Pathos in Marine Mammal Documentaries

According to Charles Larson, “pathos relates to emotion and includes appeals to the passions or the will” (54).

The documentaries appealed to our emotions through their use of imagery, specifically footage of captures of orcas and their subsequent struggles.

Most intense and horrifying was the footage in Blackfish, A Whale of a Business, and Call of the Killer Whale showing whales being caught and taken away from their pods. Seeing and hearing the excruciating cries for their families as they were captured, the way they were strapped in for plane lengthy rides, and the devastation when they were put into the small tanks at the parks were just some of the aspects of the film that provoked an inherent emotional response. The testimonies from some of the SeaWorld trainers regarding these instances was difficult to bear as well.

Many of them mention times when they were present for the captured whale’s first days and nights in their minuscule tanks, away from their families and home. They could hear the cries, clicks, and shrieks from the animals that continued for hours on end.

In Blackfish, former trainer John Hargrove explained a time when an orca mother, Kasatka and calf, Takara were captured and put into the same tank together, but were separated not long after their arrival.

“In fact, [when Takara was taken from Kasatka], she was emitting vocalizations that had never been heard before ever by anyone … obviously Takara was gone and [Kasatka] was trying anything she could to try to locate and communicate with Takara, which is absolutely heartbreaking. Those vocalizations continued on for a long time…”

This testimony, coupled with footage of a lonely orca in the corner of its tank crying, causes the audience to feel immense guilt and anguish over the whale’s conditions.

In showing us this heartbreaking scene, Blackfish interviews a former diver/whale hunter, John Crowe, who recalls a time when he captured a calf from the wild, taking it away from its mother.

He explained, “I lost it, I just started crying. I didn’t stop working. It’s like kidnapping a little kid from her mother. The worst thing I’ve ever done is hunt that whale.”

While explaining his experience, we see Crowe close to tears and can feel the agony and regret he lives with due his cruel actions from the past.

As we can see, when documenting the capture and subsequent captivity of marine mammals, and detailing the strained lives they live outside of ocean waters, it is not difficult to appeal to the emotions of one’s audience. While I focused on a couple intense scenes in Blackfish, each program or film presented us with footage that easily evoked an emotional response.

Logos in Marine Mammal Documentaries

Logos, otherwise known as the “appeal to the intellect, or to the rational side of humans” is an important aspect of persuading audiences about a movement or idea (Larson, 55). In Persuasion: Reception and Responsibility, Larson explains that logos relies on “the audience’s ability to process statistical data, examples, or testimony in logical ways and to arrive at some conclusion” (55).

In the case of the 8 marine mammal documentaries I’ve viewed, they all appeal to logic through interviews, field studies, and powerful footage that, for example, depict mass killings of dolphins or explore the danger of keeping marine mammals in captivity, and why none of this should be happening.

Blackfish and A Whale of a Business both make the claim that orca whales and other marine mammals should not be living in captivity because it causes stress, frustration, depression, and they lose the skills they need to survive in the wild. They support this by showing us footage of crying whales when left alone at night, images of their broken teeth after gnawing at the cement pools, and the blood and rake marks caused by whales fighting one another in their tiny pools. On top of the depressing footage, the scene showing trainers at the Oregon Aquarium trying to teach Keiko how to catch live fish is more than enough evidence that they do not belong in captivity. The fact that they had to re-teach a whale how to do something it was born to do is outrageous.

The Whale discusses the importance of humans not interfering with Luna’s life in Nootka Sound. The film shows the Department of Fishers and Oceans stewards following him around in order to stop boaters from engaging with and feeding her. They did this because they did not want Luna to become dependent on both their company and the food they might be feeding to him. If he had ever become reliant on humans for food or company, it could have possibly led to extremely irrational behavior towards humans, sickness, or disease.

Cousteau’s Call of the Killer Whale touches on the business of salmon farming, and the toxins that not only affect humans, but the salmon and their surrounding ecosystem. Along with the harmful toxins, the open-net pens breed infection and parasites, or sea lice, which can kill the salmon. Since salmon is also a common source of food for orca whales, when they eat anything around these open-net pens, they ingest toxins that can cause sickness and disease as well.

