SeaWorld
SeaWorld is a chain of marine theme parks in the United States with facilities in Orlando ( Location ), San Diego ( Location ), and San Antonio ( Location ). The parks are a mixture of a dolphinarium (with sea lions , polar bears , manatees , penguins , dolphins and whales ) and an amusement park . SeaWorld also operates breeding programs to save endangered species from extinction.
The theme parks are owned by SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment , a subsidiary of the Blackstone Group . With around 4.64 million visitors (10th place), SeaWorld Orlando was one of the 10 most visited amusement parks in North America in 2019. SeaWorld San Diego follows in 14th place with around 3.74 million visitors.
The main attraction is the daily live show with the orcas (the killer whales). Since 2006 there has been a show called Believe, in which the fascination of these animals should be brought closer to the audience. It replaced the show The Shamu Adventure . In 2011 the new show OneOcean premiered. The Orca Encounter show has been shown at SeaWorld San Diego since 2017 . It contains less show elements, less music, but a lot of information about orcas. Orca Encounter has also been shown in the other two parks since 2020 .
In March 2016, SeaWorld announced that it would no longer breed orcas in the future or capture them in the wild. The 29 animals between one and 51 years old currently still living in the parks should not be released because, according to SeaWorld, they have no chance of survival. Seaworld cited the ongoing criticism and social changes as the reason for the measure. It was also announced that the shows will be replaced in the medium term in favor of an attitude that allows the natural behavior of the animals to be observed.
history
The first SeaWorld park in San Diego was founded in 1964 by four University of California graduates . The original idea of building an underwater restaurant with an accompanying sea animal show was expanded into a theme park with sea animals. When it opened on March 21, 1964, there were initially only a few dolphins, sea lions and a few other animals. The park was very successful from the start and gradually expanded. At the end of the 1960s, it was the first park in the world to show orcas.
On 5 March 2007 SeaWorld Orlando announced by Discovery Cove with Aquatica another adventure and marine park to open in Orlando.
On February 24, 2010, trainer Dawn Brancheau (40) died in an incident involving the Tilikum whale .
Another park was to be opened in Dubai , (UAE) in 2012 , but the project was not implemented for financial reasons.
Animals
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SeaWorld has a total of 20 orcas in its three US aquariums. The first orca SeaWorld got in San Diego in the 1960s was called Shamu . Today the adult orcas are called Shamu in the shows , although they have their own name.
Two of the 20 orcas kept in SeaWorld parks are still wild-caught, caught off Iceland in the 1970s and 1980s. Corky (II) is a tomboy caught off British Columbia in 1969.
Four of the orcas born in the SeaWorld parks live in the OrcaOcean of Loro Parque on Tenerife , which opened on February 13, 2006. These have already increased twice. In addition, the female orca Morgan was transferred from the Netherlands in November 2013. These animals are no longer owned by SeaWorld.
Another SeaWorld Orca from Florida, Ikaika, was temporarily on 18 November 2006. the Marineland in Niagara Falls ( Canada provided) are available. He lived there with Kiska in Friendship Cove until he was transported to SeaWorld San Diego on November 13, 2011.
| Orcas in San Diego | Orcas in San Antonio | Orcas in Orlando |
|---|---|---|
|
|
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other animals:
- Bottlenose dolphins : 44 (Orlando), 34 (San Diego), 21 (San Antonio), 46 (Discovery Cove) (145 total)
- Short-finned pilot whale : 4 (rescued animals included)
- Commerson Dolphins : 5
- White-striped dolphins : 5
- White whales : 15
- Dolphins owned by SeaWorld but currently living in other parks: Dec.
roller coaster
| SeaWorld Orlando | SeaWorld San Antonio | SeaWorld San Diego |
|---|---|---|
| Journey to Atlantis ( water roller coaster ) | Great White ( Inverted Coaster ) | Journey to Atlantis (water roller coaster) |
| Kraken ( Floorless Coaster ) | Journey to Atlantis (SuperSplash) | Manta (LSM coaster) |
| Manta ( Flying Coaster ) | Shamu Express (children's roller coaster) | |
| Super Grover's Box Car Derby (family roller coaster) | Steel Eel (Hyper Coaster) | |
| Mako (Hyper Coaster) |
gallery
Dolphin show
White whale show
Dolphin show
Kasatka with Nakai (right) and Kalia (left) in California
Killer whale show
Killer whale show
Sea lion show
Animal show
Journey to Atlantis in San Diego
Killer whale show
criticism
SeaWorld is repeatedly criticized by animal rights activists for keeping dolphins and orcas in captivity and for abusing them.
This topic was taken up by Richard O'Barry's Oscar-winning docu-drama The Bay , in which the dolphin hunt in Japanese Taiji is exposed, in which selected animals are also caught and then sold to dolphinariums worldwide. However, no dolphin at SeaWorlds can be traced back to these catches.
SeaWorld faced further criticism when the documentary film Blackfish was released, which depicts the attacks by the orcas on their trainers and the conditions in which the animals are kept. In SeaWorld parks, up to 70 employees have been injured and killed by animals. SeaWorld played down these incidents as unfortunate accidents and partially blamed the coaches killed.
In 2011 Seaworld smuggled an agent provocateur into the animal welfare organization PETA to instigate crimes. In February 2016, Seaworld publicly admitted this behavior and admitted to having used spies to investors. As a result, Seaworld's share price plummeted 12%. Company boss Joel Manby promised not to use such practices in the future. The animal welfare organization criticized the fact that the blown employee was still working in the company.
literature
- Alex Miller & Bruce Walker: California Theme Parks , Schiffer Publishing 2010, ISBN 978-0-7643-3478-8
Web links
- Official website
- Big Pooch , Interview with former Seaworld whale trainer John Jett, Der Spiegel , Nov. 4, 2013
- Images from SeaWorld San Diego
swell
- ↑ a b Global Attractions Attendance Report 2014. (PDF) TEA, accessed on January 16, 2016 (English).
- ↑ Seaworld will do without orcas in future , March 17, 2016, sueddeutsche.de
- ^ Lori Weisberg: SeaWorld ends orca breeding program. In: sandiegouniontribune.com. March 17, 2016, accessed March 18, 2016 .
- ↑ ABC News: Seaworld end orca breeding program
- ↑ A whale weighing tons pulls 40-year-olds into its pool ' , February 25, 2010, DIE WELT
- ↑ Who Owns Morgan? In: Free Morgan Foundation. Retrieved July 12, 2019 (American English).
- ↑ a b Ceta Base | Captive Cetacean Database - Cetaceans • SeaWorld (All Locations) • United States. Retrieved May 9, 2020 (American English).
- ↑ 'Blackfish': A chilling doc on captive killer whales , CNN Films (English)
- ↑ The Killer Whale ( Memento of the original from July 1, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , ARTE documentation, USA 2013
- ^ SeaWorld to strengthen company's security and risk management. Seaworld, February 25, 2016, accessed February 27, 2015 .
- ↑ Tomi Kilgore: SeaWorld admits it sent spies to infiltrate PETA. Marketwatch.com, February 25, 2016, accessed February 27, 2016 .
- ↑ Sea World smuggled employees into Peta to provoke crimes. Süddeutsche.de , February 26, 2016, accessed on February 27, 2016 .
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