When I was little, I thought my dream job would be to work at SeaWorld. I thought it would be fun to be around dolphins, seals, and whales and train them. I even began college studying Marine Affairs to pursue this "goal." As I found out more and researched more, it was not so easy to see the good side of aquariums.
My dream to work at SeaWorld has died over the years as I researched how the animals were obtained and how the industry promotes cruelty and dominance over animals that should be free. I suppose I always knew, I just wanted to believe the shows were doing some good. I wanted to believe in what we were told; it is all for education. What a bunch of shit that is.
Orcas have become my favorite animal of all, and I have my collection of stuffed orcas and posters from the Whale Museum on the San Juan Island in Washington state, and various other places I've visited that help whales and educate in a healthy way. When I recently saw the movie, "Lolita, Slave to Entertainment," I knew I had to buy it and blog about it.
Lolita was captured in 1970 when 10 of her family members were taken from the Puget Sound in Washington State. Some of the captured adults and young whales drowned trying to swim through the holding nets to reunite with their family. As par for the course in the industry, the dead bodies were hidden from the public by sinking them. The dead whales were sliced down the middle and filled with rocks, and their tails wrapped with rope and anchored. (The public would not know of this, had they not washed up on shore.) The survivors of the capture were sold all over the world in the name of entertainment. Some went to Japan, Texas, the UK, Australia, etc... While her other captured family members have since died in captivity, Lolita went to Florida and remains there today in a tank as the sole remaining whale from that Puget Sound Round-Up.
"Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty." ~ Albert Einstein
I've been to the birthplace of Lolita many times. I have even seen her pod swimming free in the Puget Sound. The photo above was taken where Lolita should be living right now. Her mother is still alive there, and her family pod is together. Lolita's return to the wild would be an important step in changing how we educate people, and would be a possible feat for Lolita and her pod.
Please look into this movie if you still support Aquariums like SeaWorld or Seaquarium. The industry just as ridiculously full of lies as is the dairy industry promoting cow's milk for our health. Our new way of educating could be much more advanced, fair, and respectful if we used computer generated scenes and exhibits, Imax shows, and wildlife cameras of actual footage. Seeing a whale in a tank is not studying whales at all. It's teaching the audience that dominance over others is acceptable and makes money. What a horrible message to send out.
If you would like to read more about Lolita or join the campaign to rescue her, visit one of the websites below:
www.SlavetoEntertainment.com
www.miamiseaprison.com
www.rattlethecage.org
The biggest way to beat this industry so they will stop capturing and killing animals, is simply to not support them. Do not give them your money. Do not buy a ticket. Stop the demand for the capturing and killing.
Here is a link to other ways to help:
How to Help
