Animal Activists (John Muyres)

After seeing the movie blackfish, it should be clear to everybody that the killer whales are not meant to be held in captivity.  Even if SeaWorld's claims are true and the whales are kept in a safe and healthy environment, the process that they use to capture a  whale is inhumane.  They are often separated from their mothers.  Also, during initial training, the whales are often deprived of food so that they will cooperate.  SeaWorld keeps these whales in small cramped spaces, often isolated from interaction with other whales, or even worse, packed into a space with other whales that will attack it, as was the case with Tilikum sharing the enclosure with the aggressive female whales.  The life expectancy of the whales in captivity is less than half of that of the whales in the wild.  Clearly the conditions that the whales are kept in are not humane and the whales should not have to endure captivity.  The profit of a company should not take priority over the unethical treatment of these great animals.  The capturing and breeding of killer whales for a life of captivity should be halted immediately.