This is a case study in the misguided human need to interfere and control nature.
Orca strands in Norway. Authorities decide it is in a bad way. Orca is dispatched with two rifle shots.
Why? That is not clear.
What would be the problem with just letting nature take its course, whatever the outcome?
Former SeaWorld trainers discuss what they did (and didn’t) know about the 1987 tragedy in which trainer John Sillick was crushed by a killer whale at Sea World San Diego.
It’s always illuminating to hear directly from trainers who worked with killer whales at SeaWorld. Recently, Bridgette Pirtle a former trainer at SeaWorld Texas, decided to come forward and talk about her experience, and views on orca captivity (she also provided some great waterwork footage for Blackfish).
Voice Of The Orcas, a site put together by other former SeaWorld trainers speaking out about orca captivity, caught up with Bridgette for an interview. Here’s a sample, but, as always, I urge you to read the whole thing (and not just because she says nice things about my work):
Halyn was the first killer whale I saw being born. For the first few months of her life, I was there doing night-watches and around the clock bottle-feeds. During the first week of her life, we had lowered a back pool to about 4 ft of water and lined the walls with tubes from the water park to act as bumpers.I was snorkeling near one corner watching her swim when she just stopped and watched me too. I don’t think I could hold my breathe that long ever again, butjust having those couple of minutes of having this tiny whale make eye contact with you and stay there with you was unreal. I was the first trainer to give her the bottle and some of my first behaviors I trained with killer whales were teaching Halyn.In the last few weeks of her life, I tried to be there with her as much as possible. I was one of the trainers in the water holding her before she passed away.
Recently announced: Blackfish will make its Canadian premiere in Toronto at the Canadian International Documentary Film Festival.
Screening times and tickets here.
I hesitate to post this, which was shot over SeaWorld San Diego when Sumar died in September 2010, because I don’t want it to seem gratuitous. But I am going ahead, because death for orcas at marine parks, usually premature death, is part of the orca experience in captivity that marine parks would prefer the public knew little about (much less see).
But marine parks can’t control everything that gets presented to the public, or the air space over their pools. So when there are opportunities to tell a fuller story than gets told from a marine park stage, or in a cheery brochure or TV commercial, the fuller story should be told.
This is great news, and will be the perfect way to take Blackfish overseas for the first time:
The programme announced today includes 18 feature films and nine short films across four sections, including a new UK Spotlight. Twenty-three films will make their international, European or UK premieres at Sundance London. Ten are by female filmmakers and six are by first-time feature filmmakers. The films collectively received 12 awards when they premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, U.S.A.. Among the artists expected to attend Sundance London are Lake Bell, Mike Birbiglia, Jimmy Carr, the Eagles, Barbara Kopple and Peaches, as well as Sundance Institute President & Founder Robert Redford.
For any Londoners, tickets will be available from 9:00 am GMT, March 15, at www.sundance-london.com.
From a high school reviewer in Missouri:
This masterpiece is a movie that made me want to go out and help make a change. It made me feel connected to other individuals in a uniquely original way, and not all of them were human.
That’s about all you can ask for when you make a documentary. The whole review is worth reading.
Folks in orca forums have been suspecting this for a while, but as Blackfish continues to roll out, I thought I would confirm that Takara is indeed pregnant.
Following the failure of her last pregnancy, she was AI’d again last summer, presumably again with sperm from Kshamenk. Takara is the dominant orca at SeaWorld Texas, and she tends to be on more of a hair trigger through the early hormonal surges of pregnancy. So for a while the Texas orca group had to be managed carefully to minimize the likelihood that Takara would rough up other whales. Interestingly, part of the strategy was to keep the whole group of orcas together in one pool whenever possible, on the theory that Takara’s mobility would be limited and that for Takara a confined space limits her inclination toward aggression during the early stages of pregnancy. Separating her was believed to make her more anxious to affirm her dominance when she got a chance.
Apparently, Kasatka, Takara’s mother, also has similar issues with hormones and aggression during early pregnancy. But while conscious of Kastaka’s propensity for increased aggression during the early stages of pregnancy, the California park did what it could to manage the aggression without reducing Kasatka’s space.
Not sure what is happening with Kayla, who last year was also on the AI list…
After almost two years of shoots and editing, Blackfish was finally shown on a big screen, in front of an auditorium full of normal people who don’t obsess about orcas. There were some gasps and murmurs during the viewing, when some particularly stunning footage of trainer injury, or orca captures, came on the screen. And most of the audience stayed after to listen to the former SeaWorld trainers featured in the movie answer questions.
Now, we wait to see if a distributor picks up the movie, which is the next step to getting it in front of a general audience. Whether and how that happens will depend in part on how Blackfish is received by the critics. And here is the first review, from Indiewire:
Nobody from SeaWorld agreed to an interview for “Blackfish,” Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s searing take on the theme park’s mistreatment of killer whales and the dozens of deaths that have resulted from it. Instead, the majority of its subjects are ex-SeaWorld trainers frustrated by the negligence they witnessed up close and willing to speak out. Nevertheless, based on the evidence on display in “Blackfish,” Cowperthwaite’s case against SeaWorld would change little with an opposing point of view. The movie makes a strong case against the captivity of killer whales under sub-circus conditions, but the stance is made even more horrifying because so little has changed in the history of the organization. “Blackfish” is less balanced investigation than full-on takedown of a broken system.
My only quibble is that the former trainers in Blackfish are not “disgruntled.” They are “disillusioned.” But it’s a review that we are pretty happy with.
Here’s one more moment from last night’s premiere that was pretty cool. Sundance Institute’s Director Of Programming, Trevor Groth, did us the honor of introducing Blackfish and Gabriela. And he talked about how it impacted him. You can’t really see him, but you can hear him:
This must be a good omen: that’s ex-SeaWorld trainer John Hargrove on the slopes, 8 hours before the Blackfish premiere:
The Earthist Chronicles 