Blackfish - tonight BBC4 9pm

[HesterShaw]

It anyone's not seen this documentary, it's well worth a watch. It was very well received at the Sundance film festival and has got Seaworld on the run, which was the intention :).

It will make you think very hard about marine mammals in captivity, as well as it being very entertaining.

[HowlingTrap]

Barenaked ladies have cancelled their gig at SW haven't they? I almost feel bad for them, everything is snowballing quite fast.

[PolkadotsAndMoonbeams]

I agree Thurlow, the trainers really do care about them. I've been googling too and found a few videos of the whales there and the trainers talking about spending time with them etc.

Obviously they're all very spun to the park's viewpoint, but for example in one you can see just how many staff have come in specially for her giving birth and how excited they are.

[HowlingTrap]

Read about Marineland to see how Seals/Sealions faire in captivity :(

Interestingly in a John Hargrove/Gabriela Cowperthwaite Interview on Youtube , John revealed the seals/lions at their parks suffer similar fates and says the conditions are 'deplorable' apparently the trainers too old to work with whales are put there.

[Thurlow]

I'm just watching it now when I should be working

Those trainers - I feel sorry for them, it seems that SeaWorld & co did a job on them, hiring these young trainers, feeding them a line about the whales, not telling them the truth. It comes across that those trainers were genuinely trying to look after the whales and believed in a connection that wasn't there.

The clip of that trainer being repeated pulled underneath That poor man, that was just horrible watch (though it's important these things are shown). And the idea that SeaWorld tried to say afterwards that it showed how well trained their staff were!!!

I swam with dolphins about 10 years ago now. I wish I hadn't. I'll never go back to a park like that again. We don't have animals in circuses on land anymore, why does anyone think it is different for whales and sea lions?

[WowOoo]

I finally watched this. It was brilliantly and I think quite fairly done.
I agree Juneau - I thought there were so many ex-employees willing to talk. It does say a lot about the organisation.

I've also done some internet searching. I'm interested in why the majority of captive orcas have a floppy dorsal fin. Very few in the wild do.

Made me glad I refused to go to SeaWorld all those years ago.
Lots more to watch and to read. Thanks!

[HowlingTrap]

I'm ashamed to admit I've gotten a bit obsessed after seeing that.

been reading a lot about it, I've asked my DH for the book, re-watched the cove.
Reading about places like Miami Seaquarium and Marineland deplorable conditions, a newspaper did an investigation recently.

I think it would interesting if BBC 4 did a season on this topic.

[juneau]

Watched this last night - it's heartbreaking. The bits where they were hunting the whales and when they took the babies away were awful

That so many former SeaWorld trainers were prepared to go on record and say what they did speaks volumes about this corporate, money-making machine. I will never take my kids there. If they want to visit killer whales I'll take them to see them in the wild.

[HowlingTrap]

Yeah apparently the laws are much more lax compared to America.

[HesterShaw]

Canada's record on animal welfare and tge environment completely sucks, despite their wild and green reputation.

[HowlingTrap]

I was reading about Marineland , Canada last night just horrific.

[GlitterStag]

I'm going to watch the 'Lolita, Slave to Entertainment' on Youtube.

It isn't just the Orcas at Seaworld, either. The Pilot Whales, Belugas, Dolphins, Polar Bears, all have hopelessly cramped pools / enclosures.

[HesterShaw]

Yes but remember that the people changing Japanese attitudes are Japanese.

[HowlingTrap]

I think I'm gonna rewatch the The Cove I seem to have forgotten bits, I saw it when it came out when I was 19.

Also,...I think its easier to mentally dismiss the Cove more as we are aware already that eastern countries have poor animal welfare records, so some people will be like ...."Is this news?" cynical face.

[HowlingTrap]

And the fact the tanks are Illegal! I was gobsmacked at how that is allowed to continue.

The morgan whale tank, the floor is in line with the viewing window :'(

[womma]

I've just watched it. What a brilliantly well done documentary. I'm now feeling terrible for taking DD to the Aquarium for her birthday.

Free Tilli! And all the other captives.

[CharlieAlphaKiloEcho]

I saw that GlitterStag. It seems she would be very easy to release but they just won't do it. 30 years of service and she's still not earned her freedom


I think the worst thing is that they are very very social. The pods have their own 'languages' that set them apart from each other. Yet they are held sometimes completely alone and sometimes with others that hold no familial connection. That just seems overly cruel given their nature.

[GlitterStag]

Apparently Lolita's Mother is still alive and resident off the coast of Washington. She is estimated to be in her eighties. Heartbreaking.

[HesterShaw]

In my opinion, the Cove seemed more gory than it actually was. The very distressing scenes were mainly only towards the end and throughout much if the film, they were kind of hinted at more than anything. And I thought the climax, when Ric O'Barry walked through the IWC conference wearing a tv screen showing the slaughter was masterful.


Even now, however, the IWC remain uninterested in dolphins and porpoises and so the slaughter continues.

[HowlingTrap]

I don't think you can sedate whales can you?

I agree I think BBC1 would have been a good forum for this.

I Thought the cove seemed to focus a lot on the food side of things too mislabelling food, mercury poisioning, we don't eat dolphin etc over here seems far too removed I agree, I think the slaughtering etc also effects how palatable it is too the mass public. So less people will watch it, I felt like I was watching a snuff film to some degree.

[ItsAllGoingToBeFine]

no gun, no stun darts, no nothing to help

As far as I know cetaceans are incredibly resilient. I believe that to kill them requires explosives or stabbing them repeatedly.

[FixItUpChappie]

I was so outraged I wrote SeaWorld an email advising I would never set foot in one of their parks again.

I found it very odd that everyone just watched all these incidents (and deaths) - I mean I feel for the whales - they shouldn't be in this position...but you watch Tilikum kill 2 trainers - no gun, no stun darts, no nothing to help - you just watch??

[HesterShaw]

Charlie, I think there is so much more awareness now amongst the general public - even within the last 12 months, big strides have been made. Seaworld's revenues have dropped massively, and India has outlawed captive cetacean facilitates, for example. In the UK we haven't had any since the early nineties - our remaining two bottlenose dolphins were freed from their pool in Brighton and taken to the Caribbean. The next step is banning them in EU countries and spreading the word amongst European tourists who make up a huge number of visitors to such places in the Middle East and Asia.

The Cove was a shocking film, but it didn't have the impact Blackfish is having amongst the general public. It was too far "removed" from the end product i.e people didn't connect a bunch of wild eyed madmen in Japan
slaughtering dolphins with Seaworld shows. Blackfish is easier to understand.

[CharlieAlphaKiloEcho]

And if you search whale on change.org there's a fair few petitions to sign. Including one about Tilikum.

I'm under no illusion that this is really helping but it can start to spread the word at least.

[CharlieAlphaKiloEcho]

There is a petition to help free Lolita here

DS is ill today so we've had a duvet day and I've spent all afternoon reading about whales and campaigns. It's heartbreaking. They are such intelligent creatures.

[Justshabbynochic]

I wish they could be released in either the wild if healthy enough or into sea pens. Surely the fat cats at the top have made enough profit......