SeaWorld’s “69 Reasons you Shouldn’t Believe Blackfish” – My Rebuttal – Page 4

Reason 31

Ventre: “We weren’t given the full details of Keltie’s situation.” This is false. All new trainers, including Ventre when he was transferred to work with killer whales years after Tilikum’s arrival, received the “Tili Talk,” which included Tilikum’s history.

Ventre’s statement is not false. The script for the “Tili Talk” was turned over during discovery for the OSHA hearing in Sanford. The script does not include the full details of what happened at Sealand, it just makes it clear that Tilikum had a history of “being possessive of items in the water” and that should a trainer find him/herself in the water with Tilikum, they’d be unlikely to survive. SeaWorld claiming Ventre was given the full details of Keltie’s situation via the “Tili Talk” is a blatant lie.

Determination: Lie

Reason 32

Berg: “I was under the impression that Tilikum had nothing to do with [Keltie Byrne’s] death.” This is false. At the time of Tilikum’s arrival, all trainers and zoological personnel (which included Ms. Berg) received a memo discussing the circumstances of Keltie Byrne’s death.

Again, this is not false. Tilikum arrived at SeaWorld in January 1992. The memo SeaWorld is referring to was released in June 1993. That’s a period of 17 months where trainers were left in the dark about Tilikum’s involvement in Keltie Bryne’s death. Also, Berg transferred out of Shamu Stadium in 1992. During her time as a killer whale trainer, she would’ve never seen this memo.

Determination: Invalid / Debunked

Reason 33

Berg’s account of a trainer being yelled at for walking near Tilikum’s pool with wet suit unzipped… this was not a policy instituted solely with respect to Tilikum

Berg does not suggest the policy was instituted solely because of Tilikum; she just relates it back to her initial point that she was under the impression “Tilikum had nothing to do with [Keltie Byrne’s] death.” We’ve already established she was not wrong to have this impression as the memo which sought to correct this impression was published after she transferred out of Shamu Stadium.

Notably, SeaWorld doesn’t deny Berg’s story which would suggest it’s true.

Determination: Invalid / Debunked

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Evidence:
Quote 1: “On the first day he arrived, I remember one of the seniors trainers at, SeaWorld, she — Tilikum was in a pool and she was walking over a gate and she had her wet suit unzipped and was tied around her waist. And she was making cooing (ph) noises and going, “Hey, Tilikum, you cute little whale.” You know, she was like just, you know, come play talking at him and one of the supervisor said, “Get her out of there.” And just screamed at her, you know, like “Get her, get her away from there.” Like they were so worried that something was going to happen. And I remember thinking why you guys making such a big deal out of this when he didn’t actually kill her. Well, clearly management thought there was, there was some reason to exercise caution around him. You know, it’s clearly they knew more than they were telling us.”
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Reason 34

Trainer in red wetsuit in the water, then cuts to segment showing a large whale jumping. The whale is Tilikum in the show pool, and gives the impression that the trainer is in the water with Tilikum. By splicing together two disparate pieces of film, the viewer is misled into thinking that the trainer in the red wetsuit was in the water with Tilikum. This casts SeaWorld in a false light, misleading the audience into believing that SeaWorld trainers swam with Tilikum, which never occurred.

This is SeaWorld’s own interpretation. I highly doubt anyone who wasn’t trying to squeeze as many potential criticisms out of Blackfish as possible would think this. First, Blackfish’s audience would have to know that orca is Tilikum to confidently ID him within the few seconds that footage is shown. Only SeaWorld regulars, or those who already know about Tilikum, would be able to do this. These specific people would already know Tilikum is not a water work animal.

Determination: Invalid / Debunked

Reason 35

Berg: Tilikum lunged at trainer Liz Morris (now Thomas). This is false. Tilikum never lunged at trainer Liz Morris. In the late 1980’s, before Tilikum arrived at SeaWorld a male killer whale named Kanduke lunged at Ms. Morris.

Liz Morris worked at SeaWorld Orlando’s Shamu Stadium at least until 2005. She would’ve worked with both Kanduke and Tilikum. It’s likely both orcas lunged at her during her career. Chuck Tompkins admitted during the OSHA hearing that not all incidents are recorded so there’s no reason to suggest Berg is lying. SeaWorld, however, have lied multiple times throughout this analysis.

Determination: Invalid / Debunked

Reason 36

Ventre: Tilikum lunged at Liz Morris, and he was instructed to destroy his tape of the incident. This is false. Kanduke incident occurred before Ventre worked at Shamu Stadium. Tilikum never lunged at trainer Liz Morris. SeaWorld management never told Ventre to destroy a tape.

SeaWorld cannot prove that Tilikum “never lunged at trainer Liz Morris”. We’ve just established they did not record every incident prior to the OSHA trial so it’s entirely possible Tilikum did lunge at Morris but it was never recorded. They also cannot prove “SeaWorld management never told Ventre to destroy a tape”. This is down to who you believe. Point is, SeaWorld has lied constantly throughout this analysis whereas, so far, not a single statement of Ventre’s has been proven to be a lie.

Determination: Invalid / Debunked

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Evidence:
Quote 1: “And I had captured Tilikum coming out of the water kind of turning sideways and appeared to me to try to grab Liz (ph). And at that moment that the tape became unusable, I was just kind of basically instructed to get rid of the tape. Wanting to kind of preserve the tape I actually used the editing equipment and like snipped out that little half second or a second when he did that and stitched it back together. So, it’s just kind of look like a glitch in the tape and I’m like, “Look at this.” And it was like no. This is no longer usable, you know. And so we had to destroy the tape.”
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Reason 37

Kelly Clark “rape” testimony. This is misleading.

This isn’t misleading at all. Blackfish quotes exactly what Clark said in the exact context she said it in. There’s nothing misleading about this.

Determination: Invalid / Debunked

Reason