Saving something bigger than ourselves

“The worst thing I have ever done” was a phrase used by a whale hunter that was featured in the movie Blackfish, a documentary about captured Orca whales. Long before the movie Blackfish had ever come out I hadn't exactly considered the detrimental factors of keeping orca whales captive. I always thought there was a twisted kind of underlying beauty to seeing a performance of an orca whale at SeaWorld. While it is interesting to see such a HUGE animal right before your eyes, but seeing him in such a small confined area in comparison to the vast freedom of the ocean is slightly unsettling. I have always heard about the slaying of dolphins and other ocean creatures and while they seem to be relatively harmless I believe that humans push these kind creatures into violence.

I can’t see why anybody would think what these people are doing is entirely “okay”, the only reason these massive animals are trapped in an enclosure is for profit, which is sickening to me. While I’m sure there are fictional aspects to the movie “We Bought A Zoo”, this certain aspect of Blackfish reminds me of a part in the movie where the main character realizes that there is a brown bear that is in such a small enclosure he becomes depressed. When this happens he makes the change and risks the money to build him a much larger enclosure, knowing that while the bear is here, he wants to make him more comfortable and happy. While I disagree with the entirety of keeping animals enclosed, I know that it is a leisure we have in this world nowadays and I think it’s beautiful that he even made the choice to make the bear more comfortable. While I don’t agree that the whales should be held captive, the conditions in which they are living in, and the way they are transported is volatile.

Something like the Orca Awareness Project is definitely a step in the right direction in dealing with an issue like this. It gets people thinking about what truly is going on with this situation, so they’re more informed on how these animals are truly getting treated. The whales that are in captivity at SeaWorld are not just peaceful animals that are being fed graciously, they’re over sized for the space they’re allotted and they only get bigger from the time they are taken there. As well as the many videos besides Blackfish that are usually glorifying these animals and how talented and well-trained they are, I don’t think a lot of people consider that wild animals were not meant to be trained and that is why these animals occasionally act out, as the behavior is portrayed in the movie. I think it’s very interesting and fundamental that the video on the Orca Awareness Project website capitalizes on exactly what it’s like to be trapped like these whales. It makes a comparison between a human being trapped in a fish bowl and how we would feel so helpless with no way out, just as the whales are when they should be free to roam as they please. People with passionate ideas like this need to more openly voice their opinions because it often leads to very amazing steps towards something better, and maybe even saving more of this entire species.