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  • Essay / Analysis of Gabriela's documentary Blackfish...

    How would you like to be taken from your family and locked in a bathtub to live out the rest of your days and be used as a source of entertainment? This is exactly what happens when an orca is captured, which is disgusting and pure evil. Gabriela Cowperthwaite's documentary Blackfish helps depict the horrors orcas face in captivity and reveals the ugly, hidden side of SeaWorld. Blackfish does a great job of showing what SeaWorld hides and really makes you hate them. Blackfish's main focus is an orca named Tilikum who was captured off the coast of the eastern region of Iceland when he was two years old. Tilikum was first sent to Sealand where he was constantly attacked by other orcs, which made him very happy. Tilikum was left in a cement tank for a year in Iceland before being transferred to Sealand. While held captive, all it did was swim in circles and float on the surface, which was nowhere near enough for an animal that typically swam 100 miles a day. Tilikum was eventually transferred to Sealand in British Columbia where he was tortured by two female orcas, Haida and Nootka. Tilikum became very stressed and unhappy at being forced to preform and being attacked by the other whales. When a Sealand trainer fell into the water, Tilikum allegedly dragged it to the bottom of the enclosure, then threw it in with the other whales, ultimately killing it. Shortly after his death, Sealand closed its doors for good and decided to sell Tilikum, when SeaWorld learned that they quickly purchased it. Tilikum is the largest whale in captivity and SeaWorld has used it for mating purposes to expand its orca population. Captivity took a toll on Tilikum and made him very stressed at SeaWorld. One night after closing, a man decided to sneak into his tank and it is believed that Tilikum killed him because he was found naked on top of him. SeaWorld lied and said the man had drowned on his and that Tilikum was simply playing with his body afterward, even though there were visible bite marks and the man's scrotum had been bitten. In 2010, trainer Dawn Brancheau discovered that orcas are believed to live in the wild and swim nearly 100 miles a day. Instead, SeaWorld decided to capture them and use them solely for entertainment purposes. Orcas in captivity do not behave at all like those in the wild and this is due to the fact that living conditions in captivity are not suitable for maintaining such an active animal in good health. Tilikum is a great example of what happens to an orca when it is kept in an aquarium against its will. Tilikum ended up killing 3 people, not because he was actively seeking to kill them, but because the unnecessary stress on him made him increasingly aggravated and decided to go after the cause of his stress. If the orcas had not been held captive, none of these tragedies would have occurred. SeaWorld is a horrible place and needs to be closed permanently to stop torturing these immensely intelligent people.