Photographer Perfectly Sums Up Why We Need to End Orca Captivity With a Simple Message

Granny was an apt name for the wise old orca that recently died at the age of 103. She enjoyed a long life as the matriarch of her pod and epitomized the peace and freedom that unfortunately not all orcas get to experience. Many people have come to know these whales as captive animals you can visit in marine parks like SeaWorld or Marineland. They come to believe these animals enjoy life in a tank and exist to perform tricks and make their many “fans” smile. This couldn’t be further from the truth. We’ve come to understand that orcas are highly intelligent animals who share deep bonds with their family members. Taking them from the wild causes them enormous mental and emotional distress – which sadly leads to a very low quality of life in captivity. There is no better example of this than SeaWorld’s late killer whale, Tilikum.

In an effort to show how orcas truly deserve to live, Conservation photographer, Paul Nicklen recently shared this photo on Instagram.

“The moment when a killer whale’s breath meets the moist wild ocean air is a beautiful thing and one I will never get tired of trying to capture with a camera. Rest in peace, Tilikum. You deserved better,” he writes.

Tilikum was the orca made famous by the documentary Blackfish, which tells the story of how killer whales were captured from the wild to become SeaWorld performers. On January 6, 2017, he died in captivity at the age of 35, many decades sooner than he would likely have endured in the wild.

Before his death, he displayed many of the signs of neurosis and frustration commonly found in captive cetaceans. These included a collapsed dorsal fin, abnormal repetitive behaviors, broken teeth, and aggression toward his fellow captives. Another way he acted out was by attacking, and even killing, trainers at SeaWorld. This kind of behavior is abnormal and only found among orcas held in captivity.

Many captive animals express symptoms of anxiety, depression, and stress . Tilikum’s conduct wasn’t surprising given the nature of orcas, who as a species are extremely intelligent and emotionally complex. They are accustomed to swimming up to 100 miles per day in the open water, but in marine parks like SeaWorld, they are confined to small pools. In order to swim 100 miles, the whales would need to swim the perimeter 1,900 times a day.

Orcas are also very familistic, and in the wild, remain with their mothers for their entire lives. When whales like Tilikum are stolen from their pods, it affects not only the captured individuals but also the pods from which they were taken. In fact, everything about cetacean captivity is a lose-lose for these animals.

Knowing what we do about how captivity impacts these animals, it is our duty to fight to put an end to this practice. That’s why we need to continue efforts for other captive orcas, like Morgan in Loro Parque, until all the tanks are emptied and whales across the globe enjoy the freedom that all sentient beings deserve.

Image source: Paul Nicklen/Instagram