Piliposyan 1

Piliposyan, Lusine
Professor Altman
English 114A; T-Th 2-3:15
12/13/16
Sea World
Sea World is a place parents take their children to, so they can see the different types of
animals that live in the water, such as fish and whales. In 2013, a film came out titled Blackfish.
The concept of Blackfish was to expose SeaWorlds harm of Tilikum, the killer whale.
In the scholarly journal titled Smart PR or Marketing Misfire? SeaWorld Defends
Against Film, it talks about the movie and the effect of it. Blackfish is a film charging that
keeping orca whales in captivity causes them physical and mental harm (Smart PR 1). Due to
the production of the film, only a few people have went and fought against the film company,
since most of them find themselves more upset with Sea World for the way that the treat their
animals. Keeping these Orca's in captivity is causing them to be in pain, and at the end of the
day, it not worth it just for the public to go and watch a show thats causing these creatures pain.
"From a marketing standpoint, this is turning into the gift that keeps on giving" (Smart PR 1).
The author says this because ever since the release of the movie in 2013, the film has gotten the
attention of the public dramatically, and that means that the public is more informed about what
goes on in Sea World. This proves my point that orcas or blackfish should not be kept captive
because they are being physically and mentally harmed. If the orcas keep being in captivity, like
the way they currently are, we will be having less orcas in the world. I think we should be
thoughtful of the generations to come and let them know that these amazing animals exist. Even
if they cant ever see orcas, at least the orcas will not be extinct.

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In another scholarly journal titled, Blackfish Documentary Rightfully Causes Viewers
to Avoid Seaworld,. This article is more informative than anything. Such as the fact that the
blue orca's are more commonly known as killer whales The whale that the movie
Blackfish was filmed about is named Tilikum, and he was captured around the 1800s in
Iceland. The mother killer whales protect their babies, by coming up with strategies every time
according to the situation. However, at some point, the people came up with this brilliant idea to
surround the killer whales with their boats and drop the net that would capture them. When the
baby killer whales would be captured, the mom killer whales will let out a cry of mourning and
grief for her baby. John Crowe said "I lost it. It's like kidnapping a little kid away from their
mother" (Blackfish Documentary, 1). When Tilikum had arrived at Seaworld, he was being
deprived of food, which is something that should not happen to a baby, whale or not. Besides
that, he was also being caged with two abusive female whales that would bite him all over his
body, due to frustration. He was with these female whales from 5pm until 10am, every day. Due
to everything Seaworld put Tilikum through, he ended up killing one of his trainers during a
show. As for Seaworld, instead of them taking action or responsibility for what happened, they
choose to blame it on the trainee for dying.
The whales have no history of hurting humans in the wild because they are known to be
very friendly and gentle, however being held in a facility for more than 20 years is a perfect
reason why the sea animal would cause harm to the trainers.. These whales are not made to hurt,
so the fact that Tilikum hurt his trainer, that was one of the people putting him with those two
abusive females and caging him for years, should say a lot, about all the pain he was put through.
In the next article titled Does Sea World Deal Forecast the End of Ocra Attractions, it
talks about a deal made between Sea world and CCC. CCC is an acronym for the California

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Coastal Commission. The deal between the CCC and SeaWorld is that Sea world can not bring in
anymore wild killer whales to the tanks they own. So the 11 killer whales that they currently
own, are the last ones for the park. The initial proposal Seaworld made was to do the Blue Whale
Project which was to make a new and improved Ocra Park. For the California Coastal
Commission to agree, they were not allowed to put in anymore killer whales, other than the 11
total that they own throughout each of the 3 parks, across the US. Besides that, they also can not
put the Killer Whales near any place that would have any form of construction noise. Ever since
the movie Blackfish that was released in 2013, Seaworld's ticket sale has went down
dramatically, however, the ironic part is that their whale show has also went up dramatically.
This proves my point because this whole situation with Sea World has become so big, even
celebrities are talking about it. For example Steve-O, he went on top of a 100 ft. crane in
hollywood and protested against SeaWorld. Since a lot of celebrities are speaking out about this,
everything going on with SeaWorld has reached most of the public and therefore they stopped
going to SeaWorld, some say it is a way of protesting to let the Orcas go free. The entertainment
is not worth the risks that come with having the Orcas at the park. "A ban on breeding would
sentence these animals to a slow extinction in our care," John Reilly, president of SeaWorld San
Diego. He basically said that the Blue Whale Project is going to end up killing them rather then
helping them.
The final article is titled Dolphin Attractions Feel Pressure Amid Seaworld
Controversy. This article talks about how the situation Seaworld is under is affecting their
shows in Cancun. Ever since the film blackfish, their has been a dropping of dolphin tours for an
event, that was made by SeaWorld. An organization known as PETA, which stands for People for
the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is opposed his time, to keeping whales in captivity. Especially

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for entertainment purposes such as whale shows. "Dolphins in the wild swim up to 50 miles a
day, but in captivity, that means 60 feet a day. They navigate by echolocation, bouncing off sonar
waves. This is not possible in a tank, and the confusion of their entire sensory balance causes
deranged behavior (Myers, 2). These dolphins need space in order to swim, that is what they are
known for. It is like taking a person and putting them in an area with no air and giving them only
of the air they need to breath. However the of air that the person will get is still more than a
killer whale needing water, will receive.
To help stop the harm that is being done to the Orcas at SeaWorld, SeaWorld needs to let
these animals go free, or keep them and treat them well, but they can not get anymore Orcas.
With these options given, SeaWorld has chosen to keep the Orcas and give them more space, by
building them their own space. SeaWorlds reply to this though was that the Orcas are in good
condition and live longer in SeaWorld, rather than if they were not their. However, studies have
showed, Orcas that are in the ocean live the same amount a person does, but at SeaWorld, they
only live until their about 20-35. Finding out these facts made the public realise how bad
SeaWorld really is when it comes to taking care of Orcas. This caused the ticket sales to go
down, and made SeaWorld make some major changes, such as cancelling the Orca show for next
year. If SeaWorld continues to lose money, they will have to close SeaWorld down, and then
hopefully release the Okra's back into the ocean.

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Works Cited
"Blackfish Documentary Rightfully Causes Viewers to Avoid Seaworld." UWIRE Text, (2014):
1.
http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.csun.edu/ps/i.do?&id=GALE
%7CA356346217&v=2.1&u=csunorthridge&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w&authCount=1
Lowenberg, Olivia. "Does Sea World Deal Forecast the End of Orca Attractions?." The Christian
Science Monitor, (2015):
http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.csun.edu/docview/1720578157?
accountid=7285&rfr_id=info%3Axri%2Fsid%3Aprimo
Myers, Gay Nagle, and Myers. "Dolphin Attractions Feel Pressure Amid SeaWorld

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Controversy." Travel Weekly, 73.37 (2014): 26.
http://go.galegroup.com.libproxy.csun.edu/ps/i.do?&id=GALE
%7CA387828744&v=2.1&u=csunorthridge&it=r&p=ITOF&sw=w
"Smart PR or Marketing Misfire? SeaWorld Defends Against Film." Advertising Age, 84.27
(2013): 5.
http://search.proquest.com.libproxy.csun.edu/docview/1412336356/fulltext/903E2F1EE9
874781PQ/1?accountid=7285