Lee 1
Jonathan Lee
Professor Castaneda
English 1A
15 February 2016
Brutality: Animals in Industries
When I was younger, I remember seeing animals on TV and looking at pictures of them
in books. I wanted to see these foreign animals in real life. When I had gone to actually see these
animals, I was very happy because I had never seen anything like it. It was one of the most
amazing days of my life, but as I learned more about how animals were treated in these places, I
started to dislike them. When you see how many of the famous attractions around the world treat
the animals, you can see that these places are not as wonderful as they may seem. These
attractions seem to be such happy places from an outside perspective and most people cannot see
the truth of what these places are hiding from the general public. In this essay, you will learn that
the concept of animal cruelty is being practiced within many popular attractions and countries. I
want to address the reader and shed some light on these dark areas (eg. treatment of animals,
captivity) so that I may open your eyes to the terrible things that are happening and compel you
to stop supporting these industries. Some famous places that practice animal cruelty are
SeaWorld, zoos, Taiji cove, which I will go more in-depth about in my essay. I fell into the
industries’ trap due to my ignorance.
I remember when I was younger I always wanted to go to Sea World, but now I don’t
anymore because they abuse animals. Once you know about the everyday operations at
SeaWorld, you will be convinced that animal cruelty is alive and well because their practices
amount to treating animals like prisoners who are tortured; this knowledge may be obscured by
the facade of entertainment, but knowing the plight of these animals should repel potential
visitors. SeaWorld is known for their orcas, dolphins, and aquariums. However, most people do
Lee 2
not know or even think about how these animals are taken care of and treated. One main problem
with SeaWorld is that they capture dolphins and orcas to bring them into captivity. They are
kidnapped and sent to SeaWorld and if they aren’t captured, then they are killed
(SeaWorldofHurt). These animals have cramped, unnatural living conditions. The tanks that act
as their prisons are run down, but SeaWorld doesn’t really seem to care. The tanks have cracks,
crumbling concrete, and rusty beams, which cannot be good for the animals’ health. As a result
of these poor living conditions, the lifespan of these orcas has significantly decreased. The
average lifespan of a female orca is 80 to 100 years and the average lifespan of a male is 60 to 70
years, but in captivity the median age is 9 years (SeaWorldofHurt). That is a huge difference
between how long an orca actually lives at Sea World versus how long it should live naturally.
