A huge attraction right now is Sea World, Sea World proudly advertises its “fun” whale performances and it’s new rides. If you go to Wendy’s, there is usually a coupon on the cup that says “free youth admission if you buy an adult ticket” or something along those lines. They give discounts to teachers and students, because they want you to meet these gorgeous animals even if it means lowering the price of admission.
They sell whale floaties, plush toys of dolphins and they have marine animal themed restaurants.
It sounds really fun, except it’s totally not.
Sea World is a place where you are able to “experience” marine life which they claim is their number one priority.
But where in marine life are these animals held back behind concrete walls and glass windows?
“I don’t think it’s right to take an animal out of its home unless the animal is injured,” said Junior Christina Marie.
“Not if the only reason is so that they can be viewed. If you want to see them, they can be observed in their natural state.”
Animals come from living in beautiful landscapes that stretch out for miles and miles. Unfortunately, when captured and brought to Sea World, their “landscape” is suddenly confined by concrete walls.
Take for example Betsy, a 33 year old Commerson’s dolphin. She spent basically her whole life in captivity at Sea World in San Diego.
Betsy was restrained and captured in 1983 when she was just a couple of months old. Unfortunately, Betsy was too “high energy” and couldn’t be trained to do stunts. Since she couldn’t make any kind of profit for Sea World, they moved her to the back of the park.
She spent years at Sea World in a tiny 15 feet tank.
Betsy died in January a few days after being shipped across the country from Sea World in San Diego, to Sea World in Orlando.
Other animals have died at Sea World too, like Unna who was the third killer whale to die in Sea World, then before her it was Sumar, and within the same year Taima, and now Betsy.
Whether she had lived almost as much as she would in the wild at Sea World, I bet you anything that she would’ve much rather have died in the hands of the ocean than in the hands of captivity.
Even though Betsy did live a long life, it’s sad that she never got to see the ocean again. Her last view was not the great big blue sea, it wasn’t her family, and it wasn’t crashing ocean caps. It was those same concrete walls that restrained her from the sea for 33 years.
Sea World is nothing more than a dishonest theme park that wants to make a profit. They will always advertise “happy” performing animals, but not the ones who are neglected. They will never report the truth about how they treat their animals. They will hide everything away, just like they hid Betsy away.
