(This is going to be a long blog post. If you are not in the mood to read and would rather listen, there is a link to my YouTube video at the bottom of this page that goes along with this post.)
So
let me just start off with the obvious:
I
Support SeaWorld.
That’s
right, I am pro SeaWorld.
Now you guys are
probably like Zowie, what the heck? You love animals, you went to school for
animal behavior, ecology, and conservation! How can you be pro SeaWorld!!?!?!?
Haven’t you seen Blackfish?! Have you even been to SeaWorld?!
Ok , so #1 Yes, I have
been to SeaWorld, and I am here today to explain to you exactly why I support
SeaWorld, and #2 Nothing makes me more mad than Blackfish…..well except maybe
someone chewing with their mouth open….that really grinds my gears. So needless
to say, I’ll explain why “I watched Blackfish” is not a valid reason to be anti
SeaWorld.
Now don’t get me wrong,
being supportive of SeaWorld doesn't mean I agree with everything they do. I
support any good zoo, but in every zoo i’ve been to, there is always at least one
enclosure that I don’t like. It doesn’t mean I’m going to throw a fit and
boycott that zoo. I obviously don’t love orcas being kept in those pools,
I mean that is a given.
Ok,
so here is the part that I think everyone forgets :
SeaWorld
is more than just their orcas.
So
let’s start from the beginning:
SeaWorld opened in 1964.
Back then, zoos and aquariums took animals from the wild with the intentions to
show off animal collections and make money off of them. This wasn’t unique to
SeaWorld, yet SeaWorld to this day seems to be the main victim of these claims.
Over the years, zoos and
aquariums have moved in positive directions. So how has SeaWorld changed for
the better?
Well to start, SeaWorld
has not captured an orca from the wild in over 35 years. A majority of their
current orcas were captive bred.
In recent years,
SeaWorld San Diego announced the end of their killer whale show and breeding
program, with Parks in Orlando and San Antonio following suit, ending their
shows by 2019.
Now before you get all
excited about the Orcas not having to perform “tricks”, let me clarify by
saying the orcas will still have training and cues from trainers. If you visit
the parks, you’ll still see orcas leaping out of the water, because it is a
natural behavior, and part of zoos and aquariums jobs is to encourage animals
to exhibit their natural behavior.
Because I want to end on
a good note, I will now dissect claims made in Blackfish, and then I’ll give
you the reasons I support SeaWorld.
Blackfish, the one sided
movie (notice how I will not call it a documentary). I’ve never watched it, and
I never will. Even when it came out in 2013, I somehow knew it was going to be
a whole lot of hoolpa. It contains 99% false information that plays off of
viewers emotion rather than giving scientific information backed by research.
The movie mostly contains information that was true way back when the parks
first opened and orcas were wild caught and used for money, rather than showing
recent happenings. (Did I mention it’s a whole lot of hoopla?)
Now, I get why someone
who has watched Blackfish without visiting SeaWorld or researching the parks
would have a lot of hatred. So before you get all defensive and come after me
for tearing apart Blackfish when I’ve never seen it, let me explain.
I had the pleasure of
meeting Heather Hill, a comparative psychologist, marine biologist, and marine
mammal specialist that has studied several marine mammals and humans in
captivity for over 20 years (including, you guessed it, orcas!).
She came and spoke at my
school about her research, some of which was based off of the claims in
Blackfish. As someone who has studied these animals in captivity for over 2
decades, she had a lot to say about claims against marine mammals in captivity
and had spent a good amount of time dissecting Blackfish and finding all of the
false information in it (AND BACKING IT WITH SCIENTIFIC RESEARCH).
Perhaps the most in your
face emotional tug of the movie is the music. As a dual major with Digital
Media Art, I have to applaud their genius use of music. Throughout the movie,
they use music to set the mood, so they obviously aren’t using happy music. The
next time you watch Blackfish, I want you to mute the tv, and play some happy
music. See how your perception of what is happening on film changes.
In an interview with
former trainer Kyle Kittleson, he explains that many of the scenes in the movie
show normal orca behavior, but because of the music overlaying the video, they
appear aggressive. This is something Heather Hill also told us.
