On Wednesday, a Sea World trainer in Orlando, FL, was killed by a 12,300 lb. Orca whale. It has yet to be determined whether Dawn Brancheau drowned or died from traumatic injuries. The incident triggered world-wide response. I have not witnessed this much attention to marine animal rights since the release of the killer whale Keiko, made famous in the movie “Free Willy.”

While the Humane Society and animal rights groups have long campaigned for marine mammals to be removed from theme parks, I cite an older source for the humane treatment of animals:
The righteous are concerned for the life of their beasts. -Proverbs 12:10
Judaism affirms our obligation to treat animals with compassion. Tza’ar ba’alei chayyim, literally “the pain of living creatures”, is a moral charge to treat the living things around us responsibly. The Talmud reminds us that “the sign of a tzaddik is concern for the welfare of animals.”

Joyce Tischler, founder of and general counsel for the Animal Legal Defense Fund, says of orca whales:
“These behemoths are denied all of their natural, instinctual inclinations, and we humans tend to think, ‘Well, this is just a bad animal.’ But it is a wild animal, used to running free in an entire ocean, but now confined to a very small space.” She compares an orca’s life in captivity in a tank to keeping a human being in a bathtub for his entire life.

“…the vast majority of the orca whales in captivity would be far better off to be returned to the wild. Orcas are unbelievably ill-suited to life in theme parks and can be successfully returned to the wild. We know, because we have done it,” says David Phillips, director of the International Marine Mammal Project for the Earth Island Institute. “This isn’t the first time that stressed-out orca whales have injured or killed people, and unfortunately, it is not likely to be the last,” says Phillips.

There are those who argue that keeping animals in captivity is educational, spotlighting the need for conservation and protection of such creatures.

“This [a trainer's death] is a giant warning sign that society needs to rethink this question of holding large predators in captivity,” says Chris Palmer, author of Shooting in the Wild (a book about wild animals in captivity), who also teaches at American University. “Having a trainer killed this way can’t justify whatever benefits we get from conservation or protection.”

According to Sifrei Devarim 96, G-d has compassion on all who have compassion on their fellow creatures.

Do killer whales belong in captivity? What do you think? Please leave a comment.