Warning. This
documentary is harrowing. And this is as it should be. I personally reckon you
should force yourself to watch it anyway. I did – and this despite the fact
that I already hate zoos, animal parks, in short anything that entails humans
keeping animals in tiny enclosures. Or large enclosures. Heck, enclosures
period. Especially if you`re a fan of all the Orca shows , you need to see
this. It isn`t scandal-mongering. Yes, death and bloodshed is a part of it but
we don`t see people being torn limb from limb. Don`t worry if you have a
sensitive stomach – there is barely a drop of blood in sight. I won`t give any
guarantees on you not having a broken heart though. That`s another story.
Blackfish
tells the stories of a number of different wales in a number of different institutions
but is vaguely centred on Tilikum, known as the largest killer whale kept in
captivity. Living up to his dastardly name, Tilikum is responsible for the
deaths of three keepers and several injuries. But Tilikum is a savage hunter
and killer right? Maybe it was the trainers that weren`t careful. Or maybe…
Just maybe there is something more serious going on here…
First of
all, let me assure you of one thing. I mentioned it in the intro I`ll assure
you of this again – there is very little actual blood. You will not be
tormented with torturous re-enactments or vats of unconvincing fake blood. Real
footage is used when it can be, as are police interviews and the minutes from
court cases. But trust me, having a weak stomach is no excuse for not watching
this fella. What we do have is eye-witness accounts. Visitors who witnessed the
attacks, sure but you have to realise that the attacks themselves are only a
result. What the documentary really shows us is what pushed Tilikum to attack
and kill three different trainers. The answer is sadly easy to guess : we did.
Blackfish
interviews former trainers, people employed by the park all the way down the
line, right to the guys who are responsible for catching the whales in the wild
and reel them in. It is all very well and good imagining killer whales are
these dumb critters who know no better but these are animals with complex
family lives. Actual languages. A large brain that has been scientifically
proven to have extra parts to it the human brain does not have. And we abduct
them when they are calves and keep them in concrete pools with no stimulation
for all of their lives. We force them to live with other animals and tell the
kids they are one big happy family while they actually probably don`t even
speak the same language. We make cuddly toys of them and make sure we don`t
think about how the mothers cry when their calves are abducted. Because they
do. That was the anecdote that touched me the most (so much so that, since as
you may know I am very close to my own mother, I called her at what was in
Turkey the middle of the night sobbing and had to be calmed down. Mom I have to
say you handled the situation very well considering.) Anyway this anecdote was
about a mother and calf. These two lived in a SeaWorld park and were utterly inseparable.
Until the calf started getting a bit disrespectful to the keepers, you know,
she`s young, she`s giving them some attitude. SeaWorld decides the way to go is
to separate the calf and the mother, so the calf is shipped to Florida. The
mother is inconsolable and starts making these weird cries no one has ever
heard before and in somewhere like SeaWorld this collectively are decades of
experience working with animals. So experts are called in and the calls are
analysed and the results are shocking as they are harrowing. They are long
distance calls. She is perfectly aware her baby girl has been taken far, far
away and in her desperation she is trying something humanity has never heard
before to see if she can somehow reach her…
Guys,
parents… Please teach your children that zoos are cruel. Teach them that
animals should be free in the wild. Let`s put these horrors out of business so
other families don`t have to be rent asunder like this. One of the trainers
interviewed says that he thinks that in 50 years we may well look back at these
days as decades of incomprehensible cruelty. I devoutly hope he is right…
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