My film Blackfish plunged Seaworld into crisis – but it’s not only killer whales we must protect Gabriela Cowperthwaite As our attitudes to animal welfare change, today’s kids are becoming the ‘I can’t believe we used to do that’ generation Thursday 20 August 2015 04.25 EDT Last modified on Friday 6 November 2015 16.04 EST When I started work on Blackfish, I could not possibly have imagined the effect it would have on SeaWorld. Let’s be honest. Not a lot of people see documentaries. And not a lot of people want to see a movie that sucker punches a beloved cultural icon. But it seems as though the movie has indeed changed how many view the park. Over the past couple of years, SeaWorld’s visitor numbers have fallen, its stock has plummeted, lawsuits have confronted their business practices, legislation has challenged what goes on at Shamu Stadium, and reported profits were down 84% on the previous year. People ask me whether this is a win. I can only say that it was inevitable, and that I hope it’s only the beginning. Today’s kids are increasingly becoming part of the “I can’t believe we used to do that” generation. They now that killer whales are not suitable for captivity. Instead of acknowledging this, SeaWorld has decided to spend its way out of the crisis. With its glossy, protracted PR fight, it continues to claim it is battling an image problem. Yet I see no meaningful change. I guess this is what happens when a corporation operates essentially ungoverned for 45 years. But I know many of us still hold out hope that SeaWorld, in one final Hail Mary pass, will do something drastically progressive – like stopping their breeding programme. This would mean no more baby Shamus for SeaWorld. It would mean that the whales currently at SeaWorld would be the last it will ever have in captivity. After this, SeaWorld could almost singlehandedly pioneer a sea sanctuary where it could retire the remaining whales. Seaworld’s whales are unlikely to know how to hunt for their own food. They’re given antibiotics and might die if they’re not in human care. They can’t simply be tossed back into the ocean. But a killer whale sanctuary would provide these animals with a massive, cordoned off, ocean cove where they could live out their lives in a healthier and more dignified way. In a sea sanctuary they could echolocate on new and novel objects every day. They could experience the natural rhythms of the ocean. They would have more control over their lives and their choices. And this could be a profit-making endeavour for SeaWorld, with admission fees, a visitor centre, an underwater viewing area, etc. It’s hard to imagine people not showing up in http://www.theguardian.com/profile/gabriela-cowperthwaite http://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/155585/blackfish http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/06/seaworld-profits-plunge-customers http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/06.

1. My film Blackfish plunged Seaworld into
crisis – but it’s not only killer whales we must
protect
Gabriela Cowperthwaite
As our attitudes to animal welfare change, today’s kids are
becoming the ‘I can’t believe we used
to do that’ generation
Thursday 20 August 2015 04.25 EDT Last modified on Friday 6
November 2015 16.04 EST
When I started work on Blackfish, I could not possibly have
imagined the effect it would have on
SeaWorld. Let’s be honest. Not a lot of people see
documentaries. And not a lot of people want
to see a movie that sucker punches a beloved cultural icon. But
it seems as though the movie has
indeed changed how many view the park.
Over the past couple of years, SeaWorld’s visitor numbers have
fallen, its stock has plummeted,

2. lawsuits have confronted their business practices, legislation
has challenged what goes on at
Shamu Stadium, and reported profits were down 84% on the
previous year.
People ask me whether this is a win. I can only say that it was
inevitable, and that I hope it’s only
the beginning. Today’s kids are increasingly becoming part of
the “I can’t believe we used to do
that” generation. They now that killer whales are not suitable
for captivity.
Instead of acknowledging this, SeaWorld has decided to spend
its way out of the crisis. With its
glossy, protracted PR fight, it continues to claim it is battling
an image problem. Yet I see no
meaningful change. I guess this is what happens when a
corporation operates essentially
ungoverned for 45 years. But I know many of us still hold out
hope that SeaWorld, in one final
Hail Mary pass, will do something drastically progressive – like
stopping their breeding
programme. This would mean no more baby Shamus for
SeaWorld. It would mean that the

3. whales currently at SeaWorld would be the last it will ever have
in captivity.
After this, SeaWorld could almost singlehandedly pioneer a sea
sanctuary where it could retire
the remaining whales. Seaworld’s whales are unlikely to know
how to hunt for their own food.
They’re given antibiotics and might die if they’re not in human
care. They can’t simply be tossed
back into the ocean. But a killer whale sanctuary would provide
these animals with a massive,
cordoned off, ocean cove where they could live out their lives
in a healthier and more dignified
way.
In a sea sanctuary they could echolocate on new and novel
objects every day. They could
experience the natural rhythms of the ocean. They would have
more control over their lives and
their choices. And this could be a profit-making endeavour for
SeaWorld, with admission fees, a
visitor centre, an underwater viewing area, etc. It’s hard to
imagine people not showing up in
http://www.theguardian.com/profile/gabriela-cowperthwaite
http://www.theguardian.com/film/movie/155585/blackfish

4. http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/06/seaworld-
profits-plunge-customers
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/06/seaworld-
profits-plunge-customers
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/apr/10/seaworld-
florida-killer-whales-lawsuit
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2015/aug/06/seaworld-
profits-plunge-customers
http://www.theguardian.com/us-news/seaworld
droves to see these magnificent animals actually doing what
they were meant to do. It’s infinitely
more satisfying than seeing ailing, grieving, surface-resting
animals performing tricks at a park.
Today’s kids are increasingly becoming part of the ‘I can’t
believe we used to do that’ generation
There are sanctuaries for many animals, such as chimpanzees,
elephants and tigers. Placing them
in a setting that approximates to their natural habitat as closely
as possible is, in some ways, the
best we humans can offer animals that can’t be returned to the
wild. But so far, there is no killer
whale sanctuary. Such a move by SeaWorld would not only be
seminal, it would be culture-
shaping.
Without evolving alongside public opinion though, without
showing a desire to shake up its

