The 2013 film Blackfish, through its sensationalism and outright lies, has caused a ripple effect that

threatens to end zoological conservation and study as we know it. The film began as an expos on the
death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, but became a hodgepodge of, blatant factual inaccuracies and
deliberately misleading editing (which were quickly disproven by a 69-point document released by
SeaWorld), conflicting ideas and statements by biased and unqualified witnesses, anthropomorphisation
of killer whales with no supporting research and flagrant appeals to emotion with no basis in scientific
fact. It posits that captivity is inherently abusive, and calls for all captive animals to be released into the
wild or into sea pens regardless of whether they were born in the wild or in captivity. This has had a
negative impact on zoological parks across the world, with legislators calling for bans on captive whales,
taking resources which could be spent on wildlife conservation and tying them up in litigation, and
ending a successful breeding program which has provided an immeasurable amount of valuable marine
research. Blackfish misdirects the audience and presents false and unsupported statements as truth in
order to justify its call for a ban on captivity (whether captured, bred, or rescued) and the release of all
captive whales in the directors narrow idea of animal welfare; instead it has only managed to mislead
the public and its representatives into harming animals both wild and captive, the reputation and
bottom line of SeaWorld and other zoological parks, and their conservation and research efforts outside
the tanks.

Blackfish claims to be a documentary on the captivity of Tilikum, a killer whale in the SeaWorld
collection, and the supposed consequences of that captivity, including the death of trainer Dawn
Brancheau in 2010 (Cowperthwaite, 2013). By the end of the film, those interviewed are calling for the
immediate release of all captive whales, even those born in captivity or rescued and deemed unable to
survive re-release, into the open ocean or into sea pens. Citations within the film include former
trainers no longer employed by the named marine parks, unrelated stock footage, news reports, and
court cases concerning various marine parks. It is a sensationalist work intended to shock people into
action such as boycotts and protests of SeaWorld. It attempts to establish credibility by relying on the
testimony of SeaWorld trainers who now decry the practices of the companyhowever, no current
employees of SeaWorld were interviewed, and creative and sometimes outright deceptive editing (such
as alarming sound effects added in post-production, repeated scenes of people screaming and ex-
trainers crying) is used to target the emotions of the audience with little regard for scientific fact. It also
features commentary from people deemed experts who do not even have a degree in any marine
biology-related field.

The document known as The SeaWorld 69 (SeaWorld, 2014) is a thorough, yet not exhaustive list
released by SeaWorld shortly after the release of Blackfish, which systematically identified and refuted
the most egregious lies by the filmmakers in chronological order. Complete with timestamps for each
point and backed up by multiple citations from court testimony to independent, peer-reviewed
research, it dismantles the bulk of the films claims and points out the severe lack of credibility of the
sources chosen to speak on the subjects of Tilikum and captive whales in general. Beginning with the
opening sequence composed of separate pieces of footage stitched together and overlaid with a 911 call
to make the audience believe they are viewing footage related to or directly before the death of trainer
Dawn Brancheau, the document continues to list the ways in which Blackfish mislead the world about
marine mammal captivity. The film builds a foundation of falsehoods which are easily disproven by
official documents: Such as the claim that Tilikum ate Dawns arm (disproven by the autopsy in which
her entire body was recovered), that SeaWorld continues to this day to capture whales from the wild
(the last wild whale in SeaWorlds collection was captured in 1979), that SeaWorld was banned from
Washington by a court order (which the court actually dismissed), that there is no record of any orca
harming a human being in the wild (5 incidents are offered, one example even easily available in the
2011 BBC documentary Frozen Planet, et al. (Seaworld, 2014)

Blackfish featured many visual and audio cuts spliced together to form a misleading narrative, from the
opening sequence mentioned above to stock footage of both wild and captive whales interspersed with
voiceovers which are talking about completely different orcas than the ones depicted. For example, one
sequence misleads the audience into thinking former trainer Berg is riding on the back of an orca, when
in fact no record exists of her doing waterwork in the heavily documented day-to-day procedures of
trainers at SeaWorld. Later, former trainer John Hargrove narrates that SeaWorld brought in a scientist
to analyze vocalizations after Takara, a female orca, had been moved to a different location than her
mother, Kasatka. He states that they analyzed the vocalizations and came to the conclusion that they
were long-range vocals looking for Takara. (Cowperthwaite, 2013) SeaWorld did not call in any
scientists to analyze vocalizations, and there was no factual basis that they were long range seeking
vocals as Hargrove stated. Furthermore, during Hargroves narration, the film shows footage of an orca
opening and closing its mouth, attempting to lead the audience into thinking this was the mother whale
vocalizing for her calf. Not only was this orca not Kasatka, the footage was not filmed at SeaWorld San
Diego where Kasatka resides. (SeaWorld, 2014) Even more critically, it ignores the fact that no whales
vocalize through their mouths. Whales make sounds by forcing air through their blowholes. The film
takes advantage of the general publics lack of knowledge about marine biology to push a false message
several times, most notably later in the film when old footage of a SeaWorld trainer is cut with footage
of a whale performing a slide-out behavior where the whale emerges from the water onto the stage
area of the pool with its mouth open. This footage is accompanied by a sound effect added in post-
production that sounds not unlike a distressed pig, and is not a vocalization that any orca is capable of.
Much of the public is unfamiliar with whale vocalizations, and Blackfish takes full advantage of this.

