During Thanksgiving vacation, our family went to Disney World. I convinced them to go to Sea World for the first time in a long time.
Nose Bleed section at Sea World.
We saw the killer whale show almost at the top of the stadium. In the nose bleed section.
The Splash Zone at Sea World.
Needless to say, we didn’t have to worry about being in the splash zone.
Is that Dawn Brancheau direcing the whale to splash the people?
As you can image, I was clicking away.
Dawn Brancheau nose to nose with a killer whale.
And I got some photos of Dawn Brancheau, one of the human stars of the show.
Dawn Brancheau after enticing killer whale onto viewing platform
My 12-year old had heard of the young woman’s death, probably on the news before I got up. On the way home from school yesterday, he commented bitterly about PETA.
I asked him what the People for the Ethical Treatment for Animals had said, because I had heard nothing.
He said it was something about it being cruel to keep a killer whale in a bathtub.
The combination of the death of someone he had seen perform and PETA’s comments elicited an angry reaction toward PETA.
Just at the age when PETA tries to hook kids on their philosophy.
I wonder if the “in your face” organization realizes the animosity their intrusion into the tragedy and resulting sadness elicited.
Somehow I don’t think my son will be one of PETA’s fans…ever.
Maybe he was a lost cause anyway, because he can’t wait to go hunting with his cousins.
Why blame PETA? Normally I don’t agree with the Peta philosophy, but it this case
using an animal that has been involved in the deaths of two people in separate
incidents is more than irresponsible it is criminal. Although to a certain extent trained, these are wild creatures evolved to kill for food. To take these orcas from
their natural habitat and display them for money is a risk too high to be taken. No
one can be totally positive of their reactions to stimuli, and for that reason the use of these animals in shows should be banned.
Should we not be about done with arguments like:
“I don’t like there tactics, but they serve a good purpose”
Isn’t that as ignorant and misguided as
“Communism is one of the best forms of government in theory, but in practice it just doesn’t work”
PETA is out of touch, out of control and even a vast majority of their members proclaim the only reason they originally signed up and continue to pay is because they want to make sure we treat animals humanely in the process of slaughtering and obtaining the fur for fur coats. Which very few people could disagree with. all else that organization touches becomes moot and discredits them. Someone ought to start and organization on those two platforms and bury PETA forever.
It sounds like this Cal character or whoever wrote this preposterous article has already indoctrinated his 12-year-old to his own philosophy. I feel very sorry for this child learning to disrespect animals at such a young age. Shame on you Cal.
What?! These animals are treated better than any other animals of their KIND! They are fed better then their wild brethren, they are medically monitored to ensure they are in tip top shape, exercised, bred, they are built special swimming pools and treated in ways their sea loving relative would kill for.
You fricken PETA people are delirious from the lack of meat in your bean dip diets. Go worry about the treatment of animals in any other country, you’ll see how far the US actually is in reference to “Ethical Treatment of Animals”
Look, LL, I don’t know what you are on but the captive killer whales would kill to be in the open ocean with their families that they were ripped away from.
1. Treated better?? Ha! They are not treated at ALL in the wild. They don’t want to be “treated.”
2. Fed better?? When was the last time they fed a captive killer whale a sea lion?
3. Medically monitored?? Gee, I wonder why? Maybe perhaps illnesses are much more likely to occur when an animal is cooped up and unhappy? Not to mention swimming in water with their own diluted urine in it?
4. Exercised?? Don’t even get me started.
5. Bred?? For what? To train their babies to do the same stupid circus tricks and live in prison their whole lives?
6. Other countries’ animals?? Peta is all over the world, stupid.
7. None of your arguments hold water. No pun intended. 😀
Firstly, like to state that all of the emotions arising from this tragedy is resulting in people acting solely based on their emotions and is not allowing people to think logically.
Secondly, everyone is entitled to their own opinion on the issue, however criticizing Cal for stating how this tragedy has affected his family is disrespectful.
Thirdly, although I believe that elements incorporated within these shows should be eliminated, the release of captive cetaceans is a debated that I believe will not be resolved in the next 20 years. Anti-captive arguments have been made for decades, and the captive industry is progressing further. Their progress is in fact improving the living conditions for these animals. Although the conditions are still not ideal, they are substantially better than they were in the past. This incident regarding Dawn is only one that will lead to more changes being made to improve training methods, yet will not bring the end to captivity. Individual cetaceans that have lived in captivity over a certain amount of years are poor candidates for release, and the rehabilitation process is time consuming and costly, AND still may end in poor result. All animal lovers can hope for now is for basic developmental changes to occur to improve the facilities and well being of these animals.
Finally, I do not mean to offend ‘migsly’, but one point that you made is not entirely correct. In regards to the feeding methods of these animals, Sea World is actually providing the correct diet for the majority of specific individuals. The only orca to regularly consume a sea lion, or other marine mammals, would be those who fit into the ‘transient’ category. Individuals such as Taima, and her two sons Sumar and Tekoa are the only Sea World orca with PARTIAL transient heritage. The rest of the whales are mainly of Icelandic or of partial resident heritage. Icelandic, which are a subgroup of Residents, follow a mainly fish diet, the Icelandic individuals focusing mainly on herring.
I believe that the main message that Cal’s son was trying to demonstrate, was that PETA’s methods of going about their purposes are faulty. A lot of money is being donated to this organization, and yet a lot of that money is not going towards saving animals. They are spending the money on publicity stunts and mass media instead of going out and actually saving the lives of helpless creatures. Their purposed to save animals is one that should be valued, however they themselves are just putting on a show waiting for someone else to make that change. They may have made some success over the years, but the way they are going about trying to make change is, from a humanistic perspective, is morally incorrect. Pointing fingers at individual groups and telling them that what they are doing is wrong isn’t going to make them stop their current behavior. The only way to have a group conform is to befriend them, not criticize them. If a 12 year old can see the problem, then adults should be able to see it too.
your son deserves a round of applause i would be very proud 🙂 xxxx