The 2013 documentary Blackfish by Director Gabriela Cowperthwaite starts with audio of 911 calls from Seaworld. The park is calling in regards to the death of Dawn Brancheau, a top orca trainer. The film then leads into former Seaworld trainers recounting their experience while working with the killer whale.
The former trainers recount the events leading up to their days as a trainer, as well as, the admiration for Seaward during their youth. The trainers continue to describe their training and relationships they built with the animals.
The film then progresses to the fatal interactions between the whales and their trainers. The first fatality happens on February 24, 2010. Trainer Dawn Brancheau is attacked by one of the killer whales. The whale scalps her and rips off her arm, eating it. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, otherwise known as (OSHA), sues Seaworld of Florida. OSHA "suggests that swimming with orcas is inherently dangerous and that you can't completely predict the outcome when you enter the water or enter their environment." This statement transforms the entire industry by being broadcasted on national news. The film then uses a flashback to depict events thirty-nine years prior to the incident.
The film depicts the initial hunt for orcas for their theme park. A team of both researchers and fishermen set out to heard the orcas into a cove and capture the young ones, separating them from their mothers. The mothers, instead of leaving when the nets were dropped, stick around and try to communicate with their babies. One fishermen states that" it was just like kidnapping a little kid from their mother.” As a result of the hunt, in 1976, Sealand is barred from returning to the state of Washington to capture whales by a court order. After being banned from Washington waters Seaworld moves to Iceland to continue their capturing of the whales. One of the fishermen claims that this experience was the worst thing that he has ever done.
After capturing their first male killer whale in 1983, one of the first trainers uses punishment as a technique to train the whales. Food is often deprived from both the whale in training and the previously trained whale if the behavior was not performed correctly. This caused the already trained animal to become frustrated with the new whale and cause him harm. In the beginning, the whales were stored in a floating box of sorts in close quarters. The use of food deprivation leads to Tilikum, the male orca, to be covered in what is referred to as rakes, meaning that the other female orcas use their teeth and scratch him during the night. It is believe that it was this treatment that leads him to kill.
Seaworld’s first death is Keltie Byrne, a part time worker. Two former visitors recount their visit to Sealand as "a dingy pool with these whales...it was like a swimming pool, three whales in a swimming pool." The visitors describe the events of the death of Keltie. Explaining how she loses her balance and falls into the pool. The spectators of the show do not realize anything is wrong until they see the orcas pulling the trainer underwater. Sealand closes its doors after the incident. In the newspaper articles following that a day, the medical examiner says that the trainer’s cause of death was accidental drowning, when in reality, according to the audience members it is a result from the whales pulling her under. Sealand turns to sell the whales before closing. Upon hearing the news that the orcas are for sale, Seaworld buys the male whale Tilikum in order to breed more whales. To Sealand’s knowledge the three whales would not be used as show animals in performances because it was thought that they could repeat their actions.
During this period in the film there is a statement made that “to this day there was never any record of an orca causing any harm to a human in the wild.” According to Lori Marino a neurologist, after examining an orca’s brain, it is determined that they have a part of the brain that humans do not have. Part of their brain adjacent to there limbic system has extended out. The limbic system processes emotions, suggesting that the orcas are highly emotional animals. It is at this point in the film that the viewer finds out that the orcas’ name comes from the First Nations people and the old fishermen on the coast calling them “blackfish.”
In the following scenes Tilikum arrives at Seaworld in 1992. He is twice the size of the next largest animal at the facility. Once again he is attacked by the other female orcas and could not escape them because they are all in the same pool and his size made him less mobile. He is finally separated by a physical barrier from the females for his own protection. The trainers enjoy working with Tilikum, who they nickname Tilly. The trainers are not given the full details of Keltie’s death and were naive of the danger they are in. In one show, a trainer that is working with Shamu catches, on camera, what appears to be Tilikum coming out of the water and lunging for another trainer. The tape became unusable and the trainer is instructed to get rid of the tape.
The proceeding scene depict OSHA cross examining Seaworld’s head trainer Kelly Clark. Clark states that "Tilikum never exhibited any behavior that would make me think he'd pull" and denies that there is any expectation that Tilikum can come out of the water.” Looking back, trainers are embarrassed by the comments, and so called party lines, they said to the audiences. Realizing that what they are telling the audience is misleading information. Trainers exclaim that they bought into what management told them and was blind to the real truth. Instances of such misleading information includes that orcas only live to be 25-30 years old, because that is how long they live in captivity, when in reality it was much longer in the wild. The question of the curved dorsal fin is also brought up. The park explaines that 25% of whales have their fin turn over as they get older. In the wild less than 1% have collapsed fins and in captivity 100%.
Neurologist Marino returns to explain that if whales are put in the same pools as other whales that they have not grown up with, there can be hyper aggression, violence, and killing while in captivity. To assert dominance one of the whales rams another causing death from an arterial bleed.
The film continues to discuss how in 1987 trainer John sillick was killed after being crushed between two whales at seaworld in San Diego. Seaworld blames trainer error resulted in his death. In another scene, trainer Tamarie is interacting with the whales without a spotter and is grabbed by the foot by the whale Orkid. She ultimately survives due to the quick thinking of the trainers that rushes to help her after hearing the audience screams. The trainers are not informed about prior accidents between orcas and trainers during their time at Seaworld. Ken Peters, a senior experienced trainer prepares to do what is called a “rocket hop” with the orca Kasatka. Seconds after diving in the whale seizes his foot and drags him to the bottom of the pool. The orca holds him there. When they surface, after some period of time, the trainer refrains from panicking and thrashing. His actions ultimately save his life.
The film returns to the events surrounding the incident between trainer Brancheau and Tilikum. Earlier in the day a show has to be stopped because the trainers could not control the animals. Afterwards Dawn does a dinner show where she rewards Tilikum with fish for the behaviors he performs. The session starts to go south when Tilikum does not respond to a cue and the trainer begins to run out of food, letting Tilikum know the session is coming to an end. However, Brancheau keeps asking him to do more behaviors, yet has no more food to reward him with to reinforce his good behavior. The whale grows frustrated by the end. During the relationship session between Brancheau and Tilikum the whale grabs ahold of her forearm, dragging her, and eventually does a barrel role. The actions may start as play or frustration, but escalates to violent behavior.
During the following court proceedings Dave Duffus, an OSHA expert witness, states that Seaworld learned nothing in preventing accidents like Dawn’s killing. After the incident, Seaworld claims that the trainer slipped and fell into the tank. It is not until eyewitness claims dispute their account that management comes up with another reason to place blame on the trainer. Repeatedly, Seaworld denies that the whale made any aggressive move. The documentary concludes with citizens calling for the release of the whales back into the wild or into ocean pens to experience life as a wild orca (Blackfish).
