I watched an excellent and utterly tragic documentary over the weekend called Blackfish (now on netflix). It reveals the exploitation of killer whales and the reckless endangerment of workers by Seaworld and the marine mammal theme park industry. It does this within the backdrop of the story of Tilikum, a captive whale that’s killed at least two people and still performs at Seaworld Orlando today. Blackfish is reminiscent of the dolphin hunting and exploitation documentary The Cove, but focuses its attention squarely onto the mistreatment of whales being kept in captivity. Both films highlight something very important to my work with animals, venturing beyond the barnyard. While the vast majority of interest in animal welfare is directed towards farming, which admittedly does causes the most horrific and widespread problems, many complex and distressing zoological issues exist throughout society. In every place that we interact with our carnal brethren there is great potential for us to cause them needless harm. We have a duty to meticulously inspect each and every one of these interactions to ensure that the creatures with which we share this planet experience no needless suffering at our hands.
