![\"Tilikum](\"https:\/\/sduptownnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/web-4.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cDawn Brancheau, a reknowned [sic] SeaWorld trainer, was killed by Tilikum, a 12,000-pound orca,\u201d Cowperthwaite wrote in her director\u2019s statement. \u201cI remember fragments: something about a ponytail, something about her slipping and falling, something about how this almost never happens because in these parks, the animals are happy and the trainers are safe. But something wasn\u2019t right.\u201d<\/p>\n
It turns out something was not quite right with the entire, 40-year history presented in the film.<\/p>\n
The story goes back to the early 1970s, when businesses \u2013 SeaWorld included \u2013 were capturing orca whales in Washington State\u2019s Puget Sound. In the instance presented in the film, seven young orcas were captured, taken from their pods and transported to parks around the world. Three adult orcas were killed as well.<\/p>\n
During a 15-year span of unfettered access to orca pods in Washington and British Columbia, Canada, 275 to 307 whales were captured, the website Sea World of Hurt states. In 1976, Washington officials sued and won, explicitly naming SeaWorld in the court\u2019s decision that prohibited the forced removal of orcas.<\/p>\n
As \u201cBlackfish\u201d shows, that did not stop the whale\u2019s capture. Hunters then moved to waters off of Iceland, where Tilikum was taken in 1983 at two years old. While no whales are captured today \u2013 SeaWorld insists all current orca in their care are captive-born, several sired from Tilikum \u2013 the affects are astonishing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI feel very, very strongly about marine mammals, or really any animals, for entertainment,\u201d Cowperthwaite said in a People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) interview promoting the film. \u201cI think that\u2019s the lowest rung on the ethical totem pole. It\u2019s the strangest practice, I think, when you actually really strip it down and unpack everything that SeaWorld does. It\u2019s reduced them to these circus animals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Tilikum was transferred to Canada\u2019s Sealand of the Pacific, an amusement park not affiliated with SeaWorld. There, he faced bullying and abuse by other orca and trainers, and killed trainer Keltie Byrne after she slipped and fell into the whale tank. Shortly after, SeaWorld purchased Tilikum for their Orlando, Fla. theme park.<\/p>\n
\u201cBlackfish\u201d includes the Byrne incident in its storyline, as well as several other orca attacks throughout the years, including one resulting in another trainer death at the Canary Islands theme park Loro Parque. The Spanish park is not owned by SeaWorld, but is stocked with SeaWorld orca and their trainers are partially trained by SeaWorld staff, the documentary shows.<\/p>\n
The documentary includes interviews with visitors to the parks and witnesses of the attacks, as well as former SeaWorld trainers John Hargrove, John Jett, Samantha Berg, Carol Ray and Jeffrey Venture, among others. The trainers, coupled with orca scientists, perhaps provide the most emotional, and telling, stories.<\/p>\n
While SeaWorld refused to be interviewed during the filming of \u201cBlackfish,\u201d weeks before the film\u2019s release the company\u2019s vice president of communications, Fred Jacobs, emailed approximately 50 film reviewers in the United States \u201crebutting various points in the film,\u201d promoters of \u201cBlackfish\u201d said.<\/p>\n
Jacobs addresses eight issues in total, ranging from the assertion that 80 percent of SeaWorld orca were captive-born and the average lifespan of wild versus captive whales, to the abuse, or whale-to-whale bullying, in captivity and breaking up of orca family units.<\/p>\n
\u201cKiller whales spend their entire lives within these family pods, swimming together for decades,\u201d Cowperthwaite said in press material. \u201cWhen you see this footage \u2026 and hear the retelling of the [whales\u2019 capture], you understand that none of the other whales, including the mother, would leave. It just shot me in the heart.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTilikum did not attack Dawn [Brancheau],\u201d Jacobs\u2019 email stated. \u201cAll evidence indicates that Tilikum became interested in the novelty of Dawn\u2019s ponytail in his environment and, as a result, he grabbed it and pulled her into the water.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBlackfish\u201d representatives responded to Jacobs\u2019 response, posted on the film\u2019s official website and, for some, the ponytail issue might not seem important. It is the details, however, that filmmakers present \u2013 through court testimony during the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)-won lawsuit filed after Brancheau\u2019s death and video footage \u2013 that make the documentary so compelling.<\/p>\n \u201cOne great thing about this film, I hope, is that it has a life of its own. It\u2019s a worthy tool for people that need to inform other people. It starts with us, telling them that what they\u2019re doing is not OK,\u201d Cowperthwaite said in the PETA interview.<\/p>\n \u201cSeaWorld, given the fact that they have the resources that they do \u2013 $2 billion a year for people coming through these turnstiles \u2013 they have to be convinced that we won\u2019t continue to make these decisions to watch their shows,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Hillcrest Cinemas is located at 3965 Fifth Ave. For more information and show times, visit landmarktheatres.com<\/a>. For information on the film, visit blackfishmovie.com<\/a>.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Controversial film playing at Landmark Hillcrest By Anthony King | SDUN Editor There is a line in the Neko Case song \u201cPeople Got a Lotta Nerve\u201d that says, \u201cYou know, they call them Killer Whales. But you seem surprised when it pinned you down to the bottom of the tank, where you can\u2019t turn around. […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":246374,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Capturing \u2018Blackfish\u2019","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11551,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-246373","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-news","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246373","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246373"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246373\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246374"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246373"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246373"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246373"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a>SeaWorld also attempted to refute several points in the film surrounding Brancheau\u2019s death, which served as an emotional and dramatic arc. By then, however, the message had meticulously and respectfully been presented.<\/p>\n