Hello everyone!
So recently myself and a friend of mine, Sian ( http://sianrobertson.blogspot.co.uk/), were disheartened greatly after watching a documentary known as "Blackfish". For those of you who have seen it.. you will understand the hatred towards Sea World it will bring to your hear.. And for those of you who haven't.. I think you need to make a point of watching it as soon as you can! It will change your life.
Myself, I grew up having never visited any water parks such as Sea World, but dreaming of it ever since I could walk and talk. From the age of about 1 to 4, I lived in Inverness, and my parents used to take me to the Moray Firth river, to watch the dolphins leaping from the water. Ever since then I was always fascinated by dolphins and the like, therefore I took it in my head that when I grew up I wanted to be a dolphin trainer of some sort (this as well as a mermaid ofcourse!). I also went around telling everyone it was my dream to swim with dolphins, and ofcourse this is only really possible in places such as Sea World, so to me, they seemed like one of the most magical places on earth.
In 2012, I was looking for a documentary to watch online (those of you who know me will know that I love nothing more than a wonderfully odd documentary when I'm bored!), when I stumbled across "The Cove". Which was to pretty much change my dream of swimming with dolphins forever. The Cove, was released in 2009 and is set mainly in Japan, where dolphins are hunted both for captivity and believe it or not to be sold as meat. Those of you who aren't good with distressing scenes and a lot of gore, be warned. However, it genuinely will open your eyes and your hearts to the reality of the situation in Japan. The film highlights the fact that the number of dolphins killed in the dolphin hunt is several times greater than the number of whales killed in the Antarctic, and claims that 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed in Japan every year by the country's whaling industry.
And just a couple of months ago, I stumbled upon "Blackfish". Released only last year, in 2013, once again, I was shocked to hear some of the realities of the way these beautiful animals live in captivity. This time, the documentary focuses around the captivity of orcas (or killer whales). And the story of one orca in particular, Tilikum, the largest male orca in captivity across the world. He holds a boastful title, however his backstory is ever so less boastful, having killed 3 people. But before you judge him, I beg that you take just a couple of hours to watch the documentary and open your eyes to his story, which is not to be overlooked. Having being captured from the wild at the age of only two, and separated from his entire family, he has lead a difficult life, being tossed from tank to tank and sold from one water park to another. The documentary shows the heartbreak as whale communities are torn apart and the young are stolen from their mothers, and even explains that whales have a part to the brain that even us humans don't have, resulting in them having an even stronger social, and emotional connection with each other than we can even imagine!
However, I think what shocked me the most about this documentary was the staff at Sea World, who on a daily basis spill out a splurge of lies to their guests. Now I wont be to quick to judge, they are reading from a script, and perhaps don't know any better than what they are reading, but telling people that the whales live longer in captivity, and that their fins are meant to be collapsed, when they clearly live twice as long, with a healthy erect dorsal fin surely is not right?
And to sum it all up, Tilikum is still there today, trapped inside glass walls of nothing. The park have barely any use for him, so why is he still there? There is no answer, so surely it is time they freed him no?.. I'll let you decide for yourself. But I know that I will never again look at these sickening parks in the same way again, and would no longer dream of paying money to swim with dolphins inside the repulsive walls of anywhere like Sea World ever again.
If after watching either of these documentaries, or even just reading this blog post (or Sian's), you would like to do something to try and help make a change, I have left the link to two petitions below. The first is to help the dolphins being hunted in Japan, the second to help send Tilikum to a seapen/rehab to eventually be re-released into the wild!
http://takeaction.takepart.com/actions/cove-help-save-japans-dolphins
http://www.change.org/petitions/seaworld-inc-humanely-release-the-orca-whale-known-as-tilikum-to-a-seapen-for-rehab
Sorry this blogpost hasn't been very cheery or magical, however maybe we can all make something magical happen if we all take part?
Until next time,
Stay Magical
Nikki x
Myself, I grew up having never visited any water parks such as Sea World, but dreaming of it ever since I could walk and talk. From the age of about 1 to 4, I lived in Inverness, and my parents used to take me to the Moray Firth river, to watch the dolphins leaping from the water. Ever since then I was always fascinated by dolphins and the like, therefore I took it in my head that when I grew up I wanted to be a dolphin trainer of some sort (this as well as a mermaid ofcourse!). I also went around telling everyone it was my dream to swim with dolphins, and ofcourse this is only really possible in places such as Sea World, so to me, they seemed like one of the most magical places on earth.
In 2012, I was looking for a documentary to watch online (those of you who know me will know that I love nothing more than a wonderfully odd documentary when I'm bored!), when I stumbled across "The Cove". Which was to pretty much change my dream of swimming with dolphins forever. The Cove, was released in 2009 and is set mainly in Japan, where dolphins are hunted both for captivity and believe it or not to be sold as meat. Those of you who aren't good with distressing scenes and a lot of gore, be warned. However, it genuinely will open your eyes and your hearts to the reality of the situation in Japan. The film highlights the fact that the number of dolphins killed in the dolphin hunt is several times greater than the number of whales killed in the Antarctic, and claims that 23,000 dolphins and porpoises are killed in Japan every year by the country's whaling industry.
And just a couple of months ago, I stumbled upon "Blackfish". Released only last year, in 2013, once again, I was shocked to hear some of the realities of the way these beautiful animals live in captivity. This time, the documentary focuses around the captivity of orcas (or killer whales). And the story of one orca in particular, Tilikum, the largest male orca in captivity across the world. He holds a boastful title, however his backstory is ever so less boastful, having killed 3 people. But before you judge him, I beg that you take just a couple of hours to watch the documentary and open your eyes to his story, which is not to be overlooked. Having being captured from the wild at the age of only two, and separated from his entire family, he has lead a difficult life, being tossed from tank to tank and sold from one water park to another. The documentary shows the heartbreak as whale communities are torn apart and the young are stolen from their mothers, and even explains that whales have a part to the brain that even us humans don't have, resulting in them having an even stronger social, and emotional connection with each other than we can even imagine!
However, I think what shocked me the most about this documentary was the staff at Sea World, who on a daily basis spill out a splurge of lies to their guests. Now I wont be to quick to judge, they are reading from a script, and perhaps don't know any better than what they are reading, but telling people that the whales live longer in captivity, and that their fins are meant to be collapsed, when they clearly live twice as long, with a healthy erect dorsal fin surely is not right?
And to sum it all up, Tilikum is still there today, trapped inside glass walls of nothing. The park have barely any use for him, so why is he still there? There is no answer, so surely it is time they freed him no?.. I'll let you decide for yourself. But I know that I will never again look at these sickening parks in the same way again, and would no longer dream of paying money to swim with dolphins inside the repulsive walls of anywhere like Sea World ever again.
If after watching either of these documentaries, or even just reading this blog post (or Sian's), you would like to do something to try and help make a change, I have left the link to two petitions below. The first is to help the dolphins being hunted in Japan, the second to help send Tilikum to a seapen/rehab to eventually be re-released into the wild!
http://takeaction.takepart.com/actions/cove-help-save-japans-dolphins
http://www.change.org/petitions/seaworld-inc-humanely-release-the-orca-whale-known-as-tilikum-to-a-seapen-for-rehab
Sorry this blogpost hasn't been very cheery or magical, however maybe we can all make something magical happen if we all take part?
Until next time,
Stay Magical
Nikki x
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