The documentary film Long Gone Wild focuses on the plight of orcas in captivity at marine entertainment parks and what can be done to bring this travesty to an end.
The movie begins by picking up where the game-changing film Blackfish left off, looking at the infamous orca captures of the Pacific Northwest that began in the late 1960s and, more recently, at how Russian companies have been capturing orcas and belugas to supply China’s booming mega-aquariums.
Long Gone Wild explores the amazing intelligence and cognitive abilities of these animals and then features the work of the Whale Sanctuary Project, showing how our mission to create a seaside sanctuary for orcas and belugas can provide a solution for these captive whales. Through interviews with Whale Sanctuary Project team members Lori Marino, Charles Vinick, Jeff Foster, Naomi Rose and Ingrid Visser, the movie addresses what it takes to create a seaside sanctuary and what an authentic sanctuary can offer these socially complex individuals.
The film is available for streaming on multiple video-on-demand services and is also available for purchase. Find out how you can watch Long Gone Wild here.
Here is the trailer:
And some interviews on the red carpet at the premiere:
A clip from the movie where Charles Vinick talks about his earlier work returning the orca Keiko (of “Free Willy” fame) to the ocean:
And a clip where Lori Marino talks about the intelligence and brain power of orcas:
It’s a compelling film, and we hope you take the opportunity to watch it.