The opening scene...
Even the very first scene is totally incorrect. We see a trainer in the water with a killer whale during a performance and that is synced with the actual 911 calls of Dawn Brancheau's incident. So people think that the footage shows Dawn in the water with Tilikum. This is however incorrect as trainers, including Dawn never swam with Tilikum and the footage shows orcas Corky (who lives in San Diego) and Katina (in Orlando) doing a normal performance where no attack is even happening. This mis-syncing between footage and voice overs is repeated throughout the film and I don't think that is acceptable in the first place.
Sam "riding the killer whale".
In one scene Samantha Berg (former trainer) is describing her first time swimming with a killer whale and then they actually show footage of a current SeaWorld trainer, Holly Byrd. Holly spent years trying to achieve her goal of becoming a killer whale trainer and that footage is so special to her. Yet Blackfish steals it, and uses it in an anti captivity way, pretending that it is Samantha Berg. I find that un-acceptable! Also, that footage was taken over 10 years after Sam left SeaWorld.
The movie shows more current SeaWorld trainers like Jenny Mairot and Mark Galan also doing what they love little did they know that they would end up in an anti-captivity documentary. The film-makers should of at least asked for permission to use that footage because it belongs to SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment (it is off the Believe DVD that is property of SeaWorld). I think that is just super unfair and I feel for these trainers.
The former trainers:
All of the former trainers involved in the Blackfish cast either had very little experience at SeaWorld or worked there over 20 years ago. Most of them never even worked with Tilikum and several of them never even worked with whales in the water. They talk about Dawn even though most of them didn't even know her or worked with her. Samantha Berg worked at SeaWorld for a total of 3 years and only one year with the killer whales. She never worked with Tilikum in her whole career. The way that they critique Dawn Brancheau on the day of her death was just totally unacceptable. Because they haven't worked at SeaWorld in such a long time, they are very un-aware of the protocols and ways SeaWorld does things today.
The Separations:
In the movie, they focus on 2 mother/calf separations (Katina/Kalina and Kasatka/Takara). For both of them, you get the impression that the calves were taken from their mother at a very young age because they show footage a newborn calf (Makaio, who was born in October 2010). However, Kalina was 4 1/2 years old when she was moved and she was moved because she was causing destruction between the pod. Takara was moved from her mother, Kasatka when she was 13 years old. She spent over 13 years with her mother and she was moved to Florida in 2004 also because she was stirring up the pod by being the "spoilt princess" because she was the daughter of the matriarch. After her move to Florida, she settled in very well and seemed to enjoy her new social structure. She got along very well with Katina and the other females.
Katina and Kasatka's depression:
Blackfish states that after Kasatka and Katina were separated from their babies, they were making these calls that no one had ever heard before. This is totally false. First of all, in the footage you see the killer whales opening their mouth and you hear killer whale calls. Killer whales DO NOT make noises through their mouth, it is completely through their blow hole so that is all inaccurate. Those calls that you hear were recorded from wild orcas and were just put in with the footage (which is just the other whales playing and showing interest in what ever it is they are watching).
The Captures:
In Blackfish, they show you footage of orcas getting captured in the 1970s. This is true, in the 1970s heaps of orcas were captured and sold to marine parks. However, these days marine mammals are only captured in Asia and Russia. For over 20 years, SeaWorld has never captured an orca from the wild or supported industries that do catch them. SeaWorld has nothing to do with the Taiji Dolphin Slaughter either, as is mentioned in The Cove. This is all false. Out of SeaWorld's entire current killer whale collection, only 5 of them (Tilikum, Katina, Kasatka, Ulises and Corky) were captured from the wild and these whales are in their 30's. Corky is in her 40's.
Tilikum was caught by SeaWorld:
The film clearly gives you the idea that SeaWorld were the ones who captured Tilikum which they did not. SeaWorld had nothing to do with the capture. Tilikum and some other whales went to Sealand Of The Pacific in Canada. SeaWorld did not own this park or have anything to do with it. The way the whales were treated there was up to Sealand, not SeaWorld. SeaWorld only got the whales from Sealand because the park closed after the death of trainer Keltie Byrne. Because the park closed, the whales obviously had to go somewhere else and they couldn't be returned to the wild because they had spent many years in captivity. SeaWorld being the most successful company in housing killer whales (and still is) was offered by Sealand to take the whales. SeaWorld approved.
