I know public awareness on this issue is steadily increasing,
but as long as the problem persists,
then public education is still required.

Whales and Dolphins belong to an family of animals called "Cetaceans".

Cetacean captivity for entertainment became big business after the 1960s hit TV series "Flipper".

Parks began to open featuring performing dolphins and whales.

It became a very lucrative industry.

The man behind the TV series "Flipper" is named Ric O'Barry.

He has since spent all his considerable profits from the very successful show, and gone to extreme lengths,
to undo what he sees as the damage he caused by inspiring the industry, in the first place.

He went to extreme risk, trouble, and expense, along with his team,
to expose the horrors of the dolphin hunt that makes the industry possible.

He put together a damning documentary called "The Cove".

"The Cove" trailer....WARNING:  Extremely Disturbing Scenes.



And now he is in the news again, covering the dolphin hunt in Taiji, Japan.

full article here...warning, disturbing content:



As he points out, this dolphin hunt is not for food.....nor is it cultural.

It is cruel, enormously wasteful, and purely for profit.

This clip depicts a dolphin desperately trying to escape the hunters,
and O'Barry is helpless to do anything about it.

WARNING:  Disturbing scenes.






More recently, another excellent film, "Blackfish"
was compiled about Orcas ("Killer Whales") in captivity,
by another filmmaker, Gabriella Cowperthwaite,
who herself is a mom who took her kids to SeaWorld.
The catalyst for this film was the death of a senior trainer at SeaWorld in 2010,
named Dawn Brancheau,
who was deliberately killed and partially eaten by their largest male Orca, 'Tilikum'
during one of the shows,
in front of an audience, many of whom were children.

Blackfish trailer....WARNING:  Disturbing scenes.




I beg of you, do not patronize any establishment that profits from marine animal captivity and performance,
and tell others about these important films that so much risk and trouble were expended to make.

This industry is just plain wrong.  There is nothing okay about it.

Thank you for taking the time to read this post.

Can't look at the hidden content (Read: don't want to look at the hidden content) but I read this book a while back and it was fascinating:

The War of the Whales
http://www.amazon.com/War-Whales-Story-J...the+whales


It's not able captive whales, it's able wild, ocean whales.  It talks about how whales in the Bahamas were affected by the naval sonar testing being done in that region and how it was causing mass beachings, the physics of how sound travels through ocean water and the lawsuits that were filed in order to protect whales and other ocean wildlife from sound pollution.  It's non-fiction but it reads like a novel.

(September 14, 2015 at 12:52 pm)Clueless Morgan Wrote: Can't look at the hidden content (Read: don't want to look at the hidden content) but I read this book a while back and it was fascinating:

The War of the Whales
http://www.amazon.com/War-Whales-Story-J...the+whales


It's not able captive whales, it's able wild, ocean whales.  It talks about how whales in the Bahamas were affected by the naval sonar testing being done in that region and how it was causing mass beachings, the physics of how sound travels through ocean water and the lawsuits that were filed in order to protect whales and other ocean wildlife from sound pollution.  It's non-fiction but it reads like a novel.

I don't blame you for not wanting to see the hidden content, honey.

That's why I hid it.

Thank you for telling me about this book.  I will track it down as soon as I can manage it.
I'm aware of this issue as well, and I appreciate knowing about this publication.

I could sit here all day and post about issues I care about, but I have to pick and choose, sometimes.

The new article about Ric O'Barry prompted my post, today.

Thank you again.

I saw Blackfish when it came out on Netflix, and it made me so angry. I've since seen Seaworlds pathetic attempts to fix their image. I hope it fails, but even though their parks have seen some decrease in attendance, it isn't enough.

I live close enough to the Puget Sound that I have been lucky enough to see Orca's in the wild twice in my life, and listen to actual conservationists and actual facts.  They are amazing animals.

So then I heard about The Cove, and I watched it alone one night.  Holy shit, I had no idea, I was so in shock, I cried so hard I lost my breath.

As outraged as I am to this day....I really have no idea what I can do to stop this sort of thing.  I mean, I can not patronize Sea World or any other water park that uses Cetaceans in shows, but I have no idea how I personally can do anything about the slaughter that happens every year in Japan.  It is just another thing for me to feel guilty about as a human, another thing to add to the list of things that makes me feel depressed and helpless.

I refuse to go to zoos and places like Sea World. I'll go see animals if the main goal in mind is centered around the animals, and not the profit. I watched Blackfish as well, but pretty recently, and it made me sick. It's amazing how much love they have for their families. It seriously broke my heart watching that one orca crying out for one of its family members that was taken away. It's sad that people don't even realize that humans aren't the only ones that can feel these intense emotions, they think god planted it into our minds only.

I had no idea.
All I can do is spread the news.
Thanks for the info.

(September 14, 2015 at 1:01 pm)MTL Wrote: I don't blame you for not wanting to see the hidden content, honey.

I should clarify that I have seen Blackfish (and cried all the way through it) and I have rules about not crying at work so I can't look at the content now because I'm at work, nor would I likely choose to look at it at home knowing how trying it was getting through Blackfish.

(I described Blackfish to my mother and fell to pieces just describing it.)

While I certainly derive no joy from seeing people upset,
it is reassuring to know that there are others who care as much as I do.

I am trying to figure out ways to help, more actively, myself;

for now, whenever I have an opportunity to spread awareness, that's what I do.

I draw a lot of fire upon myself, in so doing,
but many Atheists and Agnostics are used to drawing fire

As I become aware of resources, I will gladly post them here.

Migratory sea animals are harder to help than other species,
because they're not confined within one country or another's acreage,
and because we can't monitor them, under the sea, as easily as we can, animals on land.

(September 14, 2015 at 2:05 pm)Salacious B. Crumb Wrote: It seriously broke my heart watching that one orca crying out for one of its family members that was taken away. It's sad that people don't even realize that humans aren't the only ones that can feel these intense emotions, they think god planted it into our minds only.

I know. Orcas have a proportionally-larger limbic system in their brain than humans do.

There is even one school of thought that when an entire pod of Cetaceans beach themselves,
ONE of many possible reasons is that if one is suicidal,
they are capable of such social sympathy that the entire pod can be "infected" with the suicidal tendency.

Sobering thought, indeed...but it certainly throws cold water (so to speak) on the people who foolishly opine that animals are not capable of social emotions the way humans are.

If anything, they may be more empathetic than we are.

(September 14, 2015 at 1:36 pm)Aroura Wrote: I heard about The Cove, and I watched it alone one night.  Holy shit, I had no idea, I was so in shock, I cried so hard I lost my breath.

I know. The emotion is very, very hard to process, indeed. It is an appalling feeling of helplessness and outrage.

If I become aware of a constructive way to help, I will post it here.

until then, tell everyone who is willing to listen. Just be prepared for some backlash, and don't lose your cool!!
It's very easy to freak out on someone who seems disinterested or callous to it, I know.