The keeping of whales and dolphins in captivity for entertainment has faced growing scrutiny. Evidence about cetacean intelligence and natural behaviour challenges the ethical basis of marine parks.
Captive cetacean welfare has attracted more public attention than almost any other animal welfare issue, largely due to the cognitive sophistication and charisma of the species involved. Orcas in particular are highly social, acoustically complex, and ecologically specialised in ways that make even the largest marine park tanks profoundly inadequate. The stress indicators are well-documented: aggression between incompatible individuals, repetitive swimming circuits, tooth wear from gnawing on tank edges, and immune suppression. The entertainment industry has shifted rhetorical focus toward education and conservation, but critics note that confined, food-reward-trained animals provide minimal educational value about wild behaviour.