It’s coming up five years since the movie Blackfish premiered at Sundance. How has the landscape changed for whales and dolphins in captivity?
Jeff Beal, who composed the music for the documentary, has put together this short video including several of the people who appear in the film and were once trainers at SeaWorld. They talk about how public attitudes have changed, how the captivity industry has changed, and how their own lives have changed.
says that people who see the movie often ask her, “What can I do?”
“You can’t help but open your heart when you see this movie,” says former trainer Samantha Berg. “And when you start to think about the lives of the killer whales and the kind of suffering they go through in captivity … some part of you gets activated and you want to do something.”
So what can you do?
“Whatever you can do to get the message out, that’s what’s important.”
The answers is very simple, she replies. “What are you good at? Do that. If you’re good at posting on social media, do that. If you’re a writer, write about it. If you’re a dancer, bring that into your art. Talk to people about it. Whatever you can do to get the message out, that’s what’s important.”
Former trainer Carol Ray adds that “the recent announcement of the Whale Sanctuary Project is really exciting. With the development of sanctuary spaces, there’s going to be no more excuses for keeping captive orcas in tanks.”
And Dean Gomersall, another former trainer, notes that while orcas who have been living in concrete tanks can’t all be released back into the wild, “getting them into a sea sanctuary would give them the kind of space they need and the other benefits of being out in the ocean [like] hearing the ocean and feeling the ocean.”
Thank you, Jeff Beal, for putting this video together. It’s something worth sharing during Thanksgiving Week.