Orcas are the center of marine parks. Families from all around the world visit marine parks in awe of what the amazing orcas are trained to do. Marine parks have painted a picture in the heads of families, especially children, to believe that the orcas live the “fun” lives they see for an hour at an orca show. Orcas like Tilikum have been worked and allegedly treated poorly for numerous years in the marine park business (Blackfish). SeaWorld has overworked Tilikum and other orcas to the point where it is questionable how they are still alive. Tilikum is responsible for keeping the orca business going because they use his sperm to reproduce orcas yearly (Raja, par. 8). Sea World wants more orcas as intelligent and strong as him, but as they continue to overwork and poorly treat Tilikum, time will only tell that the new orcas are not gaining any good traits from him anymore but the dangerous ones. Tilikum deserves to be retired from SeaWorld rather than released because of the way they overwork him. He will not survive in the wildlife because of how captive he was during his time in SeaWorld. As a soldier coming home from war would, Tilikum would struggle to go back to the ways of life in an uncaptive habitat.
Finding a happy-medium between giving retired orcas freedom from captivation without releasing them is the hardest part about this solution. When it comes down to it, the orcas will still be in captivity; however, they should be given the freedom to roam in their barriers. Investing in retirement plans for orcas will not only increase the care for orcas but the amount of audience members and ticket sales in the park. SeaWorld must pose more effort to prove that they actually care instead of paying ten million dollars to create commercials of SeaWorld workers only “promising” that they treat the orcas well.
In order to find the happy medium, it would be smart to invest SeaWorld’s money in boundaries throughout an ocean for the retired orcas. By doing so, it would keep the orcas away from wildlife, all while giving them the freedom they would have if they were to actually be set free into the wild. The best solution to caring for the retired orcas would be to create the best possible normal for them after the many years they spent working for the marine park. As caring for a mentally wounded soldier would be, caring for a weary orca would be incredibly difficult, but if SeaWorld worked to form and improve a retirement option, care for retired orcas would be bettered for the aid of both the park and the orcas.
The best thing SeaWorld can do to care for Tilikum and other possible retired orcas is to invest their money from sales in caring for them because the main issue SeaWorld is facing right now is the backlash from Blackfish. People are doubting the amount of heart SeaWorld actually has and in order to fix that, they need to try harder to make up for the film whether it be true or not. In order to treat the orcas better and increase their audience again, they need to work harder to show that they truly do care. The ten million dollars used for commercials could have been used to actually improve their care for the orcas and other mammals in their park to prove to the public that they are not as bad Blackfish depicted.