Blackfish American Documentry - Critical Response Essay

Blackfish is an American documentary that was released on July 19, 2013 that was directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite. Its main focus was on the SeaWorld orca, Tilikum, a performing killer whale that killed several people while in captivity, and how being in captivity affects wild animals. In the film, former trainers from SeaWorld and expert testimonies was interviewed asking about how much they know Tilikum. Former trainers discussed that, out of Tilikum’s frustration of not being with his family, he caused a nearly 20 years of intense captivity in a small cage and has been aggressive to others because of the trainers holding back their food when they did not perform a trick correctly as their trainer has instructed. The documentary reports that the whales that’s kept captive in SeaWorld and other water parks has experienced extreme stress when their offspring were captured in the wild or separated after breeding at water parks from their family, how little their tank is compared to what they are used to and how the others were harassed by fellow captive orcas, causing their average life expectancy shorter.

In 1970, more than 90 orcas were stalked and collected into a three-acre net by deafening explosives, speedboats, and airplanes at the deep inlet of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Washington and more in the other Oceans. Trapped and desperate, the orcas ineffectively searched for a way out. Their frantic cries echoed over the cove and were heard for miles. Panicked and stressed, the orcas tried lifting themselves high, hoping to be rescued by their family members outside the net. But they couldn’t. The squeals, clicks and shrills were so disturbing and deafening that Dr. Newby said that he can still hear their screams today after his interview for a website. Young calves were torn from their mothers inside the trap using speedboats and nets. Isn’t that just sound heart-rending? Now, think if those young calves as your children? What if your baby child got taken away from you? Wouldn’t you fight for them? Wouldn’t you beg for that someone who took your child away to give them back to you because you can’t bear to think that you won’t ever see your child again? Wouldn’t you go insane if they are gone? The mother orcas already felt that feeling as what we would feel if our child got taken away from our embrace. The helpless mothers could do nothing but watch their children be taken away. They would never see their babies again. While these helpless mothers cried for help, the young orcas fought with everything they had as they were pulled closer and forced into slings. But they never stood a chance against the human and were lifted out of their ocean homes, never to return. When a female orca give birth to a baby orca at the water park, the baby got taken from their mothers and sold or transferred them to other water parks. I remembered from the documentary that Kasatka was separated from her young calf,