Black Fish

[Libby]

Black Fish is a documentary on orcas. Mostly about Tilikam but others as well and some of the accents. Interviews from the people who caught the orcas and former SeaWorld trainers speaking out about what they witnessed and experienced. It's amazing to hear their stories. The deception from the company at the expense of the trainers. It's heart breaking to hear what the orcas had to go through.

A couple facts I thought were interesting is that to the date of the film there had NEVER been an attack on humans from wild orcas. I don't think that has changed either. And that in the wild only 1% of orcas have the flopped over dorsal fin. In captivity over 50% largely males have the flopped over dorsal fin. Also 54% of orcas born in captivity are related to Tilikam.

I highly recommend watching it. Anyone who has access to a Netflix should watch it.

[Catherine]

I am glad you reminded me about this film. I really want to see it. I hope many people see this film and start to think about how we treat marine mammals. If we stop paying to see the shows they will stop putting the orcas on display.

I can't bear to visit a place that has orcas. I have seen them in the wild and they belong in the wild.

[Libby]

the former trainers are now fighting to get the orcas like Tilikam that have spent over 25 years in the business into sea pens and the ones that are still young enough back into the ocean. But it's amazing to me the horror stories. The fact that before the attacks there was always a warning sign. They could always trace it back to you could tell the orca didn't want to do it anymore. And oh my gosh the park Tilikam was at originally is a horror story in itself. They had no idea what they were doing. It was torture for the animals.
But watching the film helped me realize it's not the SeaWorld trainers to blame. They really do care for the orcas. And a lot even after they realized the truth about what was going on they stayed for Tilikam. It's the park owners that are greedy and don't want to let go of the orcas because they are worth millions. Even poor Tilikam is only being kept around for breeding purposes. Which is ridiculous because with his aggression his genes aren't the best to pass on to the next generations of orcas.
It's time to let the marine parks go. I went to SeaWorld when I was 13. I thought it was so cool and I wanted to swim with them. That dream died though because I'm not a very good swimmer. But I talked to one of the trainers there at the time. I wanted to know what it took to become a trainer. He said I needed a bachelors degree in Marine Biology. In the film you learn real quick that is not the case. Most had never even trained an animal before. It was all because they were good swimmers and they had a good personality. If I went to SeaWorld now I'd probably get thrown out for yelling out all the lies they tell. Like orcas only living to 35 years fewer in the wild. lies lies lies! They can live as long as humans in the wild. females can reach over 100 and males 50-60 in the open ocean.
Daughters never leave there mother in the wild. But in captivity they can be ripped apart at the drop of a hat. Leaving both mother and daughter depressed, crying, and shaking. I wish every one could watch Black Fish. It could change a lot of peoples minds about the Marine parks.

[Catherine]

I would start chanting "Free the Whales" and would get kicked out before the show even got started.
We can forgive mistakes made when we did not know any better, but now we know that whales are intelligent. We could hope that one day our species could have a relationship with their species, but they are not a toy. We treat them as property and we do not have the right to own them.

I hope the truth will bring about change. But the change has to be us, not sea world. We have to demand that they stop shows. We have to stop paying to see shows.
We owe Tillicum so much.
We can never make it right, we can only make it a little better. A sea pen would be the least we could do for him.