How SeaWorld Twists Scientific Papers to Misinform the Public

In 1998 Dr Ingrid Visser wrote a paper describing dorsal fin abnormalities in a small population (n=30) of New Zealand (male) orcas. Of those, 7 had twists or bends, and just one, who died shortly thereafter, had a “collapsed“ fin. His name was Slater. Here’s the trick SeaWorld uses: Seven out of 30 is 23%. So SeaWorld tells the public that dorsal collapse is “normal“ because it happens in 23% of wild orcas. This is completely misleading. Dr. Visser was referring to fin abnormalities in a small group of N