RCL 2 Passion Blog 1 – Blackfish

Blackfish, one of the most popular documentaries of all time, is a story about the killer whale (or orca) exhibits found at SeaWorld and their terrifying history and current impact on the lives of the animals living there as well as the story of past incidents involving fatal altercations with three different trainers. Blackfish, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, released in in January 2013 at the Sundance Film Festival, and was eventually released more broadly by CNN Films. The film quickly gained high popularity due to its high emotional impact on the viewer, and lead to many members of the public as well as legislation taking action against captive orcas found in these aquariums. The film also caused major backlash to SeaWorld’s financials, and in 2015 the former CEO of SeaWorld  as well as SeaWorld themselves agreed to pay out $5 million to settle federal charges against them claiming they hid from investors the true backlash of the films release.

Taken from his family when he was just a calf, the orca Tilikum has known captivity for most of his life. Captured in 1983, Tilikum was originally a show orca at Sealand of the Pacific, a public aquarium in Canada. The film details Tilikum’s hardships and tribulations at this aquarium, including constant attacks and harassment by fellow orcas as well as suboptimal cramped living conditions, that the film argues ultimately led to Tilikum becoming violent when given the opportunity. According to eyewitness testimonies, Tilikum was the cause of death to one of the trainers, whose death was filed as “drowning,” when witnesses described Tilikum along with two other orcas violently mutilating the trainer. Shortly after this incident, the aquarium had to close down, and shipped Tilikum off to SeaWorld Orlando. When living in at SeaWorld, Tilikum was involved in the deaths of two more people, including a man trespassing at night, and a world class trainer, Dawn Brancheau. Not only was this historically violent animal allowed to continue doing public shows, but he was the most popular breeding bull orca at SeaWorld, siring 21 offspring. This raises obvious concerns, as one of the major rules of animal breeding is to not allow animals who had a history of violence against humans to breed.

The film also makes concerns about lives these animals lead, with a major concern coming with SeaWorld’s claim of the ‘fact’ that orcas live to about 30-50 years, and are only sometimes able to live longer due to the care they are afforded at SeaWorld, when according to the film many counts of historic evidence show that orcas live similar lifespans as humans, with many female orcas being able to live up to 100 years.

This brings me to ask the question to you if it should be allowed that these animals be in captivity at all. To me, it seems exceptionally inhumane to keep these animals in such small enclosures compared to what they would be able to explore out in the wild. One quote from the movie that stuck out to me was that it was like keeping a human in something the size of a bathtub for the duration of their life, which just imagining feels cruel and unusual. SeaWorld themselves claim that they are able to take good care of their animals in captivity and provide them medical attention if necessary, something that they wouldn’t be able to have in the wild. But given some of the evidence shown in the film, including orcas mutilating other orcas out of frustration as well as major disorders including collapsed dorsal fins (something not common in nature) it seems like the negatives outweigh the positives. But what do you think? I highly recommend this documentary to anyone interested in learning more about the topic of zoos and aquariums.