Have you seen the documentary Blackfish?

mspeggysue911 · Dec 14, 2013

If so has it changed the way you feel about Sea World?

DazedandConfused · Dec 14, 2013

yes and no....it presents a very one sided view and you can google for the other side.

SeaWord has done MANY great things for conservation and public awareness and they far outweigh any bad things that may have occurred in the past. But I don't think Killer Whales belong in captivity

mspeggysue911 · Dec 14, 2013

You can also Google how much money Sea World spends on conservation and where that many comes from. It is a very very small amount of money and it comes from donations and grants. Not park profits.

Sea World brought Tilikum to Orlando KNOWING he had previously killed someone. And he had tried to kill several more and SW left him in the water with the trainers until Dawn died in 2010. They actually BLAMED HER for her own death. I don't know how any of that can be one sided.

Sea World tried to answer to the accusations of the movie and all they could come up with is basically the same talking point you came up with "But we do so much good for animals" You can be a serial killer by night and volunteer at a soup kitchen by day. the good does not outweight the bad. One doesn't cancel the other out.

Even after OSHA ruled against Sea World and told them they can no longer have trainers in the water with the whales SEA WORLD APPEALED and is STILL trying to get the OSHA ruling overturned so they can put their trainers back in the water with a whale that has killed numerous ppl.

Patri · Dec 14, 2013

mspeggysue911 said:
If so has it changed the way you feel about Sea World?

Haven't seen it and probably won't. But you seem to only want opinions to agree with you.

mspeggysue911 · Dec 14, 2013

Patri said:
Haven't seen it and probably won't. But you seem to only want opinions to agree with you.

Not at all. I wanted opinions one way or the other but this is a discussion board so you usually don't just ask a question then run hide in the closet. You DISCUSS. They gave their opinion and I gave mine.

If everybody agreed about everything that would not be interesting at all.

Yet you haven't even seen it and still felt compelled to voice an opinion.

presley · Dec 14, 2013

I didn't watch it. It would bother me too much. I saw The Cove a few years ago and looked up to see if Sea World (San Diego) bought any dolphins from the cove. They bought a dolphin and a pilot whale. I canceled our APs and haven't been back since. I don't think those truly concerned for animal welfare would steal baby animals out of the ocean and hold them captive for the rest of their lives.

I grew up walking distance to the park. I've been going there my whole life and had annual passes more often than not. The older I get, the less I want to see any animals in captivity. If they are injured or otherwise cannot be released into the wild, I think it's okay to keep them captive. Other than that, I think it is cruel. I also get claustrophobia, so I do project what I'd feel like being kept in a cage or pool. I wouldn't enjoy it.

mspeggysue911 · Dec 14, 2013

presley said:
I didn't watch it. It would bother me too much. I saw The Cove a few years ago and looked up to see if Sea World (San Diego) bought any dolphins from the cove. They bought a dolphin and a pilot whale. I canceled our APs and haven't been back since. I don't think those truly concerned for animal welfare would steal baby animals out of the ocean and hold them captive for the rest of their lives.

I grew up walking distance to the park. I've been going there my whole life and had annual passes more often than not. The older I get, the less I want to see any animals in captivity. If they are injured or otherwise cannot be released into the wild, I think it's okay to keep them captive. Other than that, I think it is cruel. I also get claustrophobia, so I do project what I'd feel like being kept in a cage or pool. I wouldn't enjoy it.

I never was able to make myself watch The Cove because I had heard and read that the documentary actually SHOWED the slaughter of Dolphins and I knew I would not be able to watch that. I am sure there was more to the movie than just killing some Dolphins but I didn't think I could handle it. I was only able to watch Blackfish because I only knew vaguely what it was about. It also had some hard to watch footage but not of animals being harmed. They actually show some footage of one of the whales trying over and over to kill one of the trainers.

