Voice of San Diego - Seaworld "Blackfish" Panel Discussion 

John Hargrove should have been there. He worked 14 years as an orca trainer. He definitely would have put these Seaworld representatives in their faulty and wrong place.

Seaworld hired some sea hunter cowboy, who was extremely careless in how or in what ways he was using to catch these southern residents. I know on one capture alone, 9 orcas died, while 4 were taken into captivity. And after this cruel capture assassination was over, 5 adult orcas are dead and 4 very young orca’s are dead as well. Seaworld’s hunter tried to hide these 4 young orca deaths by slitting thei orcas stomachs open and filling it up with rocks to hide these tragic killings that were happening to these beautiful animals. But their sick plan, didn’t work, the baby orcas were seen by the public and soon after Seaworld lost in court and was banned from ever taking another orca from there ever again. It’s time humanity stops being inhuman and start caring about ‘what is right.” . These are massive ocean animals that were forced out of their own natural habitat and brought onto land, to now live in some concrete swimming pools, filled with bleach and chlorine. All so a few of you stockholders reap billions. It’s like taking huge elephants from their land habitat and sail them to the middle of the ocean, so they can all live on 25 ft x 25 ft islands. Same exact thing. It’s wrong.

Sound quality is terrible. Seaworld needs to change its business model. The US needs to ban the breeding of these animals like France has. Come up with a different model to enable these creatures to live a fulfilling life not a sentence. Grotesque The seaworld vet is a disgrace! Pathetic. Society used to think slavery was ok too, then you had a civil war!!! #boycottseaworld #boycottmarineland

Killer whales should never be kept in big tanks to entertain humans and feed corporate greed. These animals are highly intelligent and social creatures, and swim hundreds of miles in the ocean. No argument can convince me that they should ever be held in captivity for greed and human voyeurism.

Imagine being locked in a room for the rest of your life. A very echoey room that's sensitive to the slightest sound of your voice..... That's one of the many wrongs that an orca in captivity has to endure.

They may not want to call this a debate but to my eyes it most certainly is. A healthy one. With that being said, once engaged in a debate a critical thinking element takes place within the viewers and that is at the core of human development. The true essence of debate & critical thinking is we come to conclusions and develop answers to evolve as people. I say that to say, watching both sides on this debate to come out on the right side of history, if you will, is quite obvious & apperent. Either the seaworld representives arent good at debating or have poorly thought out points and the other side IS. But to my point, thats what debate exposes. If you follow me.

In the End, I heard what the Pro captivity side was saying, and it became very clear that it's all about THEM. Their feelings, their needs. THEY want the "bond" to those whales, THEY want the interaction.

That trainer talking about that little girl is irrelevant. Yes animals inspire people but is not to the credit of Seaworld capturing them for display to inspire people. The animals themselves naturally are inspirational because they are much more intelligent than we humans. The little girl would be just as happy if she sees a pod of dolphins swimming in the ocean leaping next to her whale watching boat.

The mixerboard Guy should be fired he did not do a great work.

This was so long ago but I wish it was more well-known; I lean more anti-cap (for cetaceans, not for other animals though), but I thought it was a well-planned, nuanced, and respectful discussion and debate, with a lot to learn from both sides. Nowadays people are so polarized and attacking each other all the time so it’s great to see a discussion about a heated topic where people aren’t screaming at each other and both sides provide extremely knowledgeable and well-versed participants rather than simply spokespeople or pundits. The wild applause every time Dr. Rose spoke got a little annoying every now and then, but that just goes to show that she’s a well-liked scientist. Everyone should read her notes that she published after the event on her website

Your improvements are worse.

Why should dolphins cater to the emotional needs of humans in any form? I am not a PETA advocate but believe that the inhuman conditions created for meat productions are far more important by their magnitude than the suffering of 200 killer whales worldwide. So in this regard it seems to me like an insignificant issue in comparison. This said, i think the main issue was not addressed by the panel. If it is established that these animals are in fact a cetacean version of us humans, then they should be granted the same fundamental rights. At this point the debate becomes irrelevant. I have seen from a documentary that some world organization has stated such a fact and must be protected for this very reason. They are not intelligent animals but an other version of sapiens. I wished that would have been debated by the scientists from the panel. Certainly the benefit of captivity is the incredible opportunity to study them enough to afford them with the protection they deserve. The fact that they are obsessed with engaging and communicating with us seems to validate the argument.

Sorry, I care more about animals in the wild to see them ONLY in the wild. I don't care to see them in a small tank, hurting themselves, separated from their families and going mentally insane.

Extremely weak arguments from the seaworld representatives'. And that tearing up at the end, feeling "sad" that he won't be able to introduce the whales suffering in that environment to his kid? And that teaching his kid that abusing nature is okay wouldn't be possible unless seaworld stayed open? Jesus fuck. I had to laugh. Seriously? This is who seaworld sends to represent them?

The lady on the far right is a badass!!!!!

I love how they spent so much time talking about the dorsal fin not being a welfare issue when clearly the change is impacting their biology in some way. It's exactly as the scientist says it's still a symptom of them not being able to move freely.

WOW ... the panel sadly missed the irony that the Sea World Vet said that the whales have a significant bond with their trainers and it has inevitably affected their well being that trainers are no longer in the water with them. Wouldn't that same logic be amplified when discussing whales being seperated from their natural families in the wild, and from their mothers in captivity.

The SW representatives are so crushed by the "activists" with every issue I am starting to feel little sorry for them.

Anyone who has ever read Moby Dick should know that you never take whales out of the wild. The descriptions of whales by Melville should be enough for anyone to know how wrong it is to hold any whales in captivity.

Unless you're part of the industry, who is in the audience actually supporting businesses such as SeaWorld ?

There's no real debate that can support capacity 🐋🐳🐋🐋🐳🐋🐳

These trainers don't love the animals, but what THEY GET FROM THE relationship with the animals! They like that there's someone who who can't leave them. They love having someone who depends on them and who is guaranteed not to run away.

Trying to get this discussion some exposure! Very powerful. More of this needs to happen on this topic and many many others. Thankyou from a native San Diegan!

SW is getting pinguin's with FEDEX????

They are all guilty of cruelty and greed.

smug v pretentious..... i'll pass

I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY ALL THE EXCUSES YOU GIVE ME KILLER WHALES IN CAPTIVITY IS TOTALLY WRONG.