Collapsed Dorsal Fins:
Blackfish makes you think that only killer whales in captivity have collapsed dorsal fins. This is also untrue. Many wild killer whales also have collapsed dorsal fins. The reason why is simple. The dorsal fin contains no bone, only muscle, that is why often when the whale is swimming fast you can see the dorsal swinging side to side. Over time, that fin starts to bend, whether it's just a little bit or totally flop over. It is also a genetical thing. Yes in captivity, we see more orcas with flopped over dorsal fins than in the wild. It is usually the adult males whose fins flop over. One of the theories into this is that captive killer whales swim in circles more often than in a straight line so the balance of the dorsal fin is affected. Therefore it will start to bend to one side. A male killer whale's dorsal fin can be twice the size of the female's, so having a larger fin like that it is more likely to flop over more. The dorsal fins collapsing does absolutely nothing to the killer whale's health, it doesn't hurt them in any way, it has nothing to do with them being stressed and they probably don't even notice it. Why are we making such a big fuss about it? It is just one of the small things that can happen to killer whales in captivity and seriously it doesn't mean anything.
Other Lies: Some other lies that aren't necessarily in Blackfish but in heaps of other anti captivity statements.
Teeth drilling:
In captivity killer whale's teeth often get worn down and they require some drilling. The whales are specifically trained to comfortably stay there with their mouth open (a very basic husbandry behavior) while trainers check their teeth or even clean them. The teeth being worn down doesn't always have to do with biting the concrete. We often have to go to the dentist, to get a tooth filled or even drilled and we don't chew concrete! In the wild as well the whales can encounter teeth problems and all orcas only go through one set of teeth. So when they loose their teeth as they age, they won't get new ones. In captivity the whales have trainers to help them with their teeth and basically do things that dentists do. I witnessed some tooth drilling on Nalani while I was at SeaWorld Orlando. She was perfectly calm and relaxed. If it was hurting her, she wouldn't be so relaxed! Former trainer Bridgette Pritle even confirmed in an article that the whales were given anesthetic during tooth drilling (go here). Also, these trainers have a huge heart for their animals and would never do anything that was painful for them. Tooth cleaning is just a daily procedure that does not involve stress and is only best for the animals.
Rake marks:
If you see an orca in captivity with a few scratches on it's body, don't freak out! Orcas use their teeth for more things than just grabbing prey. Gently biting and scratching each other is in fact another way of communicating for whales and dolphins. And with younger whales, play fighting is quite common so that will also cause rake marks. There is not one whale in the wild who isn't covered in rake marks. It's a totally normal thing! Also the bumps on the tip of their noses are also normal because whales and dolphins use their mouths and the tip of their noses when they are investigating new things like new toys and things to play with. They don't have hands, so they must use something else.
The whales get fed dead, un-healthy fish which lack nutrients:
SeaWorld's animals get the highest quality of food available. While spending a day working behind the scenes at SeaWorld, I witnissed all the fresh fish coming in at 6am, then being cleaned, scaled, prepared and put in the big freezer for the day. Then all the different fish will get delivered to different parts of the park (shamu stadium, dolphin cove etc). There is a reason the fish is dead, because feeding live food to animals in captivity is hardly being done in zoological facilities apart from Asia. Many zoos and aquariums are phasing it out because it is un-ethical, the prey is unable to escape. So the fish being dead is no different to any other zoological facility. The fish is obviously frozen or stored in a refrigerator, because how else would you keep it safe and bacteria free for the remainder of the day!? The fish are kept in buckets with ice, the ice helps keep bacteria from them and also keeps them cold. I am sure you know that fish doesn't stay good for long! Just before the fish is going to be fed to the animals, it is taken out of the fridge or freezer so the animals don't get the fish when it is totally frozen. Freezing food has it's advantages and dis-advantages. It will stay good for longer but unfortunately the thawing of the food will make it loose some of it's vitamins and minerals. So to make sure the animals get their daily requirements, vitamin and mineral tablets are placed into the fish. Whales and dolphins swallow their food whole, so they won't even realize it's in there. SeaWorld is not the only place that does this, every single zoological facility does because it is just to make sure that the animals get their required daily amount of vitamins and minerals!
Every single morning, new fish comes in and that is used for the whole day. SeaWorld's animals enjoy a varied diet with only the freshest food available, and it is stored and prepared in the safest and most hygienic way possible.
