Humans are the most conniving of all species. Don’t get me wrong, we have our moments and there are beautiful things regarding humanity, but our roots have left us ultimately scarred. Humans are the dominating species on this planet, so we create our own rules because there is nothing to overrule us. Because of this, we capture and entrap free, wild animals to put them on display. One of the most controversial animals we debate over are the orcas.

Orcas and their position at SeaWorld was brought to light in the 2013 documentary Blackfish by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. Blackfish helped start an important conversation about orcas and what we should actually be doing with them, and in response to the documentary a bill in California was passed.

This bill is called Orca Protection Act AB 2305, and it was created to help better protect captive orcas, but the bill itself is underwhelming and unsatisfactory. While the bill is a good start and shows improvement in humanity, it is not good enough. There are too many loopholes and specifics not specified.

We must take more steps and continue to set the orcas free. Currently if we let the show orcas we have now loose, they would most likely not survive, but by not taking in any orcas, returning orcas we take in for rehabilitation, and banning all sorts or marine capture sports, maybe, just maybe the people can become the solution rather than continue to be the problem.

Currently, the fine if someone does not follow the Orca Protection Act bill is that they will get a fine of no more than $100,000. What?! This is insane! Marine parks make millions of dollars a day; a mere $100,000 fine at most is nothing to them. It also does not specify if the fine is a one time thing, or if the fine is for every minute, hour, day, week, month, or year the park does not follow the bill. What is it? The other part is that the fine may only be a couple thousand dollars because $100,000 is only the maximum. It’s insufficient.

The other problem is that the marine parks can still display orcas for “education presentations” which they define as “a live, scheduled orca display in the presence of spectators.” This is precisely what an orca show is already, but marine parks could put on a whole show, slap one fact over it, and call it an educational presentation. If rumpelstiltskin were a marine park manager and saw this bill, he would be having the time of his life.

This bill is also only for California, but California is not the only place that is home to orca entrapment.

Florida is famous for their SeaWorld, and until recently not much had been passed in order to help stop the cruelty orcas and other marine animals have been facing. Now there is an orca protection act to stop breeding captive orcas.

This act is also another good step for humanity, but again, all of these bills are open ended and have many loopholes that let the corporations like SeaWorld stay open and still profitable.

Orcas are magnificent creatures that are far more superior than humans, yet we treat them like trash. We stuff them into concrete cages not much bigger than themselves, force them to breed, enclose them with other orcas from different cultures and backgrounds, and take them away from their families and learning skills they need to survive in the wild.

Since we have developed a close connection with orcas, it is hard to let go of them, but it is what we need to do.

Orcas are not created for our own entertainment and amusement. They are not created for us to showcase and teach tricks to. Orcas are meant to live in the ocean with their own pods. The California bill and the Florida ones are helpful and show that there is hope for humanity.