It’s a hot summer day in San Diego. You go to SeaWorld, and dying of heat, you sit in the soak zone so you can get soaked by the 12,000 pound killer whale. This whale has a bent fin, and when you ask about it, the nice lady who works at SeaWorld assures you that it’s completely normal for killer whales to have this fin. What she doesn’t include is that it’s only normal for whales in captivity, because whales in the wild don’t have to worry about being boxed in a cage that is way too small for them. This killer whale is named Tilikum, and is responsible for three deaths, 21 calves, and a huge lawsuit. The show starts, and everything is magnificent; you are in awe. When the show ends, Tilikum goes back to his prison. If he was a human, this would be slavery, but because he is whale, it’s normal.

While it’s not totally fair to blame all of Tilikum's problems on SeaWorld, they are responsible for the aftermath. Tilikum was captured from Iceland in 1982. Then he was transferred to Sealand, where he performed every hour for eight hours a day, followed by being locked in small cell with two other whales, who were dominate females, for 14 hours. This put a lot of stress on Tilikum, and as a training method, the park withheld food from the whales, causing even more stress. During one of the shows, a trainer, Keltie Byrne, fell into the pool and was pulled under by Tilikum. She ultimately drowned. Tilikum moved to SeaWorld after the closing of Sealand, where SeaWorld used his sperm to reproduce. His DNA is in 54 percent of the whales at SeaWorld parks, including 21 calves. Out of those 21 calves, only 18 are still alive. By SeaWorld using Tilikum's DNA to reproduce, they increased the chances of more aggressive acts from other whales.

Tilikum began chewing on metal gates and the concrete sides of his tank due to stress. This then lead to aggression toward humans, including Daniel Duke in 1999 and Dawn Brancheau in 2010. Dawn was scalped, dismembered, and had several broken bones before he drowned her. After this, Tilikum was kept in an even smaller pool, limiting his swimming, communication with the other orcas, and human interaction. He would float in the water for hours, and when SeaWorld was asked about this behavior, they claimed it was normal. It’s not normal among wild whales.

Tilikum isn't the only whale that has had reports of aggression, in fact, SeaWorld has 600 pages of more than 100 incidents of killer whales attacking the trainers. This behavior is nonexistent in the wild. SeaWorld’s problems don’t end there; there have been reports form former employees, who have seen a lot of abuse. Articles have been posted about the Belugas' pool being unhealthy and full of rubber from them fighting with each other. This was followed by two deaths, of a three week old infant and a two year old, when in the wild, these animals live to be 30 or 50 years old. Dolphins have reports of skin lesions from having people touch them and swim in their water.

While we can continue to go on about the acts of abuse, here is what SeaWorld is doing to stop it. They are stopping the Orcas' shows. This is all well and good, but it isn't solving the problem. Those whales are still in small cages, and still have to suffer from boredom another problems. California is taking some serious action toward SeaWorld, they are trying to ban breeding from SeaWorld animals along with releasing the whales into a cove in order to get them out of the small cages. SeaWorld is, of course, fighting this; they are arguing that this falls out of California Coastal Commissions jurisdictions. SeaWorld has seen a lot of backlash towards them since the 2013 premier of the documentary "Black Fish."

Aside from the social craze about SeaWorld being bad, I personally don’t support them because of a couple reasons. How can you go to sleep at night knowing your income is determined from animals in small cages; how do you sleep in a king size bed when there is an animal in a cage too small? That would be like you sleeping in a crib. Sounds fun. Here is the other thing: if these whales were human, they would protected by the constitution; this would be called slavery, SeaWorld would be shut down and everyone would care. Except these are animals and not humans, so it's to be expected.

Why do we continue to allow this? Is there really that much enjoyment in watching a whale do a flip? You will probably survive without it. There are ways to learn about these animals without them being in a cage. The fact that this is a million dollar industry is crazy. No one, including animals, should have money made off of their pain and abuse for entertainment.

I, however, don’t support emptying the tanks. What will happen to the animals after this? They will be put into the wild, and die from not being able to find food. The reproduction and capturing of these animals needs to stop! Let’s face it, these animals won’t be alive for much longer, but we can save other animals from this torture. Tilikum is dying, according to recent reports, and I hope he dies soon, because then he can swim in a huge ocean in heaven and be free from his torture. I don’t support SeaWorld, because I don’t support slavery.