Blackfish Reflection

781 Words4 Pages
In 2013, the documentary called Blackfish was released, a story about a killer whale that over the years at SeaWorld killed several people. It highlighted some of the major problems with animals in captivity. SeaWorld, known for having several different animal attractions; Dolphin Cove, Dolphin Nursery, Orca Underwater Viewing, Shark Encounter, Wild Arctic (Habitat) and many more. The organization first started with the intention of learning more about animals in order to educate the public about different behaviors of each animal. Trainers at Seaworld are offered the opportunity to get hands-on training with animals and eventually are allowed to entertain the public with the skills they have acquired. Over the years SeaWorld has been accused…show more content…
According to The Guardian orcas rarely have a collapsed dorsal fins and rarely happens in the wild and the motion of diving into deep water is what keeps the fin straight. An observation at SeaWorld discovered 100% of the male orcas that are enclosed have a collapsed dorsal fin, as a result of being in a concrete tank and not enough room, therefore, resulting in the orcas receiving a lot more food than the energy they are using up. “ When you take orcas and dolphins, who are highly intelligent, very emotional, far-ranging creatures and you put them in a concrete tank often with animals they're not compatible with, it causes stress and it causes boredom and the results of that is the development of abnormal behaviors” is what PETA’s veterinarian Dr.Heather Rally told The Guardian. Pathos is used in this article by mentioning how highly intelligent these animals are and emotional and when locked up in concrete tanks it causes stress, in order to persuade an audience of animal lovers added: “she saw both orcas and sea lions being mistreated”. Students at UCSC’s Long Marine Lab were excited about meeting dolphins but after the release of blackfish, students started questioning why animals were being kept in tanks. According to the article As SeaWorld stop breeding orcas, what are the impacts for research? we need to inform the public why it is important to research…show more content…
Sea lions are particularly susceptible to ocular disease if they’re spending more time on the surface, exposed to direct sunlight they can have damage to their eyes is what Dr. Rally claims. The article is exaggerating the point to prove that sea lions at SeaWorld are being mistreated. In the arctic Orcas Aren't the Only Ones Being Mistreated Todd Robeck, a SeaWorld vice president says that staff members artificially inseminate bottlenose dolphins who are imprisoned at SeaWorld. Harsh diction is used to describe the process in order to exaggerate the point of mistreatment of dolphins. “They first drug the unwilling female with a diazepam-a drug with sedative effects-and remove her from the water so that she's unable to fight back...then shove endoscopes into the victim's uterus”. The article uses diction such as “victims” and “shove” that has a negative connotation that over exaggerate and into details. The Guardian goes on to say “I think the thing to realize here is that none of these facilities that are caring for animals are purposefully mistreating animals”. Breeding dolphins are one of the ways SeaWorld learn more about dolphins in order to inform the public about

More about Blackfish Reflection

Open Document