Knowing that something like salmon farming can harm both humans and marine mammals, one would think that it is the logical response to stop doing it. Although it is (hopefully) obvious to the audience watching this film, salmon farming continues to happen.

While these are just a few examples where several of these documentaries appeal to our logical minds, they all use logos in order to persuade the audience and support their message.

Ethos in Marine Mammal Documentaries

Over the past 10 weeks, I’ve viewed 8 marine mammal documentaries:

• The Cove
• The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins
• Dolphin Adventures
• Private Lives of Dolphins –NOVA
• Blackfish
• A Whale of a Business
• Call of the Killer Whale
• The Whale

Every single one of these documentaries used ethos to back up scientific information, discuss specific events, and give key insight into the conditions of the mammals discussed.

According to Aristotle, “before actually making a persuasive presentation, all persons are perceived in some way by their audience” (Larson, 54). In many cases, this is done so by the person’s reputation. Thus, their ethos, or credibility, is based on their reputation which allows them to better persuade an audience.

Films such as The Cove, A Whale of a Business, Call of the Killer Whale, and The Whale appear to be credible sources of information because they show us how the field studies that were conducted in order to research and make these films.

Louis Psihoyos took part in their covert operations in Taiji, Susan Davis studied the commercialization of SeaWorld for two years, Jean-Michel Cousteau and his children traveled around the world to research orcas and how their brains work, and Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit stayed on Vancouver Island for over three years filming Luna and the controversial events surrounding his life in Nootka Sound.

In order to establish credibility, each person interviewed was either introduced with a voiceover explaining their background of or involvement in the study, along with their name and title appearing on screen as they discussed their research.

In contrast to those films, The Girl Who Talked to Dolphins, Dolphin Adventures, Private Lives of Dolphins, and Blackfish used archival footage and interviews with people involved in past events as a means of ethos.

Interviews with Margaret Lovatt, archived footage of she and Peter, Mandy Rodriguez and his dolphins, along with the many interviews and footage of the crew with Randy Wells establish their expertise, making them credible sources, and help shape our perceptions of their work with these marine mammals. Lastly, we cannot forget the informative footage and shocking footage with former SeaWorld trainers and of the day Tilikum killed Dawn Brancheau.

As we can see, each documentary went above and beyond to inform its audience and made sure they supported all research with interviews from marine biologists, professors, whale experts, scientists, and other people experienced in each field.

The following two posts will discuss how the films appeal to logos and pathos.

52: The Loneliest Whale in the World – The Importance of Celebrity Advocacy

Over the past couple months I have watched and discussed several dolphin and orca whale documentaries that have been made, both old and new. What I have not brought up are the many documentaries that are in the works. One such documentary in production right now is 52: The Search for the Loneliest Whale in the World. 

A little less than four months ago actor Adrian Grenier and director Josh Zeman started a Kickstarter campaign to raise money so they could embark on a 20-day expedition in order to find “the loneliest whale in the world.” Thought to be a cross between the blue whale and fin whale, this hybrid sings at a frequency of 52 Hertz: a frequency no other whale can understand. The whale is believed to have spent his entire life in solitude, and they want to find him.

I bring up the campaign for this documentary because I want to discuss the impact celebrities have on social movements. We see this everyday through actors turned philanthropists. People such as George Clooney, Brad Pitt, and Angelina Jolie fighting to stop horrific occurrences like world hunger, poverty, and genocide by creating charities and donating money.

Celebrities shed light on important issues that many people fail to recognize or do not take as seriously as they should. People in the spotlight have the platform to make causes they care about known and use their credibility as actors, musicians, etc., to inspire citizens of the world to take action.

Their Kickstarter brings up an emotional reaction when we think about a lonely whale crying out for companionship, but also enlightens people about the problem of noise pollution in the ocean.

Grenier and Zeman explain that noise pollution is threatening the lives of marine mammals world-wide, especially whales. Noise sources include “sonar blasts from military exercises, seismic air guns to detect oil beneath the sea floor, and commercial shipping” are just a few of the man-made causes of noise pollution (52 Kickstarter). Their expedition will hopefully allow them to find new ways to stop such pollution.