An article on TheDodo.com attempting to refute SeaWorlds defense brings up the five examples of
killer whales showing aggression towards or attacking humans provided in the SeaWorld 69. These
incidents occurred between 1910 and 2011, and include a 1972 incident where a surfer reported being
bitten by a killer whale off the coast of California and required 100 stitches. Below this list, the author
quotes the rebuttal provided by the Blackfish production team which stated SeaWorld seems to be
underscoring the important point that killer whales are in fact dangerous and unpredictable animals
(Guarino, 2014). At 24:09 in the film, Howard Garret states [Killer whales] are amazingly friendly and
understanding and intuitively want to be your companion. (Cowperthwaite, 2013). This illustrates all
too clearly that those responsible for Blackfish dont even have a cohesive message, and their efforts
seem to point to a smear campaign against SeaWorld and other marine parks with no basis in fact, as
statements both within the film and made about it after release are completely in opposition to one
another.

Of the many trainers interviewed, none of them worked at any SeaWorld location at the time of filming,
only two of them had ever worked with Tilikum, two of them had not worked at SeaWorld in 17-20
years, and not a single trainer interviewed about the incident which resulted in Brancheaus death was
working at the time or location of the incident. (SeaWorld, 2104) On the other hand, veteran trainer
Mark Simmons, who had regular and direct contact with Tilikum, called Blackfish a complete perversion
of [my] reality. He went on to say the film was masterfully woven with lies and disinformation and
just enough truth to convince almost anyone that didnt know better. Worse, not an ounce of the
counterpoints I provided for the film were used. In fact, what Gabriela used made my position appear
congruent to that of the films claim. (Davis, 2014) One of these former trainers, Samantha Berg,
emailed OSHAs lead trial lawyer during the hearings that took place after Brancheaus death to say my
testimony may not be credible... my direct knowledge of SeaWorlds Procedures for training their staff
only extends to what was in place up until August of 93. (SeaWorld, 2104) Yet Blackfish attempts to
paint her as a credible source on Tilikum and SeaWorlds operations at the time. Another so-called
expert that the film relies heavily on is Howard Garret, who speaks at length about the behavior and
lifespans of killer whales. Garret is the self-styled Dirt Doctor, a radio talk show host, author, and
blogger with a sociology degree from a liberal arts college and a Bachelor of Science in Park
Administration and Landscape Architecture-- possibly the furthest thing from academic or practical
experience in marine biology, marine mammology, or animal behavior, which would reasonably be
expected of someone being portrayed as an expert qualified to speak in a documentary about these
subjects. Another person that the film identifies as an expert is David Duffus, whose title in the film is
OSHA Expert Witness, Whale Researcher. (Cowperthwaite, 2013). During the OSHA hearings following
Brancheaus death, SeaWorld successfully challenged Duffus qualifications and lack of relevant
expertise. An OSHA Administrative Judge later issued an order to clarify that Duffus has no expertise in
the training of captive killer whales (SeaWorld, 2014). Yet Blackfish presents his various comments on
the behavior and disposition of captive killer whales, as well as incidents involving captive killer whales
and their handlers as fact, despite the ease with which all his statements are disproven by videos and
other factual evidence.

