Sea World

Many visitors travel to Sea World to see the most famous Orca of all time, Shamu. However, the original Shamu died in 1971, after living in captivity for only six years. Now, Shamu is just a trademark used by Sea World.
The killer whales are among one of the most popular attractions at Sea World, but are manifestations of  animal stress causing the orcas to turn against their trainers and attack them? Aggression towards trainers has been increasing rapidly over the past few years. In 2010, a trainer with 16 years experience was rubbing a killer whale's head before a public performance and the whale grabbed her by the waist and pinned her underwater. When rescue officials arrived, she was pronounced dead and the stadium was immediately evacuated. Many feel that this is due to the compromised mental and physical health of Orcas held in unnatural habitats. When compared to Orcas that live free, the Orcas held in captivity have very different behaviors. The size of the tanks, and the lack of anything resembling their natural habitat is blamed for the variations in both health and behavior. A biologist and former animal trainer stated that “killer whales don’t attack humans in the wild and what we’ve seen in these injuries to people is a direct byproduct of the stress associated with captivity.”
For years, PETA has been calling on SeaWorld to stop confining oceangoing mammals to an area that to them is like the size of a bathtub, but nothing is yet to be done as Sea World generates most of its revenue from these animal shows.