The whales are forced to perform and if they don't perform, they don't get fed:
This statement angers me the most. You can't go around randomly saying things if you don't know the facts! SeaWorld will never force it's animals to perform. Everything the whales do is asked to them. If they don't want to perform, they won't perform and the trainers will give them the same amount of fish as they would ever get on a daily basis. If the animal chooses not to perform, trainers will try to get a different animal out and if no animals want to perform (which sometimes does happen) than the show will be cancelled. It's as simple as that. If the animals don't choose to perform it doesn't mean that they are extremely depressed, un-healthy or anything like that. It could be because something has happened in the pod (someone gave birth, someone died, someone is currently in the medical pool undergoing a medical exam). The whales form very close family bonds and care about each other. If something is happening to a member of the pod, the other whales most likely will be put off because they want to keep an eye on that individual. It can be just simple reasons like that, and usually the next day, the whales are all set to perform again.
The whales perform circus like tricks:
This is very much untrue. All the behaviors you see the whales and dolphins perform at SeaWorld have all been documented out in the wild. SeaWorld works closely with scientists who study whales in the wild (with help from the captive orcas) and sometimes SeaWorld's own crew members will go out into the wild and document wild killer whale behavior themselves. It is impossible to train a killer whale to do something that they can't physically do or that would hurt them!
SeaWorld only cares about the money, not the well being of their animals:
This statement is so far from the truth. Every year, SeaWorld spends millions of dollars in helping animals in the wild. They save thousands of animals who are in need and when they can, release them into the wild. They also spend millions of dollars on the animals in their care, just the care of the killer whales costs them millions a year. Just recently, SeaWorld Orlando opened it's brand new Antarctica:Empire Of The Penguin exhibit which now gives their penguins a much bigger and more natural enclosure plus a much better way for the public to get closer to penguins and learn more about them. SeaWorld's big goal is education, and by letting people (especially children) get so close and connect with the animals, the chance of them making a difference is much bigger. SeaWorld is not all about the money, it is about bringing people and animals together and giving their animals the best possible lives and care.
The list goes on, see the detailed analysis here.
Even the very first scene is totally incorrect. We see a trainer in the water with a killer whale during a performance and that is synced with the actual 911 calls of Dawn Brancheau's incident. So people think that the footage shows Dawn in the water with Tilikum. This is however incorrect as trainers, including Dawn never swam with Tilikum and the footage shows orcas Corky (who lives in San Diego) and Katina (in Orlando) doing a normal performance where no attack is even happening. This mis-syncing between footage and voice overs is repeated throughout the film and I don't think that is acceptable in the first place.
Sam "riding the killer whale".
In one scene Samantha Berg (former trainer) is describing her first time swimming with a killer whale and then they actually show footage of a current SeaWorld trainer, Holly Byrd. Holly spent years trying to achieve her goal of becoming a killer whale trainer and that footage is so special to her. Yet Blackfish steals it, and uses it in an anti captivity way, pretending that it is Samantha Berg. I find that un-acceptable! Also, that footage was taken over 10 years after Sam left SeaWorld.
The movie shows more current SeaWorld trainers like Jenny Mairot and Mark Galan also doing what they love little did they know that they would end up in an anti-captivity documentary. The film-makers should of at least asked for permission to use that footage because it belongs to SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment (it is off the Believe DVD that is property of SeaWorld). I think that is just super unfair and I feel for these trainers.
The former trainers:
All of the former trainers involved in the Blackfish cast either had very little experience at SeaWorld or worked there over 20 years ago. Most of them never even worked with Tilikum and several of them never even worked with whales in the water. They talk about Dawn even though most of them didn't even know her or worked with her. Samantha Berg worked at SeaWorld for a total of 3 years and only one year with the killer whales. She never worked with Tilikum in her whole career. The way that they critique Dawn Brancheau on the day of her death was just totally unacceptable. Because they haven't worked at SeaWorld in such a long time, they are very un-aware of the protocols and ways SeaWorld does things today.
