do interact closely with them & it could be argued that is what they are. Addicts.

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Don’t get me wrong, they are probably amazing people, whom care deeply about the animals they care for & probably work a lot harder than the typical person to ensure those animals are in the best condition possible considering their environment. I just don’t understand the need to have such an Industry anymore. It feels that captivity of Orca has served its purpose- we can’t learn too much more from them being in those conditions.

However, it could be argued that their “sacrifice” to being in captive environments allows people whom do not have the resources or ability to go to regions in the world were they would be able to encounter wild orca. This is best stated by American Orca researcher, Robert L. Pitman:

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”On the other hand, for the majority of the land-locked public, a captive killer whale may be the only opportunity many of them will ever have to experience this magnificent animal. And just as we willingly cut down trees to produce books (and this issue of Whalewatcher), a few killer whales sacrificed to educate, perhaps enlighten (and, yes, entertain) the public, may serve to inspire the next generation of marine mammal advocates. It is a necessary evil that we should all grudgingly embrace.”
~ Robert Pitman, Whalewatcher Killer Whale: The Top, Top predator

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**What are your thoughts, Steemit?
Pro or Anti-captivity of Orca?
Should the orca currently in captivity be released back into the wild - similar to Keiko aka Free Willy?

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