A Day at SeaWorld
Keiko, the killer whale who made a movie, is preparing to make history. He starred in the 1993 film, Free Willy, and is on schedule this summer to become the first killer whale—or orca — returned to the wild after a long period of captivity. That's 21 years in Keiko's case.

He spent much of that time as an attraction at a Mexican amusement park before environmental advocates moved him to an Oregon aquarium in 1996. Nowadays Keiko swims in an enclosed area off his native Iceland coast. There he is relearning how to hunt for food and survive when he is finally released. Besides drawing worldwide attention, Keiko's story has raised a serious question. Do killer whales belong in captivity?

The other day I found myself with a free day in San Diego, California, where the oldest captive killer whale lives. Her name is Corky and she shares a complex of tanks with eight other orcas at SeaWorld.

Corky comes from a "northern resident" pod of orcas that inhabits waters off the coast of British Columbia, in northwest Canada. She was captured in 1969, so we know she's over 30. That's comparatively young; she would be expected to live into her 50s in the wild.

Ever since I became familiar with the findings of field scientists who study these whales in the wild, I've been concerned about their relatives in marine parks. For example, whales like the ones in Corky's natural family live in a matriarchal society. The children never leave their mothers; instead they remain with them and their extended families until death. Such continuity and closeness!

Some of that family connection was in evidence this day, even though the nine whales at SeaWorld were not biologically related. Corky, for one, seemed happy. She performed beautifully and was continually active, swimming fast, diving deep and surfacing, interacting with other whales.

The 20-month-old Sumar swam with Ulises, a male at least 20 years old, and another adult orca. In the wild, older orcas will adopt a young whale whose mother dies. It was fascinating to see the commitment of these two older whales.

Captivity vs. Freedom
As Keiko moves closer to freedom in Iceland, the future of orca whales in captivity hangs in the balance. On one hand, orcas in marine parks serve as ambassadors on behalf of their ocean habitats. Their presence raises public awareness of the vulnerability of oceans and their living populations to human carelessness and pollution.

Aquariums such as SeaWorld also stress that for decades they have been committed to preserving marine life by rescuing sea animals, restoring them to health, and treating them well.

But there is another view that sees instead the cruelty of keeping whales in tanks. The PBS show Frontline did an informative exploration of this issue called "A Whale of A Business."

The arguments made by whale experts included the trauma of being captured, the stress of being confined, and the separation from a natural family on which the whale depends.

Erich Hoyt, a science and nature writer who authored Orca: The Whale Called Killer, says that efforts to improve conditions for orca whales by featuring them in aquariums and marine parks have achieved only limited results.

"They do read our criticism and make changes, more now than in the past," says Hoyt. "That's one of the hazards of criticizing them heavily — there's a little less to criticize the next time around."

A Shrinking Family
This debate takes place at a time when the communities of orcas in the wild are shrinking. By last summer, the "southern resident" pod of whales that inhabits the waters off Washington state had dwindled to approximately 80 members, down from 90 five years ago. A number of surprisingly young whales were lost, due — some scientists believe — to increased ocean pollution.

• By what percentage has the southern resident pod shrunk in the past five years?

This loss concerns Howard Garrett, who founded the Tokitae Foundation, an organization that has been working to free the orca whale Lolita from her present home at the Miami Seaquarium. She originally was a member of the southern resident pod until she was captured in 1970.

Garrett notes that Lolita is of child-bearing age and would be a critical member of the pod from which she comes. But she swims alone, isolated in the Miami Seaquarium, unable to contribute young to her community so in need of its members for survival.

I thought of her as I watched the nine frolic in the San Diego tank complex. Compared with Lolita, they had so much to do, so many interactions to exchange with their artificial pod mates and the trainers. While their situation may appear unbearable when compared with the freedom of an ocean home and strong family ties, it looked rich compared to Lolita's isolation, making me wish for her at least the life shared by these nine.

What is the real answer to the captivity debate? If marine park scientists improve their rate of success with breeding and keeping in tanks orcas who have never known the freedom of the wild, is that acceptable? Does it do more good for promoting continued care and respect of the world's oceans, than harm to the animals?

Before I left SeaWorld that day, I got to know little Sumar a bit better in the new, Shamu up-close tank where the whales are easily viewed underwater. Sumar kept circling around to me and nosing from my face down to my feet, as if wondering at the energy and connection emanating through the glass.

Learn More

• Get to know both sides of the orca debate on Frontline's "A Whale of a Business."
  
  
• A Seattle Times article chronicles the decline in the nearby orca population.
  
  
• Visit the Center for Whale Research.

Related Resources

• Follow the efforts to release killer whales Keiko and Lolita.
  
  
• SeaWorld's Ambassadors of the Sea explains this marine park's approach. You can also hear the park's recording of orca sounds. You'll need the free QuickTime plug-in to listen.
  
  
• Orcas in Our Midst offers a multidisciplinary approach to the study of whales.
  
  
• Get the book Orca: Visions of the Killer Whale.

Sarah Haavind, who wrote this story, produced Orcas in Our Midst, a CD ROM curriculum for younger students on the "southern resident" orcas of Puget Sound near Seattle, Washington, and Vancouver, Canada.