Another central untruth that Blackfish promotes is the idealization of killer whales in the wild as
completely healthy, psychologically well-adjusted animals who have never caused harm to a human,
while captive orcas suffer from psychosis that drives them to kill humans. The film makes two
contradictory points: That Tilikum, who is among the last of the wild-caught orcas, has so-called killer
genes which made it only a matter of time before he took the life of a human; and that it is only the
stress of captivity that drives orcas to madness and makes them attack humans, because, as the film
erroneously claims, orcas dont harm humans in the wild. There are several problems with these
conflicting messages. First, A simple Google search for are killer whales endangered returns the result
Data deficient (Data inadequate to determine a threat category). Scientists dont even have enough
research about the species as a whole to be able to determine their conservation status, yet the people
interviewed for Blackfish make all sorts of sweeping claims about the mental states of not only the
general wild population (whose numbers we dont even conclusively know), to that of captive whales
both as a group and as individuals. The film repeatedly emphasizes the point that captivity leads to
madness or psychosis in killer whales which drives them to attack or kill humans who interact with
them. But as Melissa Smith States in her critique of the film, to insist that a killer whale kills out of
psychosis is dubious. We do not nor will we ever fully understand the psychology of these animals well
enough to be certain of what is going on. (Smith, 2015). Second, there are multiple documented cases
of wild orcas attacking or causing harm to humans; there is not even enough research available to
determine the conservation status of orcinus orca, let alone to make sweeping generalizations about
any mental illness present in them; and the idea of killer genes is first and foremost ridiculous and
completely baseless, and flies in the face of the second point Blackfish states, that wild orcas do not
harm humans and that its captivity that causes them to be aggressive. The contradiction of the central
themes of the film are its biggest offense, not only to the dedicated, hard-working people of zoos and
aquariums, but to the intelligence of the general public. The film puts forth the idea that orcas are
somehow friendly, intelligent, social animals, and mindless, psychotic killers just waiting to springall at
the same time. Garrets assertion that orcas in the wild are friendly, understanding and seek
companionship is contradicted a mere three minutes later by Duffus describing his experience with wild
orcas: Ive spent a lot of time with killer whales and theyre always in charge, I never get out of the
boat and I never mess with them. (Cowperthwaite, 2013)

A harmful side effect of this films widespread viewership is that people with no qualifications or
experience in animal care are now calling for all captive animals to be released. The health and welfare
of SeaWorlds orcaswhich the Blackfish creators claim to be acting on behalf ofis threatened further
with the possibility of forced relocation into unsafe and ineffective sea pens, so that a handful of animal
rights activists may profit off them until they die in a statistically shorter time period than if they were
allowed to live out their lives in their current home. Not only would this be extremely costly (in terms of
logistics of returning each animal to its native habitat, the loss of millions of jobs from closed parks,
zoos, and aquariums, the cost to repurpose or demolish these facilities, the untold impact on local
wildlife etc.), disastrous to the ecosystem, and a huge loss in both animal research and education, but
the animals would almost certainly die within a short time after their release. Keiko, arguably the most
famous orca in the world as the star of the 1993 family drama Free Willy, died less than five years after
being placed in a sea pen near the waters where he was caught as a calf sometime around 1976. This
multimillion dollar campaign (which famously got most of its donations from children and schools) to
heal Keikos lesions, allow him to put on weight he had failed to gain over years of improper care, teach
him how to hunt and catch his own food, and slowly release him into wild waters and try to reunite him
with his pod, was eventually declared a failure by the experts who poured their time and hearts into
making it a success, as Keiko never reintegrated with a wild pod, and died of a respiratory infection that
could have easily been treated had he had access to the same veterinary care as he had when he was
captive. (Simmons, 2015) Yet Blackfish supporters, and even people in positions of power such as
members of the CCC, now support the idea of taking all captive orcas and placing them in sea pens
similar to the structure that Keiko was first placed into before being set free into the open ocean.
What these bandwagon jumpers have failed to realize is that if an orca born in the wild could not make
it back to their definition of wild and free after being under human care, then any orca born in captivity
(in filtered and sterilized water, hand-fed a pre-measured amount of restaurant-quality fish every day,
with round-the-clock monitoring by trainers and marine veterinarians and no family to reunite with in
the wild) would not stand a chance. The simple fact that supporters of sea pens ignore is that the very
nature of this solution would be an almost immediate death sentence to captive-bred killer whales.
They also neglect to consider injured or abandoned animals who were rescued from the wild, and were
deemed unable to survive in the wild. These animals now make up a significant portion of zoological
collections, and provide valuable research and breeding opportunities without removing healthy
specimens from the wild. Despite unsourced claims to the contrary, killer whales in captivity live as long
as or longer than killer whales in the wild, and both infant and adult mortality rates are much higher in
the wild. (Martin, 2015) There is simply no reason to subject captive bred whales to the risks, nor the
physical and psychological stress of relocation, changes in healthcare, water and food, and separation
from the trainers with whom theyve formed bonds.
The Animal Welfare Institute (AWI), a partisan animal rights activist group which has loudly and
repeatedly called for SeaWorlds animals to be retired to sea pens, developed plans to build a park
consisting of sea pens stocked with animals from SeaWorld and other aquariums, without a fraction of
the oversight on diet, food and water quality, and veterinary care that SeaWorlds orcas currently enjoy.
Notably, the AWI wants to charge admission to the public to view these animalsand operate as a non-
profit organization, which would exempt them from the sales and property taxes which SeaWorld pays.
That the very idea of such an obviously corrupt endeavor would even be entertained as feasible by
anyone is due in large part to the popularity of Blackfish and the speed and scale of the spread of its
misinformation.