Their campaign reached its goal due to a “50,000 Hail Mary donation” from Leonardo DiCaprio just a month after its launch (Cave).

The fact that DiCaprio’s name is now also attached to the documentary and the cause, it will more than double the attention that it is getting. While I used to feel that people tend to only care about causes because their favorite celebrities may be advocating for them, I now think it is more important than ever for celebrities to support causes they care about. It not only allows many little-known organizations and charities to be in the spotlight, but also lends more money to such causes.

Both celebrity voices and any donations they may be making help further support for issues around the world. The more celebrities advocate for those who cannot help themselves, the more likely we will be able to find solutions to these growing problems, and hopefully soon, The Loneliest Whale in the World as well.

“I’m furious!”: Luna Belonged in Puget Sound

After the death of the beloved Luna, the young orca whale living alone in Canada’s in Nootka Sound, Michael Harris of the Orca Conservancy in Seattle had some very strong opinions regarding what led up to Luna’s demise. In an article from the Seattle Post-Intelligencer he stated,

“This is the Katrina of orca advocacy. We saw a perfect storm gathering, and they sat around and did nothing, and now we’ve got a dead whale! It’s incredibly tragic and frustrating.”

-Michael Harris, Orca Conservancy

According to the article, Harris and the Orca Conservancy “consistently argued that the whale should be recaptured and returned to his whale family, the L pod” (McClure).

While Nootka Sound became his home, Luna was not living a natural orca life. He was causing so many disturbances because he is a social creature and longed for companionship. He had a “family” made up of the citizens of Vancouver Island, but they were not the family he should have had the most connection. Humans do not fulfill the connection that orcas have with their pods.

Although I understand the First Nations desire to let nature takes its course and allow Luna to roam free, as well as their emotional connection to the whale, I think the Department of Fisheries and Oceans should have worked with the Orca Conservancy to him get back to Puget Sound. I think he would have had a good chance of reuniting with his family.

The film did a great job appealing to our emotions and persuading the audience that the DFO were the “bad guys” trying to keep Luna from enjoying his life. While watching the film, I agreed, and did not want Luna to get captured by them. Upon further research, I found out their efforts were in good faith, and their main concern was getting Luna back to Washington in the hopes of finding his family.

I think Luna’s untimely death is a good lesson that we should not lose hope when trying to enhance the lives of animals that cannot defend themselves.

The Whale That Adopted A Village

In 2011, Suzanne Chisholm and Michael Parfit released their documentary The Whale. Narrated by actor Ryan Reynolds, the film tells the story of Luna, also known as L98 or Tsu’xiit, an orca whale living in Nootka Sound, Canada after being separated from his pod at a young age.

Luna was born in Puget Sound in 1999, but after being separated from his pod he ended up in Nootka Sound, an inlet to the west of Vancouver Island. First spotted in 2001 at age 2, Luna quickly became a celebrity among the people living there. As an orca without a pod, he sought companionship by coming up to boats and kayakers to say hi and socialize.

Luna

“He [was] Mowgli, the jungle boy of whales.”
-Dr. Lance Barrett Lennard, Marine Mammal Scientist, Vancouver Aquarium

He was lonely hanging around Nootka Sound by himself. His loneliness made him an extremely friendly whale. He just wanted to befriend the many humans he saw daily–but his very human need for friendship became irksome to many boaters.

Luna interacting with some boaters.

Luna making friends with a dog.

As we watch Luna swimming around a voiceover of Reynolds states, “Orcas are more mysterious and more familiar than we could have ever imagined. Whales have been in the sea for 50 million years, and humans have been around for as long as we can remember. Both species depend on family and friends for survival. In solitude, we are incomplete.”

“When he was at the dock, he had a pretty good routine going there. He would start off somewhere around the boom boats, and visit the guys, and then he would come over and visit us. And then he might go fishing up the Berman for a bit, and come back. And when the guys were coming in from work, and their boats, their crew boats instead, he would go out and meet them.”
-Donna Schneider, Cook, MV Uchuck III, Nootka Sound, BC

Luna and First Nations member Jamie James. “That was my greatest honour – being his friend.”

