Mental Health Issues

Captivity can trigger mental health issues in orca whales. Firstly, orcas can become stressed from confinement and tight spaces, and they can develop performance anxiety from frequent training and performances. Also, many whales have been kidnapped from their pods at a young age, which can be traumatic. For example, Tilikum was captured off the coast of Iceland at the age of 2 and taken from his family. This has led to mental instability in Tilikum and aggression. Tilikum is responsible for the deaths of SeaWorld trainer, Dawn Brancheau, and Keltie Byrne, a trainer at another marine mammal park called Sealand. Despite his history of aggression, SeaWorld continues to breed Tilikum with other whales and allow him to perform for the purpose of making money. Other whales have shown signs of aggression towards humans, and over 100 incidents have occurred. In the wild, incidents of aggression towards humans are extremely rare. Additionally, orca whales can be placed to live with orcas from other populations who do not speak the same language. Orca whales value social situations greatly, and if they are unhappy with their social situation, it can increase mental health issues. In fact, orca whales have a part of brain that humans don’t have called the paralimbic cleft, which processes social situations. Captivity can greatly affect the mental stability of orca whales.

Tilikum, a male captive orca whale at SeaWorld in Orlando.

Source: http://celeryellen.com/tilikum-teaches/

Tilikum in his extremely small and isolated tank.

Source: http://www.seaworldofhurt.com/features/30-years-three-deaths-tilikums-tragic-story/