I have never been a huge advocate for NOT keeping animals in captivity but watching it did greatly change my opinion of Sea World. Also there is no known record of an Orca ever hurting a human in the wild but it has been documented in captivity over and over.

ondeadlin · Dec 14, 2013

I watched it. I won't be returning to SeaWorld.

Passepartout · Dec 14, 2013

Capturing animals to put them on display for entertainment purposes is not consistent with conservation. Putting funds into preserving habitat and rehabilitating land/ocean and the animals that have been removed to be reintroduced to live and reproduce again is.

I am uncomfortable enough at zoos and aquariums. No need for me to see a show at or about Sea World

Jim

Clemson Fan · Dec 14, 2013

I love SeaWorld and I think they do a great job at keeping the animal habitats very clean! If you think SeaWorld is horrible, go to an aquarium or zoo in the Philipines (I have) and you'll see how nice of a job SeaWorld does!

I have no interest in watching those "documentaries" that have a clear underlying agenda.

There are many jobs that are inherently dangerous. The trainers are not stupid people and I'm sure they're perfectly aware of the inherent risks of working with Orcas. Astronauts understand that they're sitting on top of a potential huge bomb, but they still do it. We've lost many astronauts, so does that mean we should cancel the space program?

TUGBrian · Dec 14, 2013

saw it...felt bad for the whales...certainly seemed like quite a bit was covered up and I was pretty amazed to read about how many trainers had been attacked over the years.

that said, much like the "whale wars" show....I think there are far more pressing issues in the world today that folks can dedicate their lives to improving.

but thats just me.

Patri · Dec 15, 2013

mspeggysue911 said:
Yet you haven't even seen it and still felt compelled to voice an opinion.

Your question was if people had seen the documentary. I answered that. Most of the posters here also did not view it.

pgnewarkboy · Dec 15, 2013

I saw the documentary. It was excellent and exposed Sea Worlds practices with regard to these captive whales. As explained by the documentary, whale families are very similar to human families. Ripping away children from parents is cruel- even when they are "killer whales". I will not be returning to sea world.

SpikeMauler · Dec 15, 2013

I watched the documentary and found it hard to sit through. I felt sorry for the whales and for the trainers who died. You can see the trainers who work with the whales really love them but I also don't think a healthy whale belongs in captivity...

SunSand · Dec 15, 2013

The documentary presents some pretty disturbing facts. Sea Worlds silence, speaks volumes about the facts. Blackfish is on Netflix too.

presley · Dec 15, 2013

SunSand said:
Blackfish is on Netflix too.

I might watch it since it's on Netflix. Before it was release to theatres, I was very interested in seeing it because the makers said they had no agenda, just wanted to find out why an animal would kill a trainer that took care of it, knowing that they had to have formed a very close bond.

Then, my daughter saw it and she told about it some parts. She cried when she told me about the babies were taken out of the pods and how the adults keep following the boats because they didn't want to lose their babies. That sounded so horrible. And the depression of the adults in captivity. And they executives telling the poorly paid animal keepers if they don't like it, leave, they are easily replaced. American greed at its best.

ricoba · Dec 15, 2013

presley said:
American greed at its best.

When did greed become strictly and American emotion?

ondeadlin · Dec 15, 2013

ricoba said:
When did greed become strictly and American emotion?

The post doesn't say that. It says "American greed at its best." Just like any other country, I imagine we've got our share. This is an example of it IMO.

Passepartout · Dec 15, 2013

ricoba said:
When did greed become strictly and American emotion?

With a mindset of "I've got Mine- and will stand in the way of you getting yours." And executives- even of charities and non-profits paying themselves multiples of thousands of times that of their workers, greed may not be exactly an American emotion, but a good case can be made that we've transformed greed into an American art form.

presley · Dec 15, 2013

ricoba said:
When did greed become strictly and American emotion?

^Didn't say anything remotely close to that.

Back to the OP, I went ahead and watched it on Netflix. I think it was done beautifully. I expected it to be much more depressing than it was. I think it opens the door for many people to be more educated about the domino effects of their own personal decisions.

