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The ethics of animal rights
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Blackfish: The Documentary
Entertainment is a word that invokes feelings of fun and pleasure. It is an exciting time with family and friends filled with joy and laughter, especially at amusement parks. However, what about the whales entrapped at amusement water parks? How do they feel? Are they content with their environment? Perhaps once you view Blackfish by Gabriela Cowperthwaithe, you will begin to have an understanding of how the whales feel.
The documentary follows an Orca by the name of Tilikum. Tilikum had been involved in three deaths, including a Marine Biologist named Dawn Brancheau, who was killed by Tilikum while performing with him. The film also highlights why keeping whales in captivity is dangerous and also touches on the death of Dawn Brancheau who was faulted for her own death due to her ponytail hanging low.
After watching the documentary, I began to analyze Gabriela Cowperwaithes claim; essentially, she doesn’t feel it is right to have whales in captivity because it makes them aggressive and perhaps insane after being held in captivity for so long. For example, she showed old footage of baby Orcas being captured and taken from their mothers. Then, she moved on to them being trained, specifically Tillicum, who later became aggressive and killed three people. By showing us that footage she is igniting feelings understanding and sadness. A human that is being taken from their mother would be in distress also. I interpreted that footage as her saying it is wrong to take whales from their natural environment.
Her claim in my opinion is logical. Wouldn’t we as humans began to lose our minds if we are locked up all day long everyday. She infers that whales need to be free and should not be used for our pleasure.
Gabriela also shows the deceitfulness of the entertainment industry. She shows how they love to cover their tracks to keep from being exposed. For example, the company that owned Tilikum was called SeaWorld. SeaWorld had previously known that Tilikum had killed twice before, yet they failed to tell their employees about his past behavior. One of their employees named Dawn Brancheau was killed while performing with Tilikum. He even swallowed her whole arm up. People that were watching were mortified. However, to keep from admitting fault, the Public Relations personnel claimed Dawn died because her ponytail was too low and that it as her own fault.
Blackfish is a well-known film about how whales were kept in captivity while being mistreated. This film explained the situation in more of a sequential order stating each event one after another from occurrence. This film was made to inform people of all the cruel and monstrous things that Sea Land and Sea World were doing to the whales.
The director includes footage of Tilikum and Dawn having a good time and performing together to show that Tilikum didn’t have any animosity towards her. Thomas Tobin explains the attack and mentions that Dawn was scalped and that her arm was missing. The director incorporates actual footage from the attack with eye witness testimonies to give the audience a sense of what actually happened. Although Tilikum was responsible for the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, another whale at the Canadian park, Sealand of the Pacific was responsible for the tragic death of trainer and competitive swimmer, Keltie Byrne. Keltie Byrne was performing with the whales as she normally did when she suddenly slipped into the pool, as she was trying to pull herself out of the pool, the whale zoomed towards her and grabbed her by her boot. She proceeded to plead for help every chance she was brought back to the surface, but no one could help in time. These two incidents serve as examples that whales shouldn’t be taken out of their natural habitat because it’s unsafe for their mental health and it’s unsafe for the physical health of the
“Frederick’s of Hollywood, brainchild of the inventor of the push-up bra and purveyor of “marry-a-millionaire” lingerie since 1947” (Blakemore, 2015). Frederick’s created the “sex sells” image for themselves especially marrying a millionaire. They cannot go back from this and just try to reinvent themselves to cater to the everyday women when the company was built from these products. Frederick’s of Hollywood’s catalogs have most of the women in bed in the most uncomfortable position in the most uncomfortable looking lingerie. Victoria’s Secret catalogs are on a beachy location or just on location, not just a set. “That is, demureness is sexy in a middle-class setting and directness is sexy in a working-class setting.” (Blakemore, 2015). The catalogs create the ambiance of where the girls are when they are wearing the lingerie, therefore, it makes us the people shopping from these catalogs feel like we need to be in that place or atmosphere to wear what they are
This resulted in him spending the majority of his time in isolation, something orca whales are not used to. They are known for being social, emotional creatures. They spend their whole life in their pods and form very close bonds with each other. SeaWorld’s arrangement of whales is extremely unnatural because they put random, unrelated whales in a small area together. By doing this, they add to these animals’ frustrations of being in captivity. Years passed, and Tilikum became a part of the main show at SeaWorld. One night in 1999, a man snuck into the park, assumably to see the whales up close. He was found the next morning, draped across Tilikum’s back without any clothes. Among many other injuries, his genitals were ripped off and eaten by the massive whale. SeaWorld public relations released the easy story of a mentally unstable man wanting to have a one on one experience with a killer
I am sure almost all of you have either been to or heard of SeaWorld. Today I am going to tell you about what they do to their orcas that they are trying to hide. I chose this topic after watching a documentary called “Blackfish” that goes into the behind the scenes of how SeaWorld treats its animals. I have since done further research online to prepare for this presentation. This is an important topic because you should know what kind of company you are funding and behaviors you are endorsing when you go on your vacations to this destination. Today I am going to persuade you that SeaWorld is corrupt and maltreats its animals, specifically the orcas. First, I will talk about the specific way the orcas are treated and how it affects them
Bystanders are used in this documentary to show the audience how little SeaWorld care or wish to address the incidents involving Tilikum. When Tilikum killed Dawn Brancheu a SeaWorld trainer, a small and insignificant article was posted in a newspaper about her in the second page. SeaWorld failed to show the importance of the situation, instead, they tried to convince the public that it was not Tilikums fault and in fact it was Dawns. That if Dawn was here today, she would blame herself for the incident and that she should have known better than to wear a long pony tail to work that day. But it was found that many other trainers wore their hair the same, but did not end up in that situation. An autopsy of Dawns body showed that she had been attacked from her neck also, raising suspicion and intensity for the viewers. SeaWorld also fail to mention that it was Tilikum that made the attack, they claim that it was too quick to be able to tell which Orca had done what. But the bystanders interviewed for this incident were ____ & ____, and they state in the interview that it was definitely Tilikum that made the attack, because they could pick him out of all the whales easily, due to his large size and stand out bent dorsal
Millions of people come from across the world to visit Seaworld every day without thinking about the lives of the animals behind the scenes. Why would they have concerns? From Seaworld’s commercials to the website, they convince the general public that Seaworld is the place to go to see the happy sea animals perform. If Seaworld is such an ecstatic place, what excuse does Tilikum, their greatest well known orca whale, have for the three attacks on trainers? The documentary “Blackfish” was created by the director Gabriela Cowperthwaite because she questioned herself after realizing Tilikum's odd behavior over time in captivity, and if there was any indisputable parts to animal captivity?