Kyle makes many good
points throughout his interview, so I recommend giving it a watch. You can
watch it by following this link.
Do you recall the scene
in the film where Samantha Berg is talking about her first time performing
waterwork with the orcas? A video played showing her doing that - except it
wasn’t her. It was a video of trainer Holly Byrd. They took this life changing moment
that meant so much to Holly, and twisted it to make it fit their agenda. You
can listen to Holly talk about it in this interview.
Remember how I said
SeaWorld hasn’t captured an orca from the wild in over 35 years? If your
knowledge of SeaWorld comes from Blackfish, then this might come as a surprise
to you, since the movie wants you to believe they are still doing it. (News
Flash - the goal of good zoos and aquariums is to conserve species and keep
them from going extinct. No good facilities pull animals from the wild anymore
unless it’s an emergency situation.
Now
let’s get more scientific.
Going back to Heather
Hill’s research. When asked about the benefits, Dr. Hill explained that having
them in captivity allows for us to study them, and learn about their behavioral
development and cognitive abilities, thus helping us better understand them,
their social structure, and their needs. According to her, one of the greatest
changes in the last 20 years in the care of captive orcas, is the realization
of appropriate social groupings, which seaworld has been able to act upon
thanks to research done by scientists like Heather Hill.
She was also questioned
about what seemed like a boring life for the orcas. Because she studied their
behavior for over 20 years, she had seen first hand how not having to spend
time hunting or worrying about survival affected what they did with their time.
In captivity, you are
able to see more fun and personal behaviors, because you take away the stress
of being hunted or having to hunt. There is more time for other things, like
play and social interactions. This is common in all captive animals.
Ok,
but how do they avoid being bored?
That my friends, is called
Enrichment. Keepers, trainers, aquarists, etc. - whoever is in charge of
the husbandry and training of these captive animals makes sure to provide
plenty of mental stimulation. This can range from toys to keep them occupied,
training sessions, puzzles and challenges to stimulate their minds - there are
so many different forms of enrichment! Even seeing people is a form of
enrichment!
So
while we are on the topic, let's talk about training.
You Blackfish watchers
may be under the impression that the whales are deprived of food and forced to
perform for the public.
What
if I told you that is dead WRONG.
Something vital to the
health of an animal, such as food, is never withheld from an animal. At
SeaWorld they train using operant conditioning and positive reinforcement.
This means that the
orcas get rewarded when they do a wanted behavior. Rewards could vary from orca
to orca - for some getting a rub down is a reward, for others it's getting
sprayed with water, for others it is food. What happens when they don’t do the behavior?
Absolutely nothing. And I mean nothing - the trainers ignore it and move on
with their day.
So what about the orca
shows? Obviously they are forced to perform for the general public, right?
Wrong again! Imagine
this…. You are an average 5’5” female on a stage and you give a command to a 12,000
lbs orca to do a backflip out in the pool. Please tell me how you are going to
FORCE the orca to do that backflip. If the orca doesn't want to do the
backflip, the orca doesn't do the backflip. This is exactly what happens at
SeaWorld. They have canceled many orca shows because the orcas didn't feel like
performing that day.
Remember earlier when I
said SeaWorld agreed to stop their breeding program as a move in the right
direction? What if I told you there were problems with this? From a scientific
standpoint, without breeding, scientists can no longer research calf
relationships - this includes mother and calf, calf and pod, calf with dad,
etc. Another reason this is unfortunate, according to Heather Hill, is you are
taking an important form of enrichment and life away from the rest of the pod.
These females will never get to experience motherhood, and the pod loses a key
part of their being, which is the calves.
Speaking of mothers and
calves, Blackfish leads you to believe that SeaWorld constantly separate
mothers from their babies, and they even play you sounds of crying calfs.
Guess what? SeaWorld
hasn't separated a mother and baby in over 3 decades, and would not do so again
unless absolutely necessary.
The god awful
heartbreaking sounds of a whale crying? Well those sounds are fake. Not real.
