Some Controversy

I posted this to Facebook not that long ago but wanted to add it here so others could read it. These are my thoughts on the controversial topic of SeaWorld and Blackfish. I have seen Blackfish, messaged with former trainers, read interviews on both sides of the topic and my family currently has annual passes to SeaWorld. I feel there is a middle road that is starting to be forged with the truth and this is where I feel I am. Below is why I feel this way. Again, I am open to debate but please keep it clean.

Well, here they are, my thoughts on SeaWorld and "Blackfish." I am going to preface this by saying that I have two kids who very much want to work at SeaWorld and help create change from the inside and that Leya has seen "Blackfish." I am also going to say that I am starting to believe that there is a middle ground that needs to be forged in this debate where both sides come together and realize that they both are right in certain aspects and wrong in others. It is in this middle ground where you will find me. While I agree with certain trainers in “Blackfish,” I do not agree with others and am trying to figure out what is truth, what is a flat out lie and what is someone’s hidden agenda and their modified truth. The same goes for what I heard and saw on our recent trip to SeaWorld. While I believe in giving people the benefit of the doubt and want to believe what I heard and saw, only time will tell what is truth and what is crap!

In July, we went to SeaWorld and actually bought annual passes knowing we wanted to go back at Christmas time. It was a good trip(the July trip), I did feel like some of the education people didn’t know what they were talking about and in my opinion had no business answering questions about animals they clearly knew little about, but overall we learned some new things about the animals. After that trip I heard about "Blackfish" and started doing research to learn about this documentary that was about a park that I love and my kids want to work at one day.

On August 11th, I went and saw "Blackfish." I left with many more questions than answers so I took to social media to get answers. Luckily, a former trainer involved in the film, was on twitter and answering questions and I got some answers. Through this person I found other former trainers who were also speaking out. It was refreshing to be able to get questions answered and to not feel stupid for asking them. When "Blackfish" aired on CNN in October, my family sat down to watch it and luckily for them, I was able to answer questions they asked because of following the debate so closely. It was during that time that Leya made a comment that took me by surprise – she said she wanted to help from the inside; that she thought things needed to be different but still wanted to go to SeaWorld to see the animals she was falling in love with. So even after hearing people tell me not to take my family back to SeaWorld until changes were made, off we went in December, but with a different point of view.

I wanted to see firsthand what changes, if any, had been made since the film came out. It is one thing to hear about possible changes that are or not being made and to actually go and see what exactly is going on. I was pleasantly surprised at what I saw and heard while on our visit. So much so that I wanted to jump on Twitter and Facebook to share them, but have waited until I could fully gather my thoughts and share them all at once.

1.       Educators were better educated and more readily available to answer questions

a.       Thursday night I had the opportunity to talk with an education supervisor who shared the following things with me

                                                                           i.      A false bottom had gone into B pool, causing the depth of the pool to go from 16 feet to 12 feet (rough numbers as they put it) and the trainers were looking into how to compensate for it. C pool was next and they weren’t sure of the Show pool or Underwater Viewing pool were going to be included because of the engineering that was needed to make that happen.

                                                                         ii.      They shared with me how they were trying to keep the family (Kasatka, Nakai, Kalia and Makani) together as much as possible and not separate them whenever possible.

                                                                        iii.      Through the construction and closure of B pool they worked on the bonds between the whales and have done a really good job of figuring out who does better with whom and that they actually have a really good pod at that park

                                                                       iv.      We talked about Orlando and what they are doing in the show pool. How they are replacing all the glass and refinishing and repainting the pool and making some much needed repairs.

                                                                         v.      When asked who the father to Makani was they confirmed it was Kshamenk and that he is in Argentina. It was the first time I had heard someone from SeaWorld say who his father was. They also knew who sired some of the other whales born at SeaWorld San Diego.

                                                                       vi.      They also told me that they are trying to keep gates open more so whales can swim a little more freely between pools and get away from other whales when needed.

b.      While at Underwater Viewing on Saturday, I had an educator tell me who was in the pool at the time and how to identify each whale. They later shared with me some of the whales habits and where to look for specific whales.

c.       At the same time, I heard someone ask the educator how old do whales live to be, while I didn’t hear the full response, I heard them answer that Corky is the oldest at roughly 48 years of age. They know they can live up to 50, if not longer, but there was no concrete evidence as to how old a killer whale can live to their knowledge. They also said that they are hoping to learn more as Corky gets older and lives out her life at SeaWorld San Diego.

d.      During our Dine With Shamu experience, I asked our waitress what had happened to Nakai’s chin. I told her I had heard rumors but no concrete answer as to what happened. She told me that it was a freak accident in which a couple of the whales were goofing around by the open gate and he swam underneath them and they came down and his chin scrapped on the area where the gate meets the pool. As soon as they found out what had happened they went in and fixed the problem so that it wouldn’t happen again and it was fixed in about a week and a half; that was with a trainer within ear shot of the conversation.

