To think everybody should watch Blackfish (repeated 2230, Monday, BBC4) if they haven't already?

[needasilverlining]

Disclaimer: Not an activist, not keen on PETA or other extremist animal rights organisations - just someone who tuned in because the documentary got a good write-up.

It is a gut-wrenching, heartbreaking look at orcas in captivity: intelligent, social animals who live in family groups they never leave, swim up to 100 miles a day, have a language unique to each pod and can live up to 80 years. Confined to bare concrete tanks, separated from their offspring and forced to do fucking tricks for dead fish before they die after half of their wild lifespan.

I know world hunger, Syria, FGM and plenty of other things are more important, but this truly is a stain on our species' already appalling record on animal treatment. And more to the point, it's very easily fixable.

Watch it - honestly it is haunting and shaming.

Bumping because I just watched it after recording it. It's one of the most disturbing films I've ever seen. The bit where they talked about the mother orca having her child taken away and her crying and grieving all night with the other females checking on her now and again but not approaching had me in tears and I don't even have DCs. I'm not religious either but it reminded me of the bit in the Bible (Matthew I think?) about the voice heard in Ramah - 'Rachel is weeping for her children and would not be comforted'.

DH was really down on the trainers and thought they were being a bit hypocritical but it was made pretty clear that they were excited and naïve about the job at first but soon became disillusioned. What must it be like having to work with these creatures who you know are depressed and disturbed and bored?

I also recently read Death at SeaWorld by David Kirby which is about Tilikum and the deaths as well as other orcas and a general history of them in captivity and the fight to help them. I've never felt comfortable going to marine shows (although I've only been to one) and I can never go again after reading this and seeing Blackfish.

Oh and Blackfish probably does come across as one-sided, as does Kirby's book, but that's mainly because SeaWorld refused to be interviewed for either! So they can then complain of bias - very clever.

Thing is, what could the other side possibly be?

"People like watching them and we make lots of money out of them" has advantage of being true, but disadvantage of being massively fucking inconsequential next to the whole psychosis and early death thing.

Am still bloody furious about this.

OP... I agree. Black Fish is one of the most moving and disturbing bits of film Ive seen in years.

I've just signed the petition

I watched this twice last week on iplayer and I can't get it out of my head

I agree with one of the trainers at the end when he said he thinks we will look back on now in 50 years and think what a barbaric time it was

DD and I just finished watching this. Both sobbing, both signed the petition and both vowed never to go to Sea World again.

Uncomfortable viewing.

I saw this last night, it was so sad.
As regards previous posters who asked whether it is suitable for children, it depends of the age / maturity I suppose. There isn't anything massively graphic but there are plenty of very sad and distressing scenes, like when they take the baby away.
You also feel sorry for the trainers who obviously believed at the time the SW spiel and thought that "the whales were happy", "they lived as long in the wild", etc... Even when they realised that it was wrong and that they had been kept in the dark about a lot things, they were staying on as they had come to care about the whales and were worried at who would look after them/felt sorry for them if they left. If they had doubts they would be ridiculed (like the girl who expressed unease at the baby being taken who now says she is so ashamed she took part in any of those shows and said/believed the script she was given).
The practice at SW seems to be, whatever the accident blame the trainer/victim. The guy who escaped would have been vilified by them had he not survived, instead they spinned it into "look how great and well trained our staff is". The guy survived by pure luck.
I don't think that the ex trainers were saying that all of the whales should be released, just the young ones who have a fair/good chances of readapting. Older whales such as Tilikum are by now too damaged and institutionalised to be free but they could still be housed in decent sized ocean pens where they would get some sense of freedom/not be all crammed together.
Sadly I don't think that SeaWorld are going to change as they see these animals as a way of making more profit by trading them/putting on shows/selling merchandise, .....