Nada. They are unrelated recordings played over a video (of an orca that
according to many articles isn’t even Kasatka). Also, notice how her mouth is
open? Orcas don’t call with their mouths, they make noises via air sacs in
their blowhole region, so if those noises were coming from the orca in the
film, her mouth wouldn’t be open.
Another topic of
conversation with Heather Hill was what makes a good captive environment?
According to her, a well put together captive environment must have enough
space to create places to get away, it must provide the right social structure,
and opportunities to come together and leave one another in a social group -
all of which is provided by SeaWorld.
Ok but what about the
size of the pools?? The #1 concern people have told me they have with SeaWorld
is the size of the pools. If I were to ask why this upsets you, you would tell
me things like, the orcas are sad, the orcas want to be in the ocean, the pools
aren’t big enough, etc.
So I would follow up
with the following questions:
- What
makes you think the orcas are sad?
- How
do the orcas know they want to be in the ocean, if they were born in
captivity?
Think about this - these
animals were born at SeaWorld - they have never been in the ocean, they have
never been independent of their trainers, they live in a pool where the water
is constantly tested and kept at perfect levels.
You can’t train a
captive born orca to be a wild orca, and to hunt, survive, and depend on their
pod in a wild environment. So releasing them into the wild is out of the
question.
People also argue that
the whales are sad. How do you know? Did they whales tell you? Saying they are
sad is making an assumption. Send me some research that comes to the conclusion
that they are sad and I’ll revisit this topic.
Yes, the pools are
small, but when it's all you’ve known, it's your home. What if I told you the
whales have access to more than one pool at a time and they prefer to stay in
the smaller pools? I have heard this from more than one person, one being Dr.
Hill.
Now I’m not saying I
agree with the size, but I don’t necessarily agree with the sea pens either. I
think it's a great idea and it would be phenomenal if it worked, but ultimately
SeaWorld would be gambling with the health and the life of the animals if they
made that move. Would it be something to look into for the future? It would,
except captive breeding of orcas is not longer happening at SeaWorld, so soon
there won’t be any more orcas in the facilities.
Now think about this - a
child watches an orca on tv. Ok, cool its an orca. Now imagine a child comes
face to face with an orca at SeaWorld - the only thing separating them is the
tank. Imagine the awe and appreciation that child now has seeing an orca in
person.
This goes for all
animals, and is just one of the many things I love about zoological facilities.
You can lecture to people all day long about animals in the wild and the
conservation initiatives behind them, but it tends to have the best effect when
people can make a personal connection - and by this I mean see the animal for
themselves.
And you might say,
exactly! - Tell them to see the animal in the wild! Then they’ll really have a
newfound appreciation! And you are right! Here’s the problem - A Majority of
people don’t have the means to travel and see animals in their natural
habitats. Take gorillas for instance. It is ridiculously expensive to go out
and see gorillas, and there is always a chance you might not even see any!
Sometimes going to a zoo
or a place like SeaWorld is the only way a lot of people will actually see an
orca and be able to make a personal connection. All SeaWorld wants is to create
an appreciation for species and the ocean and to be able to have their rescue
and rehabilitation program succeed.
So another hot topic -
what is up with their dorsal fins, am I right? We are led to believe that
collapsed dorsal fins are a result of captivity, and according to Blackfish,
less than 1% of wild orcas have collapsed dorsal fins. What if I told you
research has shown that ¼ of the males in the wild New Zealand population ALONE
have collapsed dorsal fins?
In reality, a collapsed
dorsal fin has nothing to do with the animals health. The collagen in the fin
is breaking down, and scientists are still trying to figure out the exact
cause, but there seems to be correlations with age and warmer temperature. Age
is self explanatory, but let me talk about temperature. Warmer temps can
disrupt collagen's structure and rigidity. A captive orca breaches the surface
more often than a wild orca, which could be why it is more commonly seen in
captivity, BUT it is not only seen in captivity, and it is seen far more than
1% in the wild (sorry Blackfish, you need a fact check). Here is another theory in this awesome article backed
with studies.