Jamie James distracting Luna so he will leave a kayaker alone.

Since Luna hung around the docks and swam around boaters, naturally, people would reach out to pet him. While we all probably have the inclination to reach out and connect with this gentle creature, it is illegal in both Canada and the U.S. to disturb a wild marine mammal because there is the potential that the animal, human, or both, could be injured. The Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) felt that they had to interfere.

DFO had stewards following Luna around. Whenever he would approach a boat, the two stewards would inform people that it was against the law to touch a wild marine mammal, and that they could be fined up to $100,000.

Since the many boaters he approached did not interact with him, Luna would disturb the loggers and the float planes when they would fly into the sound. His boredom and curiosity caused damage to some vessels, a float plane, and even himself.

Because he was frequently disturbing people on the sound, in 2004 the DFO initiated a plan to try and capture Luna and place him in captivity. Being that the Mowachaht/Muchalaht First Nations felt Luna was a reincarnation of their former chief, Ambrose Macquinna who passed just days before Luna showed up in Nootka Sound. In light of this, they did everything they could to stop the capture from happening. Throughout the week that the DFO attempted to capture Luna, they took out two canoes to lead him away from the pen. Their determination kept Luna from ever being captured.

After several capture attempts, the DFO gave up, once again allowing Luna to roam Nootka Sound freely.

Sadly, on March 10, 2006, the inevitable happened: Luna’s intrusiveness and friendly demeanor got the best of him and he was killed by a tug boat.

Even though Luna lived a short life of 7 years, and five of those years without his pod, his life was full of human companions that were thankful for his presence in their lives.

Note: My next post will discuss the day Luna died and the negative backlash from the Orca Conservancy.

Be Whale Wise

In light of Call of the Killer Whale, I want to delve into some proper etiquette when it comes to dealing with whales in open water. Specifically, the interactions touched upon between locals and orcas in British Columbia. Everything I’ve watched has shown us how scientists, researchers, and ocean explorers interact with the whales, but we have not learned much about how to avoid/interact with them when swimming, fishing, or doing other water activities.

So, let’s talk about awareness. 

In an article from The Weather Network, “Killer whale sighting in B.C. is a stern reminder to locals,” Rodrigo Cokting tells of a recent orca sighting and explains to readers different ways they can stay alert and not disrupt the whales when they are swimming or boating.

Almost a week ago on May 17, 2015, a pod of killer whales was seen in the Nanaimo area of British Columbia, the same place we saw them in Call of the Killer Whale. Due to the impending Memorial Day weekend, the local officials wanted to remind residents to keep a look out for orcas and stay cautious.

I want to make it clear that they were not warning the locals to keep cautious because orcas could attack them, but because boats can alert, disrupt, and at times, harm them.

Tessa Danelesko, coordinator for the B.C. Cetacean Sightings Network with the Vancouver Aquarium explained,

“When we get too close, approach too quickly or make too much noise, we may disrupt the whales and interfere with foraging, resting, and socializing. Boats can also directly injure cetaceans through collisions.”

The Vancouver Aquarium provided a video demonstrating how to navigate a boat around the whales, along with a list of ways to help out:

What to do

• Be cautious and courteous Just like crossing the road, make sure to look in all directions before approaching an area that could have whales.
• Slow down: Keeping your speed under 7 knots is the best way to avoid an abrupt course changes if you’re in proximity of a whale.
• Stay away: The best advice is to keep away from any whales when possible. If you see one heading toward you, move out of the way.
• Don’t surprise them Just like humans, whales don’t enjoy being caught off-guard. Approach and depart whales from the side and try to move in a direction that is parallel to that of the cetacean.
• In and out: Try to keep your viewing time under 30 minutes.
• Don’t get too close Don’t position your vessel to be any closer to a whale than 100 metres. If you find yourself any closer than that, turn off the engine and keep the vessel in neutral.

This article is not only important in places where there is high orca whale traffic, but anywhere one might see an orca. It is crucial to be aware of one’s surroundings in a situation where it is so easy to cause harm to an animal that is also existing peacefully in the same place we are.

