In 2013 the documentary, “Blackfish” came out and shocked the nation. The documentary followed the story of an Orca in captivity named Tilikum that was involved in the deaths of three people while in captivity. The story begins by talking about Tilikum’s capture in 1983 off the coast of Iceland and the torment he faced while in captivity at a theme park called Sealand of the Pacific. The documentary showed the small enclosures the whales were kept in and discussed the horrific practices of kidnapping baby Orcas from their mothers. After being involved in the death of one of the trainers, Tilikum was moved to SeaWorld Orlando where he was involved in two other deaths.
The documentary shocked the world, no one really understood how horribly the animals at these theme parks were treated and how much these animals suffered. It also showed how being in captivity led Tilikum to engage in aggressive behavior, including killing one of his trainers in front of a live audience. After the release of the documentary, SeaWorld announced that they had suffered at $15.9 million loss, although it is unclear if the drop in attendance was because of the documentary, it has been inferred that it had a tremendous impact. People begun to see SeaWorld as a cruel prison that kept wild animals in extremely small tanks and lied to its patrons about the lives the animals lived while in captivity.
SeaWorld received so much backlash that it announced it would stop its breeding program for Orcas, a huge win for the animals as well as animal lovers. The unfortunate reality is that SeaWorld has done a lot of good for marine life as well. Growing up going to the beach in San Diego, I would often see SeaWorld workers being brought into the beach when an animal was suffering. For example, I saw a seagull on the beach, unable to move because it was tangled in plastic and the SeaWorld team came in and helped set it free. Hopefully SeaWorld transitions more into a theme park with aquatic themed rides and games but continues to use its resources to help animals in the wild.
I really liked your suggestion that Sea World should turn into an amusement park with aquatic-themed rides and games that can educate people about the ocean. I think this model can be used for zoos and other animal-based entertainment in general. I've also seen Blackfish and felt its power, but it is shocking that it took the deaths of so many people and the mistreatment of so many animals for people to realize how unethical this is.
Right, it must be a really interesting and tough challenge to try to sustain an employee base that have such niche expertise. I really liked your advise to Sea World- make it a place to teach kids about marine life and get them exited about animals without harming them, all while using this team of experts to better use in domestic rescue situations. I wonder how that would be implemented. Create a team that is linked to the amusement park that has little stores near main beaches? Promote your business while putting experts in the field?
I’m glad. I don’t like going to zoos like Sea World because of how bad I feel for these wild animals living in tiny cages. Hopefully with the growth of at home high quality nature documentaries there will be less of a need for theses zoos. The argument for many of their existence was that it gives people the opportunity to see animals for the first time. While nothing replaces seeing something in person, these nature films have gotten so good that the experience is extremely immersive.