Are you anti-Sea World?

TPA judges, please ignore this until you've written your critiques.

I am against the captivity of mice, dogs, ducks, and chipmunks at all Disney parks. The way they are kept captive and foced to sign autographs is deplorable...................... Wait, those aren't real animals?

- No
- No
- No

I love SeaWorld... and I want to see more animals in captivity not less. Especially the really big, cool animals that can do tricks and entertain me before I eat their "brothers" and "sisters" in some seafood restaurant later that night.

No guilt. Absolutely not anti SeaWorld. Those animals won't survive in the wild after captivity. I do have concerns about the level of "show" and the tricks performed, but they have curtailed that. The parks have evolved and it will continue to be more about education and conservation.

I don't think a whale should be in those conditions, but equally having them in captivity and accessable does have positives for whale conservation. I'd like to see a more appropriate facility perhaps. Some nice bay somewhere with lots of room, and natural sea rythums.

Now that I've done my critiques and rankings for Challenge 5...

Are you anti-Sea World?

While I don't 100% support everything SeaWorld does, I am not anti-SeaWorld at all. They do not go out and capture wild animals just to display them in their parks and I don't believe they truly mistreat animals. I do think they need to do everything possible to give their animals the best conditions possible while in captivity and I don't think they should continue to intentionally breed animals just for display, but I think the company as a whole does more harm than good. I've heard that in order to educate the masses, a small part of nature must be sacrificed, so if keeping properly cared for orcas in captivity will increase knowledge of the species as a whole it should definitely continue.

Has the film "Blackfish" changed your opinion on Sea World?

No. In fact, after hearing that the film twisted the testimonies of SeaWorld trainers to paint a highly inaccurate and one-sided picture I have no interest in even seeing the film. Those who believe everything the film says should take a visit to a SeaWorld park and do a behind-the-scenes tour to get the full picture. Or, better yet, visit Marineland Theme Park in Canada and then visit SeaWorld to see how much better their treatment is than other similar parks.

Do you feel guilty when visiting a Sea World park?

No, not at all. In fact, I'll be visiting SeaWorld San Diego next month and SeaWorld San Antonio in October (tentative). If the price of the park was closer to what I felt the place was worth ($50-60), I would likely visit on an annual basis. SeaWorld has not given me any reason to not support them and I always have an enjoyable half-day whenever I visit, so I will continue to do so.

I don't really accept many of the premises of this post. First it is not tons of people, it's a very vocal minority who never probably visited the parks anyways. Also the effect on SW attendance is more due to Universal & Disney's impact than BF's.

And I don't feel guilty at all, nor do I when I walk my dog, feed my daughters pet mouse, or visit the zoo.

Well, now that I haven't lost the TPA SeaWorld challenge, no, no I am not anti-SeaWorld.

With just a little more transparency and responsiveness, their care for the animals would be better received than it is. They are simply the target because they're the most visible, but by no means the worst.

I am also not for SeaWorld, at least as a theme park fan. The place is halfway between aquarium and Disneyland, and for me satisfies as neither. But that's just, like, you know, my opinion, man.

Do not feel guilty about going to SeaWorld. Fell proud that you are supporting an organization that provides care to injured animals and works to educate the public about the need to protect animal habitat.

If you want to help protect animals, protest and stop reading or watching news organizations that quote PETA, an animal-killing organization that is to animal well-being what Scientology is to religion -- a tiny faction of Hollywood insiders who know how to play the PR game.

You shouldn't feel guilty about going to SeaWorld at all, they do heat stuff there. I've gotten into many an argument arguing for SeaWorld, or my third favorite theme park franchise. The people just believe everything that Blackfish says, even though I watched it and visited all three SeaWorld parks and saw that the film twisted the truth so much. Just have fun and I suggest riding Shipwreck Rapids first

No.
I simply cannot feel guilty about supporting a place that fuelled my love of the ocean and its inhabitants.
The very first time I went to the park (1989) I was in awe and wanted to learn as much as I possibly could about the incredible array of animals.
I consider this to be one of my great passions in life. (I read books about them/watch wildlife films etc as a hobby) Its part of who I am and I simply cannot 'hate' them or feel guilty about going.

I said on a visit to San Diego last year, I firmly believe the number of people who have been to Seaworld and been inspired to do even just a small bit more to protect our world, or have been inspired to learn more about whales & dolphins, far outweighs the number of people who have seen Blackfish.

(And - well said above Robert!)

Heck no – we enjoy sea World. Can’t look at all the so called bad and simply ignore the greater good.

The Blackfish crap was just some folks trying to force their agenda down your throat (Not unlike the Trumps of the world). This was a media ploy and many folks fell for it. They sold you a bunch of stuff based on what they believe in, tried to use emotion over logic. Never believe this dribble on media sites.

I bet many of the folks who truly stand by Blackfish would also join Scientology. Sorry but there a way too many brainless folks in the world that will blindly follow the flavor of the month.