Just last month on Feb. 5, Seaworld put a stop to letting their trainers ride on dolphin’s backs and noses, in hopes to avoid confrontation by animal rights groups at the company’s annual shareholder meeting. Even though Seaworld changed its longstanding attraction, People for the Ethical Attraction of Animals demand that this change is not enough. This non-profit corporation, also known as PETA, has been pushing for change as part of their long time campaign for the betterment of dolphins and whales living conditions and does not think it is enough.
“It’s a start!” said PETA on a social media post, “Maybe it’s time for #Seaworld to retire their animal prisoners to seaside sanctuaries and buy a surfboard instead”. It is good that PETA wants better lives for the dolphins as they feel the animals are being trapped and forced into small tanks, but on the other hand, it is good that Seaworld is doing something positive for the dolphins.
Sonoma State Junior Devone Yopp said, “It’s a smart idea, the trainers cannot die anymore because of this. On the other hand trainers should be able to sign a waiver at their own discretion if they would like to work with the whales or dolphins”.
Along with the banning of dolphin tricks, SeaWorld also created a 10 million gallon tank for the dolphins to live in back in 2018, doubling the size of their original tanks. Seaworld opened these attractions in San Diego, Texas, and Florida. They also pledged 10 million to support the research of marine animals. Seaworld really cares about their animals and that is why they made all of these changes and promises. However, they want to keep animals because they make millions of dollars every year.
PETA really cares about the animals well being as well and wants them to be released into their natural habitat, the ocean. Seaworld should not use animals for human entertainment and the animals should be put into the ocean where they belong. While in captivity, the animals fight, which is not normal. They are not able to swim their average hundreds of miles, and they tend to suffer from depression as a result of not being free. This means that dolphins and whales are not able to live their lives to the fullest and are dying early because humans see them as a money sign. Even though Seaworld has made changes to how they perform with the animals and how they will be kept, I do not think that this is enough for the animals to be happy. I would like to see Seaworld put them in a big part of the ocean so they can have the freedom to swim and live in the wild.
It is not safe for the trainers to be riding these animals and doing circus-like stunts, there have been many incidents involving trainers being drowned by whales and even killed. In 2010, a killer whale at SeaWorld dragged the trainer underwater and almost drowned him.
Students at Sonoma State University also think that Seaworld is not a good place for these animals “There is no point of what Seaworld did. I do not think that these animals should be kept in these tanks at all, like never” said Junior Communications Major Dylan Hellar.
If Seaworld stoped using animals all together for entertainment there would be no more injuries and they could live freely out in their natural habitat.
