In 1862, it is reported that PT Barnum arranged to have six beluga whales caught in the St. Lawrence River in New York and shipped by train in boxes pf seaweed to his museum in New York. He eventually trained them, and advertised that the public could come see them tow a woman in a car. Five of the animals died, but one lived for almost two years.

By the late 1870's, belugas and dolphins were being caught and supplied to aquariums and zoological gardens throughout the Eastern United States and Europe. Many animals died in transport crates similar to those used by Barnum.

The first oceanaria, Marine Studios, which became Marineland of Florida in the 1970's, opened in 1938, and specialized in cetaceans. It had originally been established as a set for aquatic films, but began to promote shows by trained cetacean for the entertainment of the public.

At Marine Studios, a calf was born to a bottle-nosed dolphin that was gestating at the time of capture.

More coastal commercial oceanaria opened in the 1950's such as Marineland of the Pacific in Los Angeles, and the Miami Seaquarium. In 1961, the first inland oceanaria,Seven Seas Panorama in opened in Chicago.

As more oceanaria and aquaria opened, the public became aware of more species of marine mammals. Concurrently, the international campaign against whaling was mounting, and people developed ethical and philosophical arguments against keeping whales, and other marine mammals, in captivity.

In the 1960s, orca captures off British Columbia, Washington State, and and California were completely unregulated. Many orcas were captured from these waters for sale to marine parks. Several of these animals dies during capture, suffocating in nets or beconing immobilized by tranqulizer darts. Public reports of these deaths caused residents to begin to press for legislation banning or regulating orca capture.In August of 1970, Ted Griffin and Goldsberry captured the entire Washington-southern Vancouver Island resident orca population -- 80 orcas. Four juveniles were accidentally killed. In 1971, Washington State passed laws regulating orca captures.

Sea World contracted ith a team of orca hunters to capture 3-6 juvenile whales from Puget Sound. Activist Ken Balcomb and State Attorney General Ralph Munroe passed a state ban on transportation of captive whales. Sea World withdrew. Shortly thereafter, following a barrage of media coverage, British Columbia banned orca captures.