Rumors of Drugging Orcas!!!

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As if we couldn't be even more surprised, we hear that Sea World trainers are giving orcas anti-anxiety drugs. I wonder if they think it works. This article talks about the drug used and how it can affect the orcas. The drug, Valium, is a benzodiazepine (ben-zoe-dye-AZE-eh-peens). Diazepam affects chemicals in the brain that may become unbalanced and cause anxiety. Valium is used to treat anxiety disorders, alcohol withdrawal symptoms, or muscle spasms

Another drug, Tagamet, which is used for treating and preventing ulcers of the stomach and small intestine, and treating gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD). An ex-Sea World Trainer, John Hargrove says through out his time working with the orcas, he has seen them regurgitate their food out of boredom. Hargrove has been to other Sea Worlds and has seen the same symptoms. Hargrove is set to testify at the hearing of the bill in California to ban the entertainment of shows using orcas on Tuesday, April 8, 2014.

Besides regurgitation, orcas have been known to pick off the paint on the tanks. Sometimes when the orcas would peel the paint, they would hurt themselves in the process. If the orcas hurt themselves badly then Sea World would hold the orcas from performing until they healed but then the orcas would go right back at peeling the paint.

Some more news on Sea World using drugs. They have admitted to using them. "Trainers at SeaWorld have been documented administering psychoactive drugs to some of their marine mammals, according to new documents obtained by Buzzfeed."

“They do not cope with being kept in these tanks. They survive to some degree, but they don’t thrive to any degree,” founder of the Orca Research Trust, Ingrid Visser, told Buzzfeed. “They show stereotypical behaviors that are abnormal, repetitive behaviors like head bobbing, chewing on concrete, and self mutilation by banging the side of their heads on the side of the tank, and there isn’t a single orca living in captivity where you cannot see one of these behaviors, and in many of them you see multiple examples of these behaviors.”

Not all animals or humans show these behaviors so why give orcas this kind of medicine. Medicine is suppose to heal not make things worse. Obviously, the drugs are not working and the orcas are becoming worse than before. This is a sign that they should be released and not meant to be in tanks for the rest of their lives.