I watched it it is shocking i am ashamed to say i have been to sea world never again what the poor animals endure should not be allowed I feel terrible guilt for going there i can't shake it off ,

oh yes we all signed the petition too

thing Is i knew they would have been snatched fromt he wild at some point I knew it wasn't the best life for them but what I watched really shocked me, I can't understand why they don.t have sea worlds near the ocean

Also apart from the cruelty issue and Seaworlds lies and lack of knowledge about the orcas the other shocker to me was the danger the trainers were in. That video of the guy being repeatedly dragged under was pretty horrifying and I couldn't stop thinking about it. The look on his face as he just had no power to stop it.

I shudder now when I think of all the people who let there dc's take part in these shows -being taken across the water in a boat or petting them!
They are such magnificent, powerful creatures , why did we ever think it was okay to make them do tricks in a small pool!

Yanbu. Best documentary I've ever seen.

he was so eerily calm about it all it made me shudder . I dont know why we think it is ok you know all the bumf and magic they say at the seaworld shows is just a smoke screen all that chesey music and that believe shit ,,

I just realised this is an old thread but glad it has been brought back oh please like Blackfish on face book if you have it

I've never thought keeping orcas in captivity was good but, after hearing about Blackfish I watched it with my (normally documentary averse) DH. We were both staggered at the shoddy conditions for the orcas and the disregard for both orca and trainer safety by the corporations behind the show parks.

I was particularly horrified by the stories of them separating the calves from heir mothers, normally they stay with their mothers or life as pods are heavily matriarchal. Utterly disgraceful.

Oh and agree Mrsjj, that trainer's calm control as he was being repeatedly dragged under was amazing and awful to watch. I can't help Tonkin he ha accepted he was going to die, and that's what saved his life.

thinking he had

Blackfish broke my heart. I've been campaigning against cetacean captivity for the last couple of years (resurrected from when I was quite an activist as a teen). My kids are 10 and 13 and will never go near an orca or dolphin show. Swim-with-dolphin experienced are just as bad, please google Taiji dolphins if you're interested. Seaworld and their ilk are abusement parks and care for nothing except the dollar.
There are decent well-thought-out plans in place by several organisations (the Orca Network, WDC etc) for the retirement of these animals. It can be done. Keiko, incidentally, lived for 5 full years after his release, not months as the pro-captivity folks would have you believe. He joined a pod but unfortunately as he was I'll with pneumonia while in his tank he didn't live as long as he could have.
Tilikum has actually killed 3 people, not 2. They never kill people in the wild. It's frustration and anger and depression that drives orca to harm their trainers. That's despite them being drugged with benzodiazepines. It's heinous and yes there are worse things in the world but there is absolutely no need, and no excuse, for keeping these sentient, intelligent and free-roaming animals in captivity.

yes he thought i am going to die that was the sort of look he had on his face, I have also been to the place in spain last year and all the sea world dolphins have the drooped fin,

ill not I'll

I just felt such shame watching it knowing i had been and seen them I dont understand how on one hand places like seaworld say we are doing conservation work and keep artifical pods of whales in what is the equivilant of a sink

(excuse my spelling)

YANBU-I **ing hate Seaworld and any other institution that thinks It's okay to enslave these highly complex animals.

There's a documentary on Youtube about Lolita , so sad-also some really good talks and enlightening stories from ex-workers.

I've seen Blackfish, and The Cove, and read Ric o' Barry's book aboyt Fipper. Couldn't put that down I'd love to do more to help the cause but at a loss as to what. :(

Yanbu but what can we do about it?

well I suppose we can stay away from seaworld and not support them it is a start

Boycott Seaworld...and all marine parks displaying orca and dolphins. Ask friends and family to do the same and so spread the word. Write to travel companies...Richard Branson has agreed to conduct a 6-month assessment to determine whether to stop promoting Seaworld by Virgin Holidays. Thomson, First Choice, I'm still awaiting responses . There are so many tentacles to this, from Seaworld themselves to their "procurement partners" that still go out into the wild and rip young animals from their families. Airlines that carry these animals, truck companies....there is a lot we can all do. The pressure is on Seaworld and now is a great time to get involved!!