The Separations:
In the movie, they focus on 2 mother/calf separations (Katina/Kalina and Kasatka/Takara). For both of them, you get the impression that the calves were taken from their mother at a very young age because they show footage a newborn calf (Makaio, who was born in October 2010). However, Kalina was 4 1/2 years old when she was moved and she was moved because she was causing destruction between the pod. Takara was moved from her mother, Kasatka when she was 13 years old. She spent over 13 years with her mother and she was moved to Florida in 2004 also because she was stirring up the pod by being the "spoilt princess" because she was the daughter of the matriarch. After her move to Florida, she settled in very well and seemed to enjoy her new social structure. She got along very well with Katina and the other females.
Katina and Kasatka's depression:
Blackfish states that after Kasatka and Katina were separated from their babies, they were making these calls that no one had ever heard before. This is totally false. First of all, in the footage you see the killer whales opening their mouth and you hear killer whale calls. Killer whales DO NOT make noises through their mouth, it is completely through their blow hole so that is all inaccurate. Those calls that you hear were recorded from wild orcas and were just put in with the footage (which is just the other whales playing and showing interest in what ever it is they are watching).
The Captures:
In Blackfish, they show you footage of orcas getting captured in the 1970s. This is true, in the 1970s heaps of orcas were captured and sold to marine parks. However, these days marine mammals are only captured in Asia and Russia. For over 20 years, SeaWorld has never captured an orca from the wild or supported industries that do catch them. SeaWorld has nothing to do with the Taiji Dolphin Slaughter either, as is mentioned in The Cove. This is all false. Out of SeaWorld's entire current killer whale collection, only 5 of them (Tilikum, Katina, Kasatka, Ulises and Corky) were captured from the wild and these whales are in their 30's. Corky is in her 40's.
Tilikum was caught by SeaWorld:
The film clearly gives you the idea that SeaWorld were the ones who captured Tilikum which they did not. SeaWorld had nothing to do with the capture. Tilikum and some other whales went to Sealand Of The Pacific in Canada. SeaWorld did not own this park or have anything to do with it. The way the whales were treated there was up to Sealand, not SeaWorld. SeaWorld only got the whales from Sealand because the park closed after the death of trainer Keltie Byrne. Because the park closed, the whales obviously had to go somewhere else and they couldn't be returned to the wild because they had spent many years in captivity. SeaWorld being the most successful company in housing killer whales (and still is) was offered by Sealand to take the whales. SeaWorld approved.
Collapsed Dorsal Fins:
Blackfish makes you think that only killer whales in captivity have collapsed dorsal fins. This is also untrue. Many wild killer whales also have collapsed dorsal fins. The reason why is simple. The dorsal fin contains no bone, only muscle, that is why often when the whale is swimming fast you can see the dorsal swinging side to side. Over time, that fin starts to bend, whether it's just a little bit or totally flop over. It is also a genetical thing. Yes in captivity, we see more orcas with flopped over dorsal fins than in the wild. It is usually the adult males whose fins flop over. One of the theories into this is that captive killer whales swim in circles more often than in a straight line so the balance of the dorsal fin is affected. Therefore it will start to bend to one side. A male killer whale's dorsal fin can be twice the size of the female's, so having a larger fin like that it is more likely to flop over more. The dorsal fins collapsing does absolutely nothing to the killer whale's health, it doesn't hurt them in any way, it has nothing to do with them being stressed and they probably don't even notice it. Why are we making such a big fuss about it? It is just one of the small things that can happen to killer whales in captivity and seriously it doesn't mean anything.
Other Lies: Some other lies that aren't necessarily in Blackfish but in heaps of other anti captivity statements.
Teeth drilling:
In captivity killer whale's teeth often get worn down and they require some drilling. The whales are specifically trained to comfortably stay there with their mouth open (a very basic husbandry behavior) while trainers check their teeth or even clean them. The teeth being worn down doesn't always have to do with biting the concrete. We often have to go to the dentist, to get a tooth filled or even drilled and we don't chew concrete! In the wild as well the whales can encounter teeth problems and all orcas only go through one set of teeth. So when they loose their teeth as they age, they won't get new ones. In captivity the whales have trainers to help them with their teeth and basically do things that dentists do. I witnessed some tooth drilling on Nalani while I was at SeaWorld Orlando. She was perfectly calm and relaxed. If it was hurting her, she wouldn't be so relaxed! Former trainer Bridgette Pritle even confirmed in an article that the whales were given anesthetic during tooth drilling (go here). Also, these trainers have a huge heart for their animals and would never do anything that was painful for them. Tooth cleaning is just a daily procedure that does not involve stress and is only best for the animals.
