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SeaWorld Orcas Look Depressed After Calf Death

SeaWorld Orcas Look Depressed After Calf Death

SeaWorld released a video that attempts to show that things are “back to normal” at the San Antonio facility following the tragic death of three-month-old orca Kyara. But all the video really shows is that SeaWorld has a bunch of super depressed-looking whales in its super depressing concrete tanks.

The video begins by pointing out that all the whales are together in the same tank - and indeed, this may be something of an anomaly. As we recently reported, Kyara did not have the luxury to be with members of her own kind as she died, since she was forcibly separated from her mother and surrounded by a frenzied team of vets and trainers trying desperately to keep their valuable asset alive.

Now that she’s dead, however, it is questionable whether these orcas will get to stay together. SeaWorld is notorious for moving individuals around, separating mother and child, brothers and sisters and friends and sending them away to different tanks, facilities, or countries. The whales never get a say in who they live with, although they deserve to.

The whales in the video – including Kyara’s mother, Takara - spend most of the time lying motionless at the surface of the water. This behavior is known as logging, and SeaWorld orcas do it all the time. Logging is much more rare in wild populations.

Once again, SeaWorld gets to tell the world that the orcas are “doing fantastic”, while rejecting any idea that they might be sad. The company anthropomorphizes as long as it is in their favor. But it is difficult, or impossible, to believe that these whales are happy, active, engaged and satisfied with their lives.

More people are waking up to the horrors of life at SeaWorld. To learn more about In Defense of Animal’s work to shut down cetacean entertainment for good, visit our campaign page here.



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