Call of the Killer Whale

On April 22, 2009 Jean-Michel Cousteau’s PBS program, Ocean Adventures premiered the two part episode, “Call of the Killer Whale”. 

Narrated by Chris Noth, the episode takes us on an adventure with Jean-Michel Cousteau, his son Fabien, and daughter Celine, as they went to both then northern and southern hemispheres to seek out whales in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans.

Since orcas are the dominant species in the ocean, and we are the dominant species on land, Cousteau’s mission was to try and make the connection between humans and nature by comparing us with orcas.

Their journey began in the Pacific Northwest, speaking to John Ford, a Cetacean Research scientist and pioneer in orca acoustics, and Paul Spong, Research Director at OrcaLab, Canada. Ford spoke about how orcas communicate through many dialects and calls, and that we have so much to learn from these animals.

Spong discusses orcas large, complex brains. 40 years ago when he first saw an orca brain he asked, “What does this whale do with that brain?” He continues to ask this question today.

This would not be an orca-centric program without talking about Keiko, the most famous whale in the world. As shown in A Whale Of A Business, Keiko’s transition from young captive whale to movie star to old captive whale on the path toward returning to the ocean was a long, hard journey, but with the help of committed scientists and trainers, they returned him to the wild ocean waters.

Keiko being taken to the Oregon Aquarium

Before Keiko’s flight to Norway.

Keiko in-flight to Norway.

Keiko, following a boat swimming in open waters in Norway.

While Keiko had not communicated with another orca in more than 20 years, another captive orca that was still using the calls from the pod he was taken away from.

Alexandra Morton of the Raincoast Research Society and Paul Spong discussed the resilience of Corky, the 43-year-old female orca that had been in captivity for 38 years. Although she communicated with Orky, another orca in captivity with her, she continued to try communicate with the pod she had not seen in almost 40 years.

One of the major studies Spong is trying to do at OrcaLab is pick out orcas individualized voices. While it is fairly easy for humans to recognize different voices, it is almost impossible with orca whales.

Paul Spong

“If we can understand who’s speaking, maybe ultimately we might begin to understand what’s being said.”

-Paul Spong, Research Director, OrcaLab

Part Two of the program takes Cousteau and his team to Norway, searching for orcas in the dark of winter. What they hoped to find was an orca feeding frenzy.

One team member, Holly Lohuis discusses the many places they’ve been around the world and asks Dag Vongraven, Senior Advisor as the Norwegian Polar Institute whether the orcas in Norway are similar to the ones we know in the Pacific Northwest.

“We have the same matrilineal system [in Norway]. We believe they are the same type of groups, but for us it seems to be a more fluid system. We don’t find these very permanent groups that you do in the Pacific Northwest.”

Jean-Michel Cousteau and his team went to Norway in the winter because, as Vongraven explained, “the spring spawning of Norwegian herring has been prime prey for the whales. As a consequence, there has been 500-600 whales at the same time.”

Norway

Norway

Norway

After Norway, the team went to Monterrey Bay, California to see the great gray whale migration that happens every spring. Killer whales prey on gray whale calfs because there are so many and they are very large and can feed 20-30 orcas at a time.

After witnessing a brutal feeding on a gray whale calf, the team headed back to British Columbia to continue their research on the west coast of Canada, the most studied orca population in the world. Jean-Michel and Celine Cousteau led their team to the “Land of the Killer Whale.”

The humans living in this area are very cautious in protecting the small population of whales that they know very well. Kenneth Balcomb, Senior Scientist at the Center for Whale Research explained, “For more than 30 years, we’ve known every individual [whale] that comes and goes, is born and dies here.”

In the last portion of the episode, there is an emphasis on salmon fishing, specifically, farm fishing and the toxins and other chemicals in farm-fished salmon that affects humans. In Robson Bight in British Columbia, salmon are an integral part of the coastal ecosystem that the orcas are a part of. The open-net pens that the salmon are kept in breed disease, infection, and parasites, and the antibiotics the fish are given to help combat disease negatively affect surrounding life, namely the orca whales, which cause them to leave to find good salmon, become infected with disease, starve, or in some cases, die (Salmon Farming).

