One of our San Diego ventures included a trip to Sea World. This was not a must on my list, but Wendy wanted to go, so I agreed to tag along. I almost regret my compliance. I’ll tell you why.
In the first place, the park is inordinately expensive. Even parking cost us $12. At vastly superior Balboa Park it costs you nothing to lay your car at rest. And then there is the admission price to the place. A grand $65 each (reduced to $55 for us since we are auto club members). Considering the commercial nature of the place I found the entry cost exorbitant. I don’t know how people can afford to take families there.
Sea World seemed schizoid to me, a bit unsure about what it was. Yes, there are zoo and aquarium-like components that were, I’ll confess, impressive. If you have ever wanted to stroke a large ray then you can do it. And the walk through shark tank is quite fabulous. I also fell in love with the ’saved’ manatees. Sweet and gentle creatures they are, so it’s small wonder that they are so endangered — predominantly by morons in power boats in the Everglades.
Yet, it didn’t seem to quite know what it was. Because the other component is cheap amusement park stuff, minus the fat lady and the peeler shows, but not by much. It even had one of those ‘test your strength’ big hammers with the pole so that any kid suckered in could find out how he compared with the school’s bullies.
And I found it commercial to a fault, so again I dispute the cost of entry.
The aspect that is the biggest drawing card — and the aspect that offended me the most — was the killer whale enclosure and accompanying ’show’. I’m sorry, but I live in the part of the world that if a body is to go out for a boating excursion or fishing trip, a body stands in good stead of running into Orcans in the wild — swimming free and unimpeded by gawping boneheads cheering at the tricks of the animal show. Tricks (regardless of the senseless ’scientific’ excuses offered by the trainers in their disclaimer at the beginning of the show) that are no different from circus big-cat shows. Tricks that are unnatural and have to involve the breaking of the will of the animal.
So, I went into the Shamu show fully prepared to be offended. I found that I was 10 times more offended than I planned to be. Here were these magnificent marine mammals being made to pretend they are little different from cute puppy-dogs as they are put through their antics. Antics that do not resemble what they do in the wild.
Killer whales are magnificent creatures. Hugely intelligent, not to mention being the top dudes on the oceanic food-chain. So, how do we excuse mocking them like this for the sake of charging a few bucks? The concept of the rather sappy movie Free Willy kept running through my head as I sat there in the bleachers, hoping the show would end very, very soon. In fact, I was disconcerted enough by the indignities imposed on the whales that I actually found my eyes misting up on a few occasions while others were cheering and cat-calling. I’m not saying I am superior to the people who were enjoying it all, I am only saying that they should find out a bit more about these animals before cheering on their sideshow jailers.
And I wonder with much regularity whether such spectacles are necessary. It is suggested that the capturing of Orcans protects them and enables us to learn more about them. That’s as maybe. For, if we’ve really learned anything about them we wouldn’t be confining them in a watery paddock that is not so much bigger than a resort swimming pool.
And, of course, they are prisoners for life. The myth of actually freeing them is only that. They will be shunned by their pods and would be doomed to lives of oceanic isolation should they be set free.
Let’s just say that the Shamu show wasn’t the high point of my vacation. At the same time, I’m glad I went because it only confirmed for me that my prior feelings about this sort of thing were legitimate — for me at least.
