Cetaceans including orcas, beluga whales, and bottlenose dolphins in marine parks face profound welfare challenges given their large home ranges, complex social structures, and high cognitive capacity that captive environments cannot accommodate.
Cetacean captivity welfare has been the subject of the most successful consumer-driven welfare campaign in modern history. The documentary Blackfish exposed orca welfare problems to a mainstream audience and drove measurable changes including SeaWorld stock price declines, cancelled entertainment partnerships, and ultimately the end of SeaWorld orca breeding. This outcome demonstrates that welfare science communicated effectively to the public can drive commercial and institutional change at scale. The welfare case against large cetacean captivity — based on home range, social complexity, and cognitive capacity — is scientifically robust and increasingly drives regulatory change globally.