Friday, May 18, 2007

Shamu Loves Me

Roger's postings below about the fun he's having as a volunteer aquarium diver bring back mostly fond memories of my time doing the same thing at Sea World. I have since dived in Bonaire, Cozumel, Roatan, Cabo San Lucas and the Bahamas, but those confined-water dives -- basically diving in big pools -- remain the most fun I've ever had diving. Like Roger says, it's hard work: wrangling those scrubbers takes dexterity and practice, and cleaning algae off the walls and bottom of a 35-foot-deep, 2.5-million-gallon tank is no small feat, even for a team of divers. But doing it all while dolphins or penguins swim around you, or killer whales stare at you through an underwater gate, is an unmatched thrill.

Since then, any mention of Sea World or Shamu in the news grabs my attention. That was the case this morning when I saw an article detailing the shady past behind Sea World's acquisitions of its orcas over the years (click for article). Did you know there have been 51 Shamus over the years? And did you know at least one of them is buried under the asphalt in Sea World's parking lot? (The latter nugget of information is not in the article, but was common knowledge amongst us employees.)

Wherever you stand on the issue of marine mammals in captivity, I can say the present-day management at Sea World takes very good care of its orcas . The whales eat like the kings of the sea that they are, they're treated with affection and concern by the trainers, and from my untrained perspective behind the scenes, the whales seemed quite happy and playful most of the time. They obviously belong in the ocean, and the acquisition process must be quite traumatic, but there's no question that their presence in parks creates a sense of wonder in the minds and hearts of the general public. It did in mine, anyway.
 

This page is powered by Blogger. Isn't yours?

Subscribe to Posts [Atom]