Sea World's Dark Secret's

SeaWorld is probably the most well known amusement park when you want to go see different creatures of the sea. But they are far from being capable enough to house these beasts.

First off Sea World is a multi billion dollar business that has been around since 1964, originally meant to be an underwater restaurant and marine life show, it has since evolved from these ideas into the giant it is today.

It's biggest selling points are it's rides and primarily, shows which range from Sea Lions Live to the very popular Shamu Show which was renamed to Once Ocean. Many different mammals are used at these parks, you have sea lions, dolphins, turtles, penguins, polar bears, and killer whales.

All of these different animals and fun shows sound like fun right? What could Sea World do wrong? Practically nothing except for the dirty housings that their animals are kept in, the drugs they administer to their animals and their constant denying of such things.

Reports have shown that SeaWorld's orca's have suffered damage from overexposure to sun, chewing on metal grates, and interactions with aggressive whales. They are also administered the drug Valium to temper this drug, even reportedly giving to a nursing female which is advised against. Many ex employees have come out to say there's a sort of cult like atmosphere at the parks and that they felt obligated to stay there in order to ensure safety for the animals.

This is really horrible that these reports have come out and understandingly people are mad at SeaWorld for this, they are business and I understand that they haven't made the best decisions but they have announced plans to expand the areas for these animals to swim around and not be confined to like they are now. I feel that the only way that they can really recover from this isn't just to build bigger areas but they should have regular inspections to make sure they aren't neglecting them and should let some animals which have already been injured be taken from the parks so they can be properly cared for.

For my next blog post I will be looking into what we can do to ensure protection for different aquatic animals.