Suppose you were kidnapped from your family as a child by an alien species while your family watched in despair, crying out helplessly for your kidnappers to not rip you away from them. Now imagine then being strapped down and transported to a place unknown and once you arrive, you see that some of the other children that were also kidnapped have died. You then witness something that will forever remain engraved into your mind; you witness those monsters that took you hostage cut the children open, fill their bodies up with rocks, tie an anchor onto their feet and throw them into the ocean. The monsters then throw you into a tiny cage; you learn that you will not only never see your family again and die in that confinement but you will also work for these monsters and perform as a source of entertainment for them. You spend every night locked away into an even smaller steel cage that gives no freedom of movement at all and aren’t fed if you displease your new masters. Although this sounds like an outline for a horror movie, it is not. It is happening in real life and in our world. It is horrific, not only unethical but inhumane. This depicts the capturing process and life in captivity for public display of Orcinus Orcas, popularly known as Killer Whales since 1961. Although some laws regarding the capturing of whales have changed, whales are still being treated unethically. Just as inhumane as it is for this to be done to humans, it is equally inhumane for it to be done to animals. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, inhumanity is “the quality or stage of being cruel to other people or to animals” (dictionary.com) and that is what their captivity is...
The trainers, along with Cowperthwaite, believe having them in a captivity like SeaWorld is inhumane. I agree with this documentary, Blackfish. This documentary gave a perfect visual representation of why I do not like having animals in a cage or in a small area. Having animals captive, working hard, and hardly fed is wrong, especially when only allowing them in a small area to roam. Watching this documentary made me feel sympathy towards these poor animals that must go through this harsh life style.
The most effective piece of this documentary, however, was neither the structure of the film nor the specific questions that one is forced to answer regarding the ethical treatment of these killer whales, but the overall questions of whether or not these corporations should be allowed to continue their cycle of abuse toward the animals and whether or not we, as patrons, should encourage their behavior by giving them a monetary profit every day, every month, and every year. Ignorance is forgivable, but with the knowledge given in this documentary: the final two questions raised should be able to answer themselves.
The issue of keeping Orcas in captivity and under the care of man has been a controversial practice ever since the first dolphins and whales were taken into aquariums for the amusement of humans. In more recent times, the documentary Blackfish (which has been recently broadcasted on popular TV stations such as CNN) that focuses on Tilikum, an orca held by SeaWorld, has brought to light the controversy over captive killer whales. Orcas are majestic, beautiful, and intelligent creatures that should not be kept in captivity for our entertainment because of the harm it causes them.
The first whale to ever be captured was Moby Doll. The capture of Moby Doll was an accident; the purpose of getting this whale was so a sculptor named Samuel Burich could make a life size model for the British Columbia Hall Aquarium. Moby Doll was shot numerous times, but would not die. Since the whale would not die they decided to keep the whale and put it on display. There was little information on how to take care of the whale. Moby Doll did not eat for fifty-five days while being held captive. They were giving the whale the wrong food and when they finally figured it out the whale killed itself a month later. “Stories of Killer Captive Whales”.
John Crowe, one of the hunters, is interviewed and tells the story of “the worst thing he’s ever done”. He appeals to the appalled emotions of the audience by admitting to the inhumane way they captured the baby whales. He uses an analogy when discussing the capturing, claiming it was like “kidnapping a kid from its mother”, which pulls at the heartstrings of any parent watching the film, establishing a sense of relatability. The film uses juxtaposition by examining how Crowe, a tough looking man, can be brought to tears by this horrific act. Blackfish then moves to discussing the reason behind Tilikum’s outburst by running a montage of news reports ambushing SeaWorld on the inhumane treatment of whales. The use of the rhetorical question “If you were in a bathtub for 25 years don’t you think you’d get a little irritated, aggravated, maybe a little psychotic?”, grabs the audience’s attention by creating a scenario they can understand. These events create an accusing tone that convinces the audience that SeaWorld is the antagonist of the film. Along with accusations from reporters, SeaWorld has fought many lawsuits against OSHA- the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, due to the way SeaWorld treats their animals. A court hearing is held regarding Tilikum’s behaviour due to pulled video footage of Tilikum lunging towards one of the trainers
The short film ,”Humpback Whale Shows AMAZING Appreciation After Being Freed From Nets,” shows 3 men, and a woman are in a small boat, cutting away the net that inprisons the whale. This is a fine example of the value of human emotions enhancing the survival of the whale, that otherwise would more than likely die. After being freed the whale danced a happy dance of sorts, and showed it 's appreciation for valuing it 's life enough to risk their own safety to save it ("Humpback Whale Shows AMAZING
How should these claims be balanced against world opinion - which is generally very supportive of the protection of whales?