Dolphin Smile

On Wednesday, February 24, 2010 a male Orca at Orlando Sea World grabbed it’s trainer, Dawn Brancheau, around her waist and dragged her under the water until she drowned. Witnesses said that before this happened the Orca’s were not cooperating with the trainers during the show.

This is a tragic loss of a human life and I am also not surprised that this happened. I am not in favor of Cetaceans being held in captivity because it is unnatural for the them to spend their lives in a confined enclosure and does lead to abnormal behavior as expressed by this very sad incident.

The Humane Society has long campained for Marine Mammals to be removed from aquarium theme parks. Joyce Tishler, founder of the Animal League Defense Fund says, ” These behemouths are denied all of their natural instinctual inclinations.” She compares an Orca’s life in captivity to, ” keeping a human being in a bathtub for his entire life.”

I can imagine that if I was kept in a bathtub for my entire life and forced to do tricks for Cetaceans I would be very unhappy, develop abnormal behavior, and eventually lash out at my captors, just as this Orca did.