February 3rd 2014 Blackfish

My new obsession BLACKFISH! Opinions, comments always appreciated. :)(:

Recently I admit I've succumbed to a slight (well probably not as slight as I'd like to admit) obsession with the new documentary Blackfish. Blackfish is a documentary about orcas (Killer Whales) in captivity. Specifically it's about one killer whale in particular, Tillikum. 

If you haven't seen it, watch it. It's on netflix, on demand, at movie stores I'm sure you could find if you really wanted to watch it. It's a really good documentary I watched it for the first time 4 days ago and have watched it 3 times since then. So I highly recommend it.

Anywho, so this entry will be about what I thought. As always, comment, share your own opinions but be respectful. 

Daniel P Dukes

 Daniel P Dukes is a man who (and I'm not positive on the details) got arrested or something and then went to Sea World. While he was in Sea world I guess he was trying to hide so he could stay after hours. (which he did) The next day someone "found him" In Tillikums tank (Tillikum is the biggest whale in captivity) on Tillikums back...naked. Some people say that Tillikum (I'm going to start calling him Tilly just because it's shorter and I'm always afraid I'm going to spell it wrong while I'm typing it 'cause I'm a fairly fast typer.) any way, some people say that Tilly ripped his clothes off which I don't think is true. Honestly I think that it had something to do with bestiality but that's just my opinion. So Sea World said that he died from hypothermia. The way I see it is, you throw a man into a tank with the biggest killer whale in captivity and....I'm pretty sure it's not the water that's going to kill him. Whether it was just Tilly playing or it was really a malicious act I can't say. What I can say though is Sea World has spent millions of dollars on security and they say that not one person saw him and he wasn't on any of the cameras....YEAH RIGHT. They have underwater cameras, cameras in every section of the park and people who stand guard and no one saw him? No one heard him screaming when he died? No one heard excessive splashing in the water? (Which regardless of how he died Tilly still would have had a reaction to some naked guy in his tank.) Very suspicious Sea World...very suspicious indeed. 

Orca "Families" in captivity

Sea World likes to say that the killer whales are still in their little families while living at Sea World. If you do any research on killer whales in the wild you will see time and time again that killer whales stay with their own pods and never leave them unless they die or unless they're captured. So never ever will the killer whales be with their real family. Also, they may not do it a lot but have done it, they have taken baby killer whales away from their moms which is god-awful if you ask me. That is inhumane. It was bad enough that they were taken from their own moms but to have their babies taken away from them? That's not okay. So these are not families! Especially because in all the pods of killer whales in the wild, they all have different languages and different cultures (so to speak) so imagine being put into a bathtub with 3 or 4 other people that don't speak the same language as you. How agonizing would that be? Because the whales come from different places they hurt and sometimes kill each other! It's bad enough that they aren't with their families, that they aren't able to catch their own prey, (Killer whales literally eat everything, even sharks!) that they're used to swimming 100 miles a day but are now reduced to small areas where they'd have to swim around it 1,900 (or so) times a day just to get the amount of exercise they did in the wild!

Sea World Lies

So while watching Blackfish they show how Sea World has said that dorsal collapse (when the dorsal fin leans to one side) happens 20% in the wild...Um excuse me but no...it doesn't It happens to less than 1% of whales in the wild but 100% of male whales (and some females) in captivity. Dorsal collapse happen when the whales are dehydrated, when they aren't in motion (they have miles and miles to swim in the wild but are usually pretty steady in captivity) and from illness or injury. Does that sound appealing? No. That's probably why Sea World lies about it in the first place, because it doesn't endorse their name. It also said that whales only live up to 35 in the wild but usually live a little longer than that in captivity due to their veterinary attention. Also...not true. Male killer whales often live between 60-80 and females live from 80 or even past 100 years old. Why would they lie about this? Probably also because it doesn't sound good. In 2010 when Dawn Brancheau died the original statement from Sea World is that it was her mistake because she had too long of a pony tail...that Tilly grabbed her pony tail and pulled her into the water. I mean this was their released statement....until one of the eye witness's visiting the park disproved it. Then they tried to say that while she was laying with Tilly in the pool that her pony tail floated into his mouth...You guessed it, also not true. You can see a picture that was taken right before the incident and they were laying in such opposite directions that there was no way for her pony tail to get close to his mouth. So they decided to stick with the argument that he grabbed her shoulder and pulled her in. I don't know about you but I am not impressed with Sea World. 

Before I go on to my conclusion I would just like to say that what happened to Dawn Brancheau is a horrible thing that should never have happened. My condolences and prayers are going out to her family for having to lose a family member and for their grief to have to be public like it was. 

The worst part about all of this to me is that even if someone fought hard enough to get the Killer Whales released is that since they've been in captivity so long they would never survive in the wild. They would be alone, they would not be able to fend for themselves. They would die indefinitely. 

I would also like to say that although I'm not impressed with Sea World that given the chance i would still go just because I am a marine animal fanatic and love them. I feel sorry for them and would just feel good watching them sending out brain waves that I love them and that I'm sorry that my species is so cruel. (I know they wouldn't catch my brain waves I'm not stupid but it would make me feel better to think that since Killer Whales have an emotional part of the brain that we don't have that maybe they could read on my face how I feel.) 

Feel free to comment

Share your opinions about this great debate

Which side do you find yourself on?

Do you see any explanation for Sea World?

Share Share Share!

xoxo

Abby.

Author's Note

Comment! Share!