As a result of this film, several organizations and many individuals have chosen to publicly boycott
marine parks, most notably the three SeaWorld locations in San Antonio, Orlando, and San Diego. These
boycotters put pressure on entertainers to cancel shows held at the parks, stage disruptive protests, and
admonish staff and guests alike for their continued attendance. These efforts have led to a sharp
decline in park attendance since the films release, resulting in declining stock, layoffs, sweeping changes
to the nature of animal interactions and the general tone of the shows, and hindering SeaWorlds
nonprofit conservation efforts by impacting their bottom line, from which the majority of conservation
funding is drawn. Thousands of taxpayer dollars have been wasted in OSHA investigations and litigation,
and the years-long legal battles between SeaWorld and the California Coastal Commission (CCC), which
overstepped its bounds in dictating massive restrictions on SeaWorlds breeding program in order to
approve a land purchase that would have greatly expanded the habitat of its orcas. All this because of
wildly misleading and outright inaccurate data presented as fact, which currently employed whale
trainersand even the family of Dawn Brancheauhave publicly denounced (Garcia, 2014).

Even more disappointing than that a film full of lies and misdirection masquerading as a documentary, is
that it has done lasting harm to the zoological community and by extension the animals they care for,
for whom slacktivists and animal rights extremists claim to be acting in the best interest. According to
TIME magazine, SeaWorlds profits dropped 84% after the film was release. SeaWorlds conservation
and rescue efforts are funded almost exclusively through its parent companys profits. The SeaWorld
conservation fund, which covers only a fraction of rescue and relief operations, brought in just $1.6
million in 2014. (GuideStar, 2016) SeaWorlds rescue and rehabilitation of wild animals (not just sea
creatures) costs millions more per year. Protests and boycotts of SeaWorld designed to hurt their
profits actually harm wildlife by reducing the amount of money that the company can allocate for
conservation effortswhich include rescuing stranded or injured animals, rehabilitating them, then
releasing those animals fit to survive in the wild, or caring for and obtaining valuable research for those
animals who would not survive reintroduction in the wild until the natural end of their lives.

Additionally, the welfare of captive orcas that protestors claim to be fighting for above all was directly
harmed as a result of their actions. In 2015, SeaWorld appealed to the CCC to approve the purchase of
more land along the coast in order to greatly expand their orcas habitat. The commission ruled they
would allow the purchase only if SeaWorld agreed to halt the breeding and transport of orcas in or out
of the San Diego park. After a protracted legal battle (funded by taxpayer dollars, as well as SeaWorlds
profits, which normally fund the majority of rescue, education and conservation efforts and not
lawyers), SeaWorld was forced to not only abandon the expansion plans, but end their carefully curated
breeding program across all parks. Two facts were largely ignored: That the commission grossly
overstepped its bounds in attempting to dictate what SeaWorlda private entity on privately owned
landcould do within its parks; and proof that the then-head of the commission was seen the night of
their decision partying with animal rights activists including PETA. Aside from a failed appeal by
SeaWorld that the commission did not have the authority to issue such a condition, the ethics of the
committee were never called into question.

Another critical facet of zoology which has suffered as a result of Blackfish is academia. Parents
boycotting SeaWorld are denying their children the vast amounts of knowledge provided by the parks
displays, camps, tours, and teaching material. The recent SeaWorld decision to end the orca breeding
program altogether was received with grief in the marine research community, as most of what we have
learned about killer whale behavior and physiology has been gleaned from research that SeaWorld has
allowed or even directly funded. A commonly held belief in zoological and conservation circles is that
people wont fight to save an animal population until they are made to feel a personal connection with
the animal. Without the SeaWorld branding, the killer whale seems similar to the shark: A cold-
blooded killer, something to fear, a predator of penguins and a possible danger to humans. If the whales
were seen in this light, the State Press asks, would we really care so much about them? (Roberts,
2015) The heart of conservation is in educating the public about the majesty and importance of these
animals, and SeaWorld has spent decades developing educational programs for all animals, not just the
ones in its collection. With the end of the orca breeding program, we will see a world in which orcas
seem as dangerous and deadly as Jaws; very few people will work to save them in the wild, and those
few will be ill-equipped to do so as new research comes to a halt. Critically, the end of the formal
breeding program will not necessarily ensure that there are no new calves born; without careful
oversight, inbreeding and overcrowding are almost guaranteed.

In conclusion, despite the fact that nearly every minute of the film can be picked apart and discredited
with factual evidence, Blackfish rife with contradictions, inaccuracies, dishonest editing, unfounded
attributions of human emotion to orcas, unqualified commentators presented as experts, and a
misguided call to free captive animals, has caused lasting harm to the animals inside the parks as well
as wildlife conservation as a whole.

Bibliography

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