Speaking of fact checks,
the film claims there are no recorded orca attacks on humans in the wild. Ok,
then tell me why there are at least 6 recorded incidents of orca attacks in the
wild?
Moving on: Blackfish
also claims that captivity shortens their lifespan. Recently, the Oxford
University Journal of Mammalogy released a peer reviewed study, which says that
Killer Whales at SeaWorld live just as long as those in the wild. WOAH Science
*brain combustion*.
Now I’ve very clearly
hit many points in Blackfish, and there are many more I could hit, but without
watching the film, I’ll leave that to the professionals like Heather Hill.
Before I end my
Blackfish discussion and move on to the reasons why I ultimately support
SeaWorld, let me finish by leaving you with this:
Where you get your
information from is just as important, if not more important, than the
information itself.
The cast of Blackfish
consists of past SeaWorld employees - all which pretty much had an ax to grind
with SeaWorld. Want to see for yourself?
Cast:
John
Hargrove: Perhaps the most well
known Ex SeaWorld employee, because he speaks out against SeaWorld. He was a
SeaWorld trainer from 1991 to 2001 and 2008 to 2012. Everyone thinks he’s the
god of spilling SeaWorld secrets, but he especially ended on a bad note with
the organization. During his time at the park, he was demoted to sea lion and
otter for an incident that occurred with another trainer. Shortly after he
quit. And get this - he NEVER even worked at SeaWorld Orlando with Tilikum
(where the film took place).
Samantha
Berg: Blackfish was filmed
in 2013. Samantha has not worked at seaworld in over 20 years, therefore what
she experienced as a trainer was far different from what SeaWorld is now.
In fact, she admitted that her knowledge about the training of the staff
and protocols only extends to what was in place around 1993. She primarily
worked with dolphins and sea lions and a little with the killer whales, but she
was not a part of Tilikum's team, therefore she never worked with him.
Kim
Ashdown: She primarily
worked with beluga whales, dolphins, and sea lions. She worked with killer
whales for 4 months and was never assigned to Tilikum's team and therefore
never worked with him. She's also never performed waterwork with any of the
killer whales (performing in the water with the orcas).
John
Jett: Similar to
Samantha Berg, John had not worked at SeaWorld in over 17 years. He was an
employee there from 1992 until 1996. He had limited interaction with orcas, and
was assigned to Tilikum's team for a little while, but he was always under the
supervision of spotters and a senior trainer. He was never in charge of
Tilikum's training sessions or husbandry procedures. He ended up getting
demoted to sea lion and otter trainer for being a poor swimmer and (rumor has
it) disliked by the whales he worked with.
Dean
Gomersall: He worked with belugas,
dolphins, sea lions, and otters. He never once worked with orcas and was fired
for kicking a sea otter (on purpose) during a training session.
Jeffrey
Ventre: Again, another past
employee who has not worked at seaworld in over 17 years. In his time there, he
worked with killer whales for 3 years. He too was fired, except he was fired
for sticking his head inside the mouth of one of the orcas known to be aggressive
(sounds like a real smart guy, am I right?).
Let’s say I’m impartial
and I won’t make a decision about SeaWorld until I watch Blackfish. If I knew
that this was the cast that would be telling me what is wrong with SeaWorld in
terms of their orcas, I would take what is said in the movie with a grain of
salt. Actually, I probably would not even bother watching the movie.
If you ended on bad
terms with SeaWorld, or worked at SeaWorld way back when animal husbandry and
knowledge was at a minimal, you would probably talk crap about you ex employer
too if you found out you could be in a movie making big bucks.
One cast member I did
not mention above is Mark Simmons. This is because in a separate interview he
claimed he had 3 hours worth of interview footage that he gave. Sure all
facilities make mistakes and can make changes. The animal world is always
changing and always learning, so did Mark make comments that could make
SeaWorld look bad if taken out of context? Ya probably, and this is exactly
what the creators of Blackfish did.
He claims they took
anything meaningful he had to say, and didn’t include it in the video,
obviously because it was against their agenda. Watch the video for yourself here. You can tell this is a man who loved his job
and loves the animals, and was truly hurt by the lies that Blackfish portrays.