It actually gave me a little flashback of working at the San Diego zoo. Prior to the polar bears having their new exhibit, it was normal for cubs to be born and die and for the bears to be crazy (doing same movement over and over for hours at a time). It was very traumatizing to the people who worked there. An executive (6 figure income) teared up in a meeting talking about how we needed to do something about the polar bears. Looking back, makes me wonder why it took so long to update their enclosure. The Sunbears got a new enclosure during that time and while they built is as a forest to make it nicer for the animals, the animals were still captive and tore it down in a few days.

My own opinion on the whales killing the trainers is that they probably aren't trying to kill. They scratch and tear up the other whales in captivity and they are probably just doing that same to the trainers, but the trainers weigh so much less that they die.

mspeggysue911 · Dec 15, 2013

presley said:
^Didn't say anything remotely close to that.

Back to the OP, I went ahead and watched it on Netflix. I think it was done beautifully. I expected it to be much more depressing than it was. I think it opens the door for many people to be more educated about the domino effects of their own personal decisions.

It actually gave me a little flashback of working at the San Diego zoo. Prior to the polar bears having their new exhibit, it was normal for cubs to be born and die and for the bears to be crazy (doing same movement over and over for hours at a time). It was very traumatizing to the people who worked there. An executive (6 figure income) teared up in a meeting talking about how we needed to do something about the polar bears. Looking back, makes me wonder why it took so long to update their enclosure. The Sunbears got a new enclosure during that time and while they built is as a forest to make it nicer for the animals, the animals were still captive and tore it down in a few days.

My own opinion on the whales killing the trainers is that they probably aren't trying to kill. They scratch and tear up the other whales in captivity and they are probably just doing that same to the trainers, but the trainers weigh so much less that they die.

The whales "rake" each other in captivity and they are trying to hurt each other. It is not playful when they did their teeth into each other and draw blood and create big gashes. So the fact that THAT may be what they are doing to humans doesn't lessen what they are doing.

Dawn was scalped. The whales pulled her scalp off then wouldn't give her body back.

The homeless man they found naked draped across Tilikum's back dead has been bitten all over his body and had his entire scrotum ripped off. That is not being playful and that is not NOT trying to harm them.

I 100% believe they were trying to kill when they killed.

My DD13 finished watching Blackfish and she thought it was disturbing what the whales have done but she said it doesn't make her NOT want to go back to Sea World.

presley · Dec 15, 2013

mspeggysue911 said:
My DD13 finished watching Blackfish and she thought it was disturbing what the whales have done but she said it doesn't make her NOT want to go back to Sea World.

Will you continue to visit/pay Sea World? I didn't notice if you said you would continue to visit or not. My kids are old enough that if they wanted to go, they could. They don't want to, though.

It really boils down to the lies that prevent me from going there. If they truly cared about conservation/education, they could answer questions honestly rather than tell lies. They should have been shut down for having employees swim/feed/work near animals that have already killed without informing the employees of the increased danger.

Since I've already banned Sea World, I can't say if seeing this movie would have made me not want to go. I do hope that moving forward, Sea World will continue to help animals in need and get away from capturing happy wild animals. They certainly have that potential, even if it takes a few decades to get all the way there.

CarolF · Dec 15, 2013

I don't see the entertainment value of dancing wild animals or marine mammals. It is offensive to me.

I was glad when India banned the use of dancing bears and would be pleased if dancing and jumping dolphins and killer whales were banned too. Recently animal welfare societies celebrated when the UK government passed a ban on using wild animals in circuses.

VegasBella · Feb 23, 2014

I've seen it. I go to San Diego all the time but I won't ever go to Sea World. It's just wrong to keep wild animals in tiny cages/pools. Wild animals belong in the wild, not in amusement parks.

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billymach4 · Feb 23, 2014

yes I saw it.

SeaWorld is on my S#!+ list. Will not ever go, and will not let any family member go. End of story.

Have you seen the documentary Blackfish?

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