Anyone see the CNN movie "Blackfish"
 

It's about killer whales in captivity, focusing on Tilicum -- the huge male that is associated with several human deaths.

Awe-inspiring animals, and I really would like to see one up close...but I don't know if I could give my money to SeaWorld after seeing this movie.

Agree. A great movie and the mistreatment and captivity of the whales, that by nature, have miles and miles of open ocean to swim in, are horrific.

I want to have someone create an underwater HUGE touch screen
and monitor for black fish with dual screens (one for each eye)
like a larger version of google glass ....but for them
and I swear they will start communicating
as they are allot smarter than a silver back Gorilla

Saw it an I wasn't impressed. If keeping them in captivity is so morally wrong then so are all of or zoos, and being a whale trainer is no different that being a big cat keeper, i.e. they are both dangerous animals and you have to be constantly on your guard.

Always thought of a zoo as prison for animals.
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Indeed!!! In this day and age with all the technology available to the public, there is no place for keeping animals in captivity. You want to see them, go online. JMO.

I don't think wild animals should be kept in captivity unless their environment is "expansive enough"...very hard to define what that means, but considering whales, no enclosure would seem to be "enough".

agreed... it's not like the 1800's where you could argue zoo's served a purpose

I'd think that zoo's still have a purpose. Certainly the preservation of endangered species, public awareness and education.

That being said there's little more depressing than watching great apes in an exhibit...

-spence

Sea creatures by nature, roam a wide area and need interaction with others and room to roam to stay mentally and physically healthy.
Why the need to confine the animal and say that "they're happy"???
Zoos may have been a viable resource to enlighten the masses when travel to foreign lands was not easy or cheap.

Now, because of the "institatutionalizing" of the animals they cannot be released to the wild because they would not survive on their own. There is also the breeding-in-captivity aspect where the animals have no idea how to interact with others and are reliant solely on us feeding them.

Yeah, we're supposed to be the most intelligent, highly evolved dominant creature on this planet but we sure show signs that we suck at it!!!!

You know why you rarely ever see male elephants in circus shows???
Because they cannot be controlled and when they have finally have "had enough" they lose it in tramatic fashion, usually resulting with the animal being killed. (Killer whales are the aquatic equal.)

Then you have the trained bears, lions, tigers and chimps.
Animals can and will go crazy in captivity, and will take out their anger and frustration on the trainers, owners and occaisionally the viewing public.

Imagine being taken from your parents as a baby/child, seeing your parents killed, and then forced to live in a cage and forced to learn to perform in order to receive food? Sounds like paradise, right???

Now imagine spending years like that and when you've had all you could stand, you decide to take action against the first person you can get your hands on.


This is not an idictment of the system as a whole, but rather a commentary on how it could be perceived. For the record, I would be happier with having an animal preserve where the animals would have more freedom and less human control.

what should have been addressed more fully in that documentary was the money behind sea world (1.4 billion) and different than zoos and aquariums which are partly motivated by conservation, education and research sea world is owned by anheuser busch and clearly in it for the profit margin...that alone is reason enough to not keep those orcas in captivity....

I cheered in Finding Nemo and Free Willy when they escaped back into the wild.

Then I thought "time to go fishing"...

quoting fisherman TIM
" There is also the breeding-in-captivity aspect where the animals have no idea how to interact with others"
AGREED............. BUT
it would be incredibly easy to take whale sounds from orca's and play them
to orca's in Captivity taking care to record any and all responses
they can be transmitted under water back to their wild counterpart @ sea.

it has been found that whale sounds half circle the globe....

Why would trainers even think about going into the water with an animal that has killed 5 people? Maybe there were not aware, but I highly doubt it.

I remember reading a magazine article about this awhile back and was interested in seeing this movie. I just watched it.

It certainly is an eye opener. Its a money machine for Seaworld, and they clearly don't care who gets hurt or killed. It is certainly not a place I'd ever spend my hard earned money.

if you've never been to the SANDIEGO wild animal park
then that's the ZOO to see... animals living in a vast
enclosure that resembles the wild. you ride a train thru it
slowly .... when we went there it started raining which
had not happened in awhile so all the animals were
out dancing for joy because of the "cool down"