The poor thing looks sad...where did you take the photo?

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The shortest connection between two points is always under construction~

amazing shot from both
the trainer looks really, hm i dont know .
he makes a funny face
do you know the movie whale rider?
Its an amazing story.

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RIP ALEXIS MARTINEZ
[link]

!!!Human, think always about, what you do, with animals!!!

The orca?
She lives at SeaWorld Orlando.

Hahaa thank you!
It's definitely an odd face.
Yes - the movie is incredible.

Yeah the orca...the hanging fin just looks sad

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The shortest connection between two points is always under construction~

Well, the shape or hanging of the dorsal fin is not related to the well-being or emotions of the orca. The orca could be virtually depressed and have a straight dorsal fin.
It depends on how they spend their time. Orcas with collapsed dorsal fins usually hang out at the surface, while you normally find straight fins on orcas who swim upside down. Gravity has a lot to do with it.

Yeah i know that the hanging fin is because of the weak muscles that are not enough trained in the small pools and the missing pressure of the water.

You said with virtually depressed....i think orcas are generally not very happy beeing kept in such a tiny space compared to the ocean.

Orcas are very talkative beeings and in such a small space their voice is reflected by the walls and i can imagine it would be defeaning if they would try to sing their songs that normally reach douzen of miles

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The shortest connection between two points is always under construction~

Space and care depends on the park. There are laws and federal requirements/guide lines for each captive species.
Places like SeaWorld offer top-of-the-line care and attention. Their tanks are more than suitable for the orcas which reside in them. I notice that you bring up the ocean: most captive orcas would die harsh deaths if they were left in the wild to fend for themselves. They were born in captivity and have relied on humans to provide for them, making release efforts futile.

I agree, orcas are known for their vocalizations. Though, their echolocation is what prevents them from harming themselves on the tank walls. Their calls do not "reflect". Their echolocation signals do, however, do. This simply lets the orcas know what is in front of them. So their vocalizations ultimately don't harm them.

I do not know if that is true with most orcas born in captivity....and there have been cases where the certificates have been faked and the *born* young whales have not been bought from other institutions but have been caught in the wild.

And the laws ans requirements are often not good enough.

There are laws which allow to neuter pigs, horses, cows without pain medication and a 200pound pig gets as much space as 1qm...because that is animal friendly...by law

And with parrots ...most sizes that are required by law for the cages are still too small for the birds to be comfortable, but more would not be practial for the breeders

We can not say what is really suitable for orcas, but when you see how big their territory normaly would be and how small even the biggest tanks are...

And how would we know that released orcas would die a harsh death? Have there been so much freed orcas that we can say that?

But one thing is known...that still orcas are caught and sold for these parks because the whales die in captivity and the breeding and raising often ends with the death of the babys.

Orcas are still wild animals...and if you free a tiger, a lion, a wolf or maybe a mink....most of them would survive because they are even after centuries of captivity wild animals...even the stoat, a weasel that is breed since ancient times in captivity would survive if freed

Why should it be different with orcas?

The real sad thing is that most of them would not survive because of the big nets of the fishing companies, the pollution of the sea and other human made reasons

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The shortest connection between two points is always under construction~