Salmon Farming Pen

The First Nations people that live on the coast explain that they lived off of the wild salmon, and those fish are quickly being taken away by salmon farmers.

John Ford explained to Jean-Michel that we need to listen to the lessons of the past: the First Nations caught wild fish and there wasn’t any pollution or disease among these waters. We must take that example and put it into action once again if we want to continue to see orcas on the coast, return this ecosystem to health, and find a cure for the future.

“Perhaps a way we can reach the public as empathy for a dramatic, exciting animal that’s found in all the world’s oceans, so if we can connect with them, then personal decisions might change.”

-John Ford, Cetacean Research Scientist

Jean-Michel Cousteau, Courtesy of Ocean Futures

“If we protect the ocean, we protect ourselves.”

-Jean-Michel Cousteau

Note: My next post will discuss the importance of being aware around orcas when boating.

SeaWorld?: An Education?

I think it is important to discuss Jim McBain’s heinous idea that SeaWorld provides an educational experience for its visitors.

In reference to SeaWorld and the animals they keep captive, McBain stated,

“…I think that everybody deserves the opportunity to be able to experience those very special things in life that are very meaningful to them as individuals and to children. These experiences are a lifetime of value. The reason people keep coming back, it’s the educational side, they learn something. There’s depth.”

-Jim McBain,

Director of Veterinary Services, SeaWorld, Inc.

In 2010, after the release of Blackfish, and the untimely death of Dawn Brancheau became more widely known, the United States Congress finally began to question “the educational value of  keeping killer whales, dolphins, and other marine mammals in captivity in zoos, aquariums, and theme parks” (US Congress Questions SeaWorld’s Educational Value).

During the testimony they discussed the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA), which allows the display of dolphins, whales, seals, and other marine mammals if it provides proper educational and conservational programs. In regards to this, Congress asked what defines “meaningful public education” when using these animals (US Congress Questions SeaWorld’s Educational Value).

First off, when is the confinement and display of marine mammals ever a “proper” way to educate people or conserve lives of animals? The answer is never. There is never a time when keeping an animal from living a full, healthy life and thriving in the wild is the better option.

Louis Psihoyos, director of The Cove, argues “ ‘the ethics of riding atop a wild animal in a spandex suit with loud music blaring cannot be reconciled under the banner of education.’  He believes we cannot understand the behavior of the animals in the wild by watching them perform ‘circus-like’ shows” (US Congress Questions SeaWorld’s Educational Value).

Following Psihoyos statement, when children see dolphins and orcas performing at these parks, that is what they think these creatures are meant to be doing. They do not know any better and grow up with the mindset that it is an acceptable form of entertainment. That’s not what I call an education.

I think that we’re seeing nothing new in the educational horizon that we didn’t already know in the early 1970s. The educational value today is dramatically reduced if it’s present at all.”

-John Hall,

Former SeaWorld San Diego Research Director

If so many former SeaWorld employees are coming out of the woodwork, as we saw in Blackfish and John Hall, to give truthful accounts of how these animals are treated, that should give us a clue about how the park actually operates and the lies they continue to spout.

Going back to McBain’s quote, what he thinks is meaningful is the fact that people get to see the beauty of an orca, dolphin, or other marine mammal up close. While that is an extraordinary experience, what they are learning in the process is that it is okay for animals that are oceanic creatures to be living in small tanks while being hand-fed by humans and performing tricks to entertainment them. That teaches nothing about what these wild animals lives should be like, and instead parades a false reality.

A Whale Of A Business

On November 11, 1997, PBS’ FRONTLINE aired the program, “A Whale Of A Business.” The hour-long show focused on “the most famous orca in the world,” Keiko. Four years earlier in 1993 Keiko starred in the film, Free Willy. Before the film, Keiko was captive in Reino Aventura, an amusement park in Mexico City, but due to the publicity the film received, Warner Brothers Studio and the public wanted to find him a better home.