If you would like to
read more about the lies in Blackfish, here is a link to a 32 page chart of all of the
misleading scenes and information in the film along with explanations and
evidence. Also, here is a link to another blog post in which Isaac
Wad dissects Blackfish as well, with links to scientific articles, as well as
digital copies of files from events discussed in Blackfish.
Well now that I am
finally done ranting about Blackfish, I can move on to all of the reasons
SeaWorld has my support.
I said at the beginning
that SeaWorld is more than just the orcas, so let's move on and talk about more
than just the orcas.
The most obvious reason
to support SeaWorld, is because of the amazing work they do with wildlife
rescue and rehabilitation.
SeaWorld and Busch
Gardens parks participate in their rescue and rehabilitation program - which is
the largest and most advance rescue program in the US. SeaWorld pays for the
program out of pocket, which can be anywhere around $1 mil annually. In 2012,
the program ended up costing them more than $2.5 million.
That is a lot of money,
and what makes it even more amazing is that they are under no obligation to
rescue or rehabilitate, the teams that go out are made up of animal care
employees and rescue VOLUNTEERS and the money comes out of the companies
pocket. Wondering how it can possibly cost that much? Well reducing one sea
turtle alone can cost thousands of dollars.
So where does the money
come from? It comes from ticket sales and sales within the parks. Each
ticket and everything you do at seaworld helps fund their wildlife rescue and
rehabilitation efforts, habitat protections, and ocean health initiatives.
The money also allows
them to advance the science behind the program. They were able to develop pilot
whale back braces, manatee baby formula, and prosthetic beaks for injured
birds.
If you are anything like
me, you want to see the number - so here they are:
Animal rescue and
rehabilitation has been the heart of seaworld for more than 50 years and they
have had over 34,000 rescues. This includes 528 cetaceans, 7972 pinnipeds, 2670
reptiles, 22147 birds, 702 manatees, and 273 other mammals.
And to top it off, like
most zoological facilities now a days, they eliminated all plastic straws and
plastic bags within the parks.
Like I said, I have been
to SeaWorld (recently too, as in 2016). I had heard the horror stories, but I
don’t make assumptions and judge until I have all of the facts and experience
things for myself.
When I visited SeaWorld
I was a sophomore in college and was currently in a Social Organization of
Mammals class, and we were just finishing up out marine mammal unit, so there
was no better time to visit SeaWorld for the first time.
I had also taken a Zoo
Exhibitry class, in which we traveled to many zoological facilities and judged
them not only from an ABEC (animal behavior, ecology and conservation major)
standpoint, but also from a visitor perspective, so I was well prepared to show
up to SeaWorld and judge EVERYTHING.
And guess what? SeaWorld
is my favorite Florida park (yes, even over Magic Kingdom). I loved my time
there, and loved learning all about their rescue and rehabilitation program. I
would go there again and again. I threw my money at them in all of the gift
shops.
Now this may not change
your mind on SeaWorld, and that is fine, you are entitled to your own opinions.
All I ask is that you don’t use Blackfish as your reason. Do your own research
and visit the park for yourself and make your own decisions based off of your
own personal experience and knowledge.
My final
statement/question that I am going to leave you with - this is something I say
all the time to anti zoo/aquarium/SeaWorld people:
Why are you spending all of your
time hating, boycotting, and fighting facilities protecting earth's species,
instead of fighting the reasons we need them in the first place?
If
you really want them to not exist and to have no animals subjective to captivity,
than focus your efforts on poaching, deforestation, global warming, and what
you can be doing at home to help the planet be a place where wild animals can
thrive.
(side note --- When is
the movie Blackshark coming out? Or are all of you animal rights advocates just
going to focus on SeaWorld and ignore the fact that the Georgia Aquarium is
keeping whale sharks in captivity?)
(side note #2 -- in case
you were wondering, yes, I would love to visit the Georgia Aquarium)
Overview of links to
check out:
*Highly recommend
checking this out*
