Blackfish

Tilikum during a performance at SeaWorld

I have recently been noticing a ton of hype about the newly released documentary Blackfish all over social media. Blackfish tells the story of one orca, Tilikum, a performing killer whale at SeaWorld. The documentary shines light on the cruel treatment of orcas in captivity, the lives and losses of the trainers and the pressures brought to bear by the multi-billion dollar sea-park industry. Though I am glad people are starting to see the lies behind SeaWorld and their killer whale shows, I don’t recall any hype over The Cove back in 2009. The Cove is a documentary that exposes the slaughter of more than 20,000 dolphins and porpoises off the coast of Japan every year, and how their meat, containing toxic levels of mercury, is sold as food in Japan and other parts of Asia, often labeled as whale meat. These documentaries don’t cover even half of what marine mammals battle on a daily basis. I’m glad people are taking notice in SeaWorld but we need to take a stand with all sea-parks for the protection of all marine mammals. Remember that these problems don’t just start and end with the orcas at SeaWorld; it affects all marine mammals in captivity.

The Cove: Taiji dolphin hunts