5. antiquated business model, I can’t imagine SeaWorld bouncing
back. It now risks becoming an
artefact; an embarrassing relic from a less informed time.
People have stopped going to SeaWorld not simply because of a
movie but because, it seems,
we’re recalibrating how we feel ethically about animal welfare.
Faced with uncomfortable truths
about animal welfare, we’re clarifying what it means to be
humane. We see it in discussions
about factory farming and dolphin hunts. We see it reflected in
the outcry about the last white
rhino and Cecil the lion. We feel a collective empathy, and I
think we’re at our best and our most
principled when we’re exercising that empathy.
I hope this movement grows beyond the SeaWorld discussion.
Maybe if we continue to consider
how someone else is experiencing our footprint, we’ll walk
more softly in general. And that’d be
a win for the planet.
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/aug/20/killer-
whales-not-suitable-captivity-
seaworld

6. http://www.theguardian.com/environment/gallery/2014/aug/12/r
escuing-orphaned-baby-elephants-in-kenya-in-pictures
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2010/feb/22/jonathan-
safran-foer-factory-farming
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/12/last-
male-northern-white-rhino
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2015/may/12/last-
male-northern-white-rhino
http://www.theguardian.com/world/2015/jul/29/cecil-the-lion-
calls-for-prosecution-us-dentist-walter-palmer
SeaWorld: The Truth Is in Our Parks and People
An Open Letter from SeaWorld’s Animal Advocates
Inaccurate reports recently have generated questions about
SeaWorld and the animals in our care. The truth is in our parks
and people, and it’s time to set
the record straight.
The men and women of SeaWorld are true animal advocates. We
are the 1,500 scientists, researchers, veterinarians, trainers,
marine biologists, aquarists,
aviculturists, educators and conservationists who have dedicated
our lives to the animals in our care as well as those in the wild
that are injured, ill or
orphaned. Whether it’s a sea lion, manatee, sea turtle or whale,
we are on call 24/7.
Here are some important facts about SeaWorld and our work:
SeaWorld does not capture killer whales in the wild. Due to the
groundbreaking success of our research in marine mammal

7. reproduction, we haven’t
collected a killer whale from the wild in 35 years. In fact, only
two of the whales in our care were collected by SeaWorld and
they continue to be in our
care today. In addition, our research has led to a much greater
understanding of whales in the wild, giving researchers
important scientific insights
surrounding marine mammal reproduction.
We do not separate killer whale moms and calves. SeaWorld
recognizes the important bond between mother and calf. On the
rare occasion that a
mother killer whale cannot care for the calf herself, we have
successfully hand raised and reintroduced the calf. Whales are
only moved to maintain a
healthy social structure.
SeaWorld invests millions of dollars in the care of our killer
whales. In the last three years alone, we have invested $70
million in our killer whale
habitats and millions of dollars annually in support of these
facilities. Our habitats are among the largest in the world today.
They are state-of-the-art,
multimillion-gallon environments of cooled and filtered water
that allow for the highest and safest standards of care. We give
our animals restaurant-
quality fish, exercise, veterinary care, mental stimulation, and
the company of other members of their species.
SeaWorld’s killer whales’ life spans are equivalent with those
in the wild. While studies continue to define the average life
span of killer whales in
the wild, the most recent science suggests that our killer
whales’ life spans are comparable — indeed, five of our animals
are older than 30, and one of
our whales is close to 50.

8. The killer whales in our care benefit those in the wild. We work
with universities, governmental agencies and NGOs to increase
the body of
knowledge about and the understanding of killer whales — from
their anatomy and reproductive biology to their auditory
abilities. Some populations of
wild killer whales have been classified as endangered or
threatened, demonstrating the potential critical nature of these
research opportunities. This type
of controlled research and study is simply not possible in the
wild, and has significant real-world benefits to the killer whales
that live there.
SeaWorld is a world leader in animal rescue. The millions of
people who visit our parks each year make possible SeaWorld’s
world-renowned work
in rescue, rehabilitation and release. We are constantly
innovating when it comes to this care: Our veterinarians have
created nursing bottles to hand-feed
orphaned whales, prosthetics to save sea turtles, and a wetsuit
to help injured manatees stay afloat during rehabilitation.
Whether it’s the result of natural
or man-made disasters, SeaWorld is always on call and often the
first to be contacted. We have rescued more than 25,000 animals
with the goal of
treating and returning them to the wild.
Naturalist Baba Dioum put it best when he said, “In the end we
will conserve only what we love; we will love only what we
understand; and we will
understand only what we have been taught.”
At SeaWorld, this has been our calling since we first opened our
doors 50 years ago. It is a responsibility we do not take lightly.
More than 400 million

9. guests have visited SeaWorld. We are proud that their
experiences here have a lasting and positive impact on them,
and on the world in which we live.
The truth about SeaWorld is right here in our parks and people.
Our guests may enter our gates having never given much
thought to the remarkable
animals in our oceans. When they leave with a greater
appreciation for the importance of the sea, educated about the
animals that live there and inspired
to make a difference, we have done our job.
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