San Diego SeaWorld Youngest Orca Dies
SeaWorld has been in the news countless of times for their treatment of captive animals, especially orca. In 2006 a killer whale killed a trainer after hearing her calf cry in another pool. In 2010 another trainer was killed by a whale after a show. Over the years people have brought awareness to the issue and poor treatment of the orcas, yet the chain continues to keep and study killer whales and other mammals.Â
Should We Keep Whales in Captivity?
We’ve all seen those SeaWorld commercials as children and hoped that one day our parents would take us there. Then we grow into adults and realize that while they may have rides like Six Flags and plenty of wildlife to see, they are keeping killer whales in captivity and doing a poor job at it.Â
In 2015, an 18 year old orca named Unna died from a fungal infection. When orcas can live well past 50 years in the wild. This is extremely sad news for animal lovers. Today, we bring you more bad news coming from SeaWorld San Diego.Â
On Thursday, August 19th, the youngest orca at San Diego SeaWorld died. Amaya, the six year old orca, showed signs of an illness on Wednesday. The team of veterinarians at SeaWorld started to treat her right away but within 24 hours she sadly passed away. As of now, we don’t know the exact reason why this happened and what the illness was. This can take a few weeks before we learn the truth but needless to say, another orca is gone, too soon, while in captivity.Â
In 2016, SeaWorld ended its breeding program of orcas due to the numerous accusations and deaths of and by killer whales. Young orca Amaya is one of the last to be born in their captivity, to parents Kalia and Ulises. She died too young and never got to experience the vast, open seas.
This is just another reason why these whales should never be kept in captivity. While SeaWorld has ended its breeding program in 2016, they still have 19 killer whales in captivity in their three parks.
Yes, this is very sad news. I feel like the 19 orcas in captivity should stay in captivity.
I loved to go to Sea World when I was younger and loved the shows they would put on and sometimes get splashed by water. Shamu was great!!
I am so glad that SeaWorld ended its breeding program of orcas – these whales should never have been kept in captivity in the first place.
So sad, wild animals are wild animals for a reason.
I don’t really understand what the differences between Orcas and Dolphins are apart from size and colour. They both seem equally intelligent and are able to show love for others of their kind.
I think the orcas are a majestic animal and should be left in the ocean where they belong
That is bad that the dolphin died when it was so young.