Rake marks:
If you see an orca in captivity with a few scratches on it's body, don't freak out! Orcas use their teeth for more things than just grabbing prey. Gently biting and scratching each other is in fact another way of communicating for whales and dolphins. And with younger whales, play fighting is quite common so that will also cause rake marks. There is not one whale in the wild who isn't covered in rake marks. It's a totally normal thing! Also the bumps on the tip of their noses are also normal because whales and dolphins use their mouths and the tip of their noses when they are investigating new things like new toys and things to play with. They don't have hands, so they must use something else.
The whales get fed dead, un-healthy fish which lack nutrients:
SeaWorld's animals get the highest quality of food available. While spending a day working behind the scenes at SeaWorld, I witnissed all the fresh fish coming in at 6am, then being cleaned, scaled, prepared and put in the big freezer for the day. Then all the different fish will get delivered to different parts of the park (shamu stadium, dolphin cove etc). There is a reason the fish is dead, because feeding live food to animals in captivity is hardly being done in zoological facilities apart from Asia. Many zoos and aquariums are phasing it out because it is un-ethical, the prey is unable to escape. So the fish being dead is no different to any other zoological facility. The fish is obviously frozen or stored in a refrigerator, because how else would you keep it safe and bacteria free for the remainder of the day!? The fish are kept in buckets with ice, the ice helps keep bacteria from them and also keeps them cold. I am sure you know that fish doesn't stay good for long! Just before the fish is going to be fed to the animals, it is taken out of the fridge or freezer so the animals don't get the fish when it is totally frozen. Freezing food has it's advantages and dis-advantages. It will stay good for longer but unfortunately the thawing of the food will make it loose some of it's vitamins and minerals. So to make sure the animals get their daily requirements, vitamin and mineral tablets are placed into the fish. Whales and dolphins swallow their food whole, so they won't even realize it's in there. SeaWorld is not the only place that does this, every single zoological facility does because it is just to make sure that the animals get their required daily amount of vitamins and minerals!
Every single morning, new fish comes in and that is used for the whole day. SeaWorld's animals enjoy a varied diet with only the freshest food available, and it is stored and prepared in the safest and most hygienic way possible.
The whales are forced to perform and if they don't perform, they don't get fed:
This statement angers me the most. You can't go around randomly saying things if you don't know the facts! SeaWorld will never force it's animals to perform. Everything the whales do is asked to them. If they don't want to perform, they won't perform and the trainers will give them the same amount of fish as they would ever get on a daily basis. If the animal chooses not to perform, trainers will try to get a different animal out and if no animals want to perform (which sometimes does happen) than the show will be cancelled. It's as simple as that. If the animals don't choose to perform it doesn't mean that they are extremely depressed, un-healthy or anything like that. It could be because something has happened in the pod (someone gave birth, someone died, someone is currently in the medical pool undergoing a medical exam). The whales form very close family bonds and care about each other. If something is happening to a member of the pod, the other whales most likely will be put off because they want to keep an eye on that individual. It can be just simple reasons like that, and usually the next day, the whales are all set to perform again.
The whales perform circus like tricks:
This is very much untrue. All the behaviors you see the whales and dolphins perform at SeaWorld have all been documented out in the wild. SeaWorld works closely with scientists who study whales in the wild (with help from the captive orcas) and sometimes SeaWorld's own crew members will go out into the wild and document wild killer whale behavior themselves. It is impossible to train a killer whale to do something that they can't physically do or that would hurt them!
SeaWorld only cares about the money, not the well being of their animals:
This statement is so far from the truth. Every year, SeaWorld spends millions of dollars in helping animals in the wild. They save thousands of animals who are in need and when they can, release them into the wild. They also spend millions of dollars on the animals in their care, just the care of the killer whales costs them millions a year. Just recently, SeaWorld Orlando opened it's brand new Antarctica:Empire Of The Penguin exhibit which now gives their penguins a much bigger and more natural enclosure plus a much better way for the public to get closer to penguins and learn more about them. SeaWorld's big goal is education, and by letting people (especially children) get so close and connect with the animals, the chance of them making a difference is much bigger. SeaWorld is not all about the money, it is about bringing people and animals together and giving their animals the best possible lives and care.
The list goes on, see the detailed analysis here.