to think people stating they would never go to Seaworld after watching Blackfish are being naive?

[ThereWasOnceAGirl]

Of course I don't agree with keeping such beautiful creatures in captivity. However people watch this film and think their contribution would be to bravely say - I would never step foot in there again.

If you even do just a bit more research into it you can see that -

What happens when that place loses money, is that they will take that money out of the whales - pools become worse, they will have less environmental stimulation.

Or lease the whales back in the ocean. As lovely as that would be, do you honestly think any of them would survive after being in captivity?

Look at Keiko, who was released and craved human attention and died mere months after being released at a very young age.

Sea pens? Yes definitely a better way of life for them, but who would fund it? Because Seaworld won't.

As much as I know people are trying to take a stand, simply saying I won't go to Seaworld ever again or wanting them back in the ocean is not going to solve this horrible problem.

its okies, my post look a bit bossy lol

simply saying I won't go to Seaworld ever again... is not going to solve this horrible problem

The point is, realistically the only thing we can do at our end is to boycott SW and spread the word on FB / anywhere else we possibly can, to raise awareness. I have hundreds of friends (and acquaintances - lol) on FB. If they all see my statuses / info about Blackfish, and in turn share it to THEIR hundreds of friends who share it again, then yes it will start to make a difference.

It's like saying "there's no point in me doing the recycling / turning off the lights when we go out / turning off the tap when it's been running for ages / etc because it won't make a difference" - If everybody had that attitude then we would have a LOT of wastage.

Thank you thank you thank you to Silver for pointing out it was on catch up under Storyville. Blackfish has been promised for months on Netflix and having seen I missed it on BBC4 and tried searching I was getting really frustrated as was desperate to see it. I am meant to be going to America with other half and his family next year (they have done Seaworld several times) and I for one (having already had misgivings about it) will now be boycotting it. Have to say I think if they watched it they would probably do the same. It's archaic. I'm no hippy animal rights protester but having seen Orcas in the wild the whole whales in pools thing has never sat right with me. I am guessing Seaworld et al will fizzle out over the years as people become aware. And how Seaworld could continue to blithely send trainers into the water with animals they know to be psychologically damaged and potential killers is an outrage for the sake of a quick buck. Awful.

I don't need to do more research on Keiko. I just didn't feel the need to reel off extensive facts about him.

If I didn't know the facts about Keiko myself, I would take your wording of 'mere months' to a few (3-4) at the most. When in fact is was over a year. These are the kinds of facts that you need to state clearly when starting a debate such as this.

Because who really cares if I'm reasonable or unreasonable when I'm pretty sure we all want the same outcome.

then why post in AIBU?

I find it weird how debates about the rights and wrongs of things like this get centred on the issue of 'What would happen to the creatures currently in captivity?' rather than 'Is this right, and if it isn't, let's stop because generations and generations of animals will suffer - and let's find a humane solution for the animals currently affected'.

The same thing happens with debates about factory farming, the fur trade, etc. etc. etc.