Killer Whales In The Film 'Blackfish' By Seaworld

To many who’ve seen it, “Blackfish” is a damning indictment of SeaWorld and its decision to hold killer

whales captive. But SeaWorld and some of their formal Orca trainers say that the documentary has a

misleading representation of the marine park and its practice.

Killer whales can become hyper-aggressive when confined in captivity.

To make this case, the documentary focuses on Tilikum, a 32-year- old male orca. Tilikum was captured

in the northern Atlantic Ocean in 1983 and taken to Sealand of the Pacific, a now-shuttered park near

Victoria, British Columbia. Former Sealand trainers interviewed in “Blackfish” say the park’s female

Orcas would aggressively gang up on Tilikum, particularly when they were confined in a 20-foot- by- 30-

foot pool

overnight. In February 1991, Tilikum and two other orcas attacked part-time trainer Keltie
Byrne after she slipped into their pool. She died after being dragged and submerged under the water. Two
witnesses interviewed in “Blackfish” claim Tilikum was the instigator of the incident though that wasn’t
broadly established immediately after Byrne’s death. SeaWorld later acquired Tilikum, and according to
an ex-trainer who appears in the documentary, he was repeatedly attacked by female orcas who shared the
same living space.

In July 1999, a SeaWorld Orlando employee found 27-year- old Daniel P. Dukes, who was believed to
have wandered into the area after hours, dead in Tilikum’s tank. Dukes’ body was found suspended over
Tilikum‘s back when the worker found him. An autopsy later determined Dukes drowned but noted
dozens of bruises and cuts. “Blackfish” argues Tilikum may have attacked Dukes body before and after
his death. The third and most-publicized Tilikum-related death came in February 2010. Tilikum dragged
senior SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau into the pool and forced her underwater, eventually killing her
by drowning, scalping and eventually swallowing her left arm.
“Blackfish” argues that orcas are not aggressive in the wild and implies that confinement can lead to
dangerous behavior toward both humans and fellow marine mammals. SeaWorld disputes that. “These
animals adapt very well socially to their lives at SeaWorld and there is no truth at all to the notion that
they exhibit ‘hyper aggression,'” the marine park said in a statement.
The park acknowledged orcas at SeaWorld and elsewhere lives in a dominance hierarchy but said
aggression of any kind is rare. SeaWorld has also said Tilikum’s behavior toward Brancheau was
unexpected because he had interacted with her safely countless times before her death.
More than half of the whales in SeaWorld’s collection share Tilikum’s aggressive genes.
This argument conflicts with the film’s overarching claim about captivity triggering aggression in whales.
But “Blackfish” also suggests aggressiveness can be passed on to a whale’s offspring.
The movie claims SeaWorld has made Tilikum its top breeder. That’s a bad thing, the documentary
argues. The movie suggests that a reputable breeding program wouldn’t rely on an animal with a history
of aggressive behavior but doesn’t offer any scientific backup that aggression can be inherited.
Mark Simmons, a former SeaWorld senior trainer who’s since spoken out against the documentary, told
the “Blackfish” crew that Tilikum was an outlier.
Animal trainers often discourage owners from breeding aggressive animals but behavioral scientists who
study humans and animals often emphasize the influence of both genetic and environmental factors.

BlackFish Report
Alex Rodríguez 09-27- 17 P.2 - 4
While some studies have focused on a gene linked to aggressive behavior in humans, for example, most
research has at least acknowledged the role of outside triggers.
Indeed, University of Notre Dame anthropologist Agustín Fuentes sharply panned the notion that biology
is the sole determinant of hostile behavior in humans in a 2012 Salon article. His piece also cited research
involving animals but not specifically killer whales.
SeaWorld says Tilikum fathered 10 of the 29 killer whales at its three parks.

That means about 34 percent

of SeaWorld’s current killer whales share his genes. The park says none of these orcas has aggressive

tendencies.

There have been more than 70 killer whale-trainer accidents in the past few decades.

“Blackfish” spends significant time laying out Tilikum’s history but also provides examples of other

dangerous – and even deadly – encounters between trainers and killer whales.

One former trainer specifically claimed there have been more than 70 incidents at SeaWorld and

elsewhere.

One of the more prominent ones mentioned in “Blackfish” is the December 2009 death of Alexis

Martinez, a killer whale trainer at a marine park in Spain. Martinez was killed while training with an orca

reportedly on loan from SeaWorld. The movie also mentions two examples from San Diego, including a

trainer who was held under water in 2006 and another who was seriously injured after a whale landed on

him when it was doing a trick.

A legal brief filed by Occupational Health and Safety Administration attorneys last fall said SeaWorld

records “aggressive or other unwanted whale behaviors” and documented at least 100 incidents from 1989

to

2009.
The filing noted that those episodes resulted in at least 11 injuries and some may not have been reported.
SeaWorld argued the documentary zeroed in on the total number of incidents, which it says is misleading
because many didn’t result in injuries or even involve direct contact between a trainer and a whale.
The park also says the incidents were recorded precisely because they reflected behavior that was out of
the ordinary. SeaWorld said trainers note those scenarios so they can monitor changes and, if necessary,
adjust trainers’ approaches to a specific whale.
“It is this careful attention to the behavior of all of our whales that has led to our exemplary safety
record,” SeaWorld said in a statement. “Trainers have learned a great deal about killer whale behavior
from studying these examples and a result, the number of incidents has greatly reduced over time.”
OSHA disputed the latter point in its September court filing.
“SeaWorld claims the frequency of such incidents has tapered off over time but there have been incidents
every year but two since 1988, culminating in trainer deaths in 2009 and 2010,” attorneys wrote.