Difference in Sea World!

As a kid I remember going to Sea World with my family and having a great time. I always wanted to see every single show they were performing but my all-time favorite was The Show of Shamu! Their performance was extraordinary from doing flips and waving to doing tricks with the trainers and splashing the audience with their fins was an awesome thing to experience especially when you’re a child that loves animals. Sea World is very popular today and is all because of Shamu, the main reason why thousands of people go and take their children. Each year Sea World makes a huge profit only because of the animals it carries and trains to give the audience a great show; to keep them coming back through out the year. As a child I never asked myself how much did these orcas loved being there? Or how they arrived there? With not much room as they would have in the wild to swim and interact with other orcas, until I had a child of my own and was able to bring him for the first time to Sea World and have him experience what I did in my childhood. Of course, he loved it!! and each month he would ask me the same thing over and over "Mom take me to see Shamu again". I was not able to take him as much as he wanted me to but I tried my best. One day, I realized that the love he had for these whales was more than just a fun entertaining show to see every year. He became obssesed with orcas from having toys, to looking at books, TV and even watching them on his tablet. I thought it was the sweetest thing a 5 year old could experience to have a passion for something at such a young age little did I know that the passion would become traumatizing for him when he learned how these orcas where taken out of the wild years ago and how they managed to keep them in captivity in different places not just Sea World for money and entertainment.

We saw a documentary on you tube where it showed how many baby whales were being taken away from their mothers for them to never see again how they fought and fought to get out of the nets but failed. They took the younger ones but many of those didn't make it and died the other ones were spread and sold to different companies. We also read about different trainers that had been attacked through out the years of Sea World's existence but the most one that made the news and impacted many people around the world was on Feb. 24, 2010 when trainer Dawn Brancheau was drowned by killer whale Tilikum during a show in Orlando Florida leaving hundreds of people including children traumatized and frighten of what had happen right in front of their very own eyes. It hit world's nation news including that of Sea World being accused of recklessly putting trainers in danger with no kind of safety upon them or being prepared for a situation like this occurring. Due to the severity of this issue Occupational Safety and Health Administrations also known for OSHA issued safety citations to fine Sea World after Dawn's death for a total of $75,000 for violating employees safety when having them so close interacting in the water with these large orcas according to the article Sea World vs OSHA. It also states how Sea World appealed the citations and was able to bring the fine down to $12,000. OSHA also mentioned that Tilikum had striked another trainer back in 1991, Keltie Byrne also taking away his life at SeaLand of the Pacific. In 1999, a man entered the park after it had closed and was found inTilikum's tank dead OSHA claimed that Sea World was aware of all before Dawn's death.

According to article OSHA wins SeaWorld case on April 11, 2014 OSHA won the case 2-1 but stated the following "The remedy imposed for SeaWorld's violations does not change the essential nature of its business," "There will still be human interactions and performances with killer whales; the remedy will simply require that they continue with increased safety measures." Another important documentary that brought a lot of attention to people was "Blackfish" director Gabriela Cowperthwaite created a film about Tilikum and how he was taken from the wild when he was just 2 years old nearly over 30 years and placed in a park for entertainment and when punished they are placed in a small tank where they can bearly swim and in the dark due to this these killer whales can suffer from depression feeling many different emotions including that of being able to attack their own trainers since they tend to get upset. I read an article a while back that stated a killer whale never attacked humans out in the wild in fact they would get close to the boats just to be touched without causing any harm. Many things that were revealed in the film led the state of California of a proposal legislation to help the orcas and ban them from being used in shows. "Assemblyman Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, has proposed legislation banning the use of orcas for performance purposes at California aquatic theme parks as a result of details revealed in the movie Blackfish." (California bill would ban SeaWorld orca shows). It still has not came in effect but if it does hopefully by 2015 this can make a difference for these poor animals.

Till this day, my son and I have not gone back to Sea World, we are sad and upset that nothing has changed for these orcas and continue to be in captivity for "Money" we can say! Everyone has their different opinion about this matter some say this is not true but looking at the bigger picture it's easy to understand that these orcas live up to 60-70 years in the wild vs in Sea World is half of that. How does this make Sea World look? I would have to say "CARELESS". Many of us would of never imagined this was going on but now that we know and have a better understanding about it I believe raising our voices can help these orcas return to their home.

Provide free child care!!!

I completely agree with Angela DeRiggi on her editorial child care. Free child care should be provided for families who are at or near the poverty level as Angela stated in her argument. Times are hard for these families they can barely make ends meet. Angela makes a very good point and gives a great example about the middle class struggling since she was a Nanny for one of these families and how the mother accommodated herself better having two kids watched at home and the third one in day care since day care is very expensive. With this economy is hard to have all of your children placed in a day care when the price is very high just for one imagine two, three or more you would just be working to pay the child care you minus well stay home and that’s the reason why many mothers actually stop working. Supporting her argument Angela talks about The HBO documentary Paycheck to Paycheck about the life of Katrina Gilbert and her living situation that was very hard for her and her children she was able to find a day care that she could barely afford if the daycare would’ve been free her economic status could have been better. 

I have two children of my own and honestly that’s the reason why they are not in day care today, my oldest one was when I was in high school because my school had free child care for students. That worked out well but when I graduated that’s when it became very difficult for me because I didn’t have a job that paid well I could barely afford my son’s diapers and milk so I ended up having to find a baby sitter near home that didn’t charge me as much as a day care would. I had to even stop going to school for a while due to my economy situation, today I have a better job and can afford many more things and provide my children with what they need I was even able to go back to school and finish my certification as a Medical Assistant and now I’m at ACC but even with better circumstances that I have achieved placing my child in a day care will never happen because of the price being sky high! I found myself better just having my son with a baby sitter. 

Another example, that I thought was very interesting for this topic that happened recently in Arizona; a single mother who had an interview with an insurance company, left her 2-year-old and 6 month old son in the vehicle because she had no one to watch them. The mother can now face charges and possibly a sentence of seven years, it’s sad to see stuff like this happen of course there’s no excuse for leaving your children unattended with temperatures that exceeded 100 degrees but sometimes is hard to cope with everything by yourself with no one around to help, that you end up making poor decisions like this woman did. If the government offered free child care maybe situations like this wouldn’t occur.