In 1995, after donations from the studio, school children, and entrepreneur Craig McCaw, Keiko was moved from Mexico City to the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon, where they were able help Keiko get healthy in the hopes of returning him to the wild.

Transporting Keiko

Gearing up to transport Keiko.

That is where the FRONTLINE program really begins.

The news program not only focuses on Keiko’s livelihood, and activists struggle to set him free,  but also on the fact that amusement parks such as SeaWorld have become “overwhelmingly commercial”. Susan Davis, author of Spectacular Nature – Corporate Culture and the SeaWorld Experience, explained that after two years of doing research there, she watched SeaWorld become more and more like a shopping mall.

“I mean there really is an incredible clustering of all kinds of stores, souvenir stores, food concession stores, photo concession stores, because concession sales are really, really important to their profit. So I found it very commercial, very intensely managed, very carefully planned landscape.”

They turn much of their profit through these stores, specifically in memorabilia sales of the park’s main attraction: killer whales. As Davis puts it, “They are it’s Mickey Mouse.” Everything they sell has “Shamu” stamped on it.

Keiko’s performance in Free Willy made him well-loved by the public and the perfect “mascot” in the fight for freedom.

Keiko

Ben White, a “guerilla warrior” from the Animal Welfare institute against animal exploitation believes animal captivity degrades human beings as well.

“What does it do to us to be able to be so violent, to go grab these animals and starve them until they’re willing to take dead fish from us? …We get it so it will beg dead fish from us and let us stand on its face. What does that do to our humanity?”

In response, SeaWorld’s Director of Veterinary Services Jim McBain stated,

Jim McBain

“I consider that a very cynical point of view. We can’t all go on eco tours. Everybody isn’t capable of doing that, and I think that everybody deserves the opportunity to be able to experience those very special things in life that are very meaningful to them as individuals and to children. These experiences are a lifetime of value. The reason people keep coming back, it’s the educational side, they learn something. There’s depth.”

Orcas in captivity at SeaWorld.

While I agree that we have so much to learn from these animals, the idea McBain has regarding the how they should experience these creatures is inhumane. What children, and even adults, are learning is that amusement parks are places killer whales are supposed to be, and children grow up thinking that it is okay.

“I believe that animals have a role in education, but that we should not imprison them unduly in that process. Perhaps not imprison them in that sense at all.”

-Craig McCaw, Free Willy-Keiko Foundation

Naomi Rose of The Humane Society explains that there is no way these parks can provide for the whales. They are not living in the large family groups they’re accustomed to, and nothing compares to the ocean. There are so many health and hygiene concerns, putting them into a concrete swimming pool slowly kills them.

“We are not going to release any of the animals in our collection because they have been in our collection for long periods of time, and we’re not going to put them at risk where they can die.”

-Brad Andrews, Vice President, Zoological Operations, SeaWorld, Inc.

The narrator of the program states, “The wild is full of mystery for an animal that has spent most of his life in the care of humans.”

This is made clear as we see trainers in the Oregon Aquarium trying to teach him how to catch live fish. The idea that a creature cannot do what they were born to do because of human intervention is outrageous.

Between 1996 and 1998, the staff at the Oregon Aquarium worked hard to prepare Keiko for his return to the wild. After extensive training teaching Keiko how to feed himself (he caught his first live fish in August 1997), he was airlifted to Klettsvik Bay in Vestmannaeyjar, Iceland on September 9, 1998 (Keiko).

After four years of intense training in open ocean, interacting with wild whales, and consistently feeding himself, Keiko was let out of his netted bay pen. He left the confines of the tracking boat, covered 1,000 miles with a group of whales, and ended up on Norway.

In December 2002, Keiko was finally in a place where he could come and go as he pleased. The Free Willy Keiko Foundation and the Human Society of the United States continued to care for him amidst his freedom.

Sadly, just a year later, Keiko passed away from what was thought to either be acute pneumonia or old age. While his life in the ocean was short-lived, the fact that Keiko readapted to the environment he was born into proves the resilience of orca whales and provides us with strong evidence that the ocean is where they belong.

My next post will discuss Jim McBain’s comment regarding SeaWorld as an educational park.