I finally got around to watching “Blackfish” this past week. I realize that, as a marine mammal trainer, it’s something I should have watched long ago. But I knew it was going to make me angry and so I avoided it.
I have to say that I can definitely see how someone with no knowledge of the field or marine mammals could get drawn in. It was pretty convincing in the way they spun the tale.
There was a lot of misdirection, a lot of editing, and most of the material presented was very old.
Zoos and aquariums have changed and improved a lot over the past 10 years…hell even the past 5 years. So, obviously, none of that was touched upon.
And it’s unfortunate because the general public will take (and has taken) this movie at face value and accept what they’re being told without asking questions.
DOCUMENTARY?
Blackfish has certainly changed the way I look at ‘documentaries’. I used to think of documentaries as something that was true. Something that was factually accurate.
But I no longer trust these kinds of movies - or at the very least I take them with a major grain of salt.
I have never known so much about a subject that has had this kind of ‘documentary’ made about it but it has forced me to rethink their validity.
I will concede that there are things in the movie that are terrible and true such as the initial capturing of whales from the wild. And some of those original enclosures at parks and aquariums were abysmal. But times have changed. And so have aquariums.
Zoos and aquariums do so much good in regards to education and conservation these days and I can’t imagine a world where they didn’t exist. They are the reason I received my Bachelor’s degree in Biology and became a marine mammal trainer. They fostered my interest and love of the ocean, its inhabitants, and its future conservation.
I’m not going to go into a long rant about the movie and it’s inaccuracies (I’ll let the articles below speak to that) but I do want to leave you with one of my favorite quotes by Baba Dioum:
This is what zoos and aquariums (Sea World included!) are trying to do…this is their ultimate goal. And I think they are doing an incredible job.
For those of you who are not animal trainers and are reading this and would like to learn a bit more about the movie Blackfish and marine mammals under human care (or maybe you are a trainer and haven’t read these papers), I’ve included a few resources for your viewing and perusing pleasure.
TRUTH ABOUT BLACKFISH
