Hi there my Steemit friends and followers!
I had some very mixed feelings when I was reading all the articles informing about the death of Kayla, a 30-year-old orca that spent all her life in Sea World parks. I felt so sorry for the poor orca but at the same time, I was just so angry at Sea World!
Image source: Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons) - illustrative photo
If you read this post about doplhinariums that I wrote a couple of months ago, you know I am strictly against any establishment that keep wild animals in captivity just for the company´s profit and this is exactly what Sea World has been doing.
Dolphinariums and other similar facilities often argue that they take a good care of their animals and that the animals often live even longer in their tanks than they would in nature. Well, this is not case, obviously. While female orcas live up to 90 years in the wild, Kayla died at the age of just 30 after being sick for only a few days.
In 2005, Kayla had a baby (after enduring a forced artificial insemination) but the baby died just 3 years later. Before that, Kayla already miscarried one calf.
During her sorrowful life, Kayla was also repeatedly hauled from one Sea World park to another and forced to perform unnatural tricks in all of them. And we are not even talking about the tiny (for an animal of her size) tanks where she was kept all her life.
You don´t need to be an animal rights advocate like me to see there was something terribly wrong with the life of poor Kayla, do you?
Unfortunately, there are still 20 other orcas kept in Sea World parks (10 in San Diego, 5 in Orlando and 5 in San Antonio) and I cannot see any reason why we should think these guys have been doing better than Kayla.
Image source: Wikimedia Commons (Creative Commons) - illustrative photo
On a more positive note, Sea World has already promised to phase out their orca shows. It was in 2016, under a heavy pressure from animal rights activists as well as general public after the release of the documentary film "Blackfish" where all the background and practices behind orca shows were fully exposed.
We can only wish Kayla to rest in peace and hope that all the remaining orcas kept by Sea World will spend the rest of their lives in a more dignified and happier manner (which I doubt though).
Thank you for visiting my blog. If you like posts about #nature, #animals, #traveling and discovering secrets and beauties of the #world, feel free to follow me as these are the topics I mostly write about. Have a wonderful day and keep on Steeming!