2.       There was more information about their rescue and rehabilitation program being shared and talked about, along with the research that they are doing.

a.       The educators at the Sea Lion/Seal pool knew a lot about what animals were getting ready to be released and what was going on in the Animal Care center. That they had a higher number of rescues – a lot of them pups – than normal and that they were working on teaching them how to swim and hunt and preparing them to be released as soon as they were ready.

b.      At the start of One Ocean, they showed a video of one of the rescued and released seals who had been shot, talking about how they worked with her until she was ready to be released.

c.       Most educators were talking about the research they do and how they are learning how to better help the animals in their care and those in the wild.

3.       Kasatka, Nakai, Kalia and Makani were together for the most part. We had Nakai, Kalia and Orkid at our Dine With Shamu experience, but as soon as it was over Kasatka and Makani joined them in the Underwater Viewing pool and stayed with them.

4.       IF a whale was in the med pool, a gate was open to another pool for them to swim in and out of it freely.

a.       Our second day there Ikaika(I believe it was Ikaika, hard to tell as I am still learning to identify them) was in the med pool playing tug of war with Nakai and Kalia and Makani who were in C pool. At first, I didn’t notice the gate open but then noticed it when he swam back into B pool parading around the toy that he had won during tug of war.

b.      On Saturday, the med pool gate was opened to the Underwater Viewing pool. Kalia actually was hanging out by the gate bird hunting until the crowd thinned out down by the glass and then she came over and put on a show by catching a bird and sharing it with Kasatka, Makani, Nakai and Orkid. 

 Open gate

 Kalia bird hunting

 Kalia with her bird

Orkid, Nakai, Makani, Kalia all sharing the bird

Bottom line – changes are being made, people aren’t reciting scripted answers to questions and they are being more open about how they feel. While I know they are a 2.5 billion dollar company, if people stop going and they start losing more money do we really think they are going to make changes? Someone has to pay for the care of the animals and one of the ways that happens is by the revenue they get from people going to the parks. Do I wish SeaWorld would do more? Definitely, but I don’t think they will as long as all eyes are on them. I know what it is like to have every move I make watched and then be told that the only reason I did something was because they were watching me and I knew that was what they wanted me to do, in other words forced me to do. It was less meaningful and didn’t make me want to do any more than I had to do to get them off my back. I can’t help but wonder if that is what is happening to SeaWorld. They have taken a beating and every time we turn around someone else is pouring salt into their wounds and pointing out another injury. It’s like an accident on the side of the road that everyone slows down to look at. It is humiliating. You do what you have to do to get it cleaned up and often don’t go back to fix the deeper stuff – it is just a patch. Why not take eyes off them for a little while, focus on Lolita, and Kiska and Kshamenk and let SeaWorld be and in 6 months go back and look to see how they are doing? They can’t make any major changes over night and constant eyes on them isn’t going to help get what common knowledge tells us they should be doing.

So, the question still remains, will we go back to SeaWorld? Probably. I want to support the trainers and care givers of these amazing animals and they will be the first to feel the effect of people not going to SeaWorld. I also have two kids who want to work there so I am going to do what I can to expose them to the industry that they want to work in. They are smart kids who want to help from the inside out and I am sorry, as a parent I would be doing my kids a disservice to not take them and help them achieve their goals.

I had a friend ask me, "What does ______(I am leaving them anonymous as I don’t want to call anyone out in this) suggest we do to expose our kids to the animals that places like SeaWorld exposes them to? It’s not like we can all afford to go to Alaska and see Killer Whales in their natural habitat – even going out on whale watching trips there is no guarantee that we will see a Killer Whale or see what we get to see at SeaWorld." SeaWorld does provide eyes into those worlds that normal, everyday people don’t get to see or experience. It is because of SeaWorld that my kids have a greater respect for the ocean, have a greater respect for how we treat animals, and have a desire to learn more about them and want to work with them; so that they can help create an environment where they thrive and help educate others about what we need to do to provide a safer environment in their natural habitat. I am planning on asking them that question along with what do they suggest we tell our kids who want to work at SeaWorld? Do we tell them not to pursue their dreams of being a trainer and working at SeaWorld?

Before I end this, I want to point something out to people who keep saying to free the whales! Of the 29 whales currently in SeaWorld’s collection, 23 have been born into captivity. 5 were captured for entertainment purposes and 1 was a rescue. 23 have NEVER seen the ocean before, do we really think they are good candidates for release then? I think that would be death sentence for the whales who have grown up with people around them caring for them and interacting with them, and I think OSHA would have issues with allowing SeaWorld trainers and veterinary staff near the animals in Seapens. As it is SeaWorld is having to put fast rising floors in their pools to help protect the trainers – something that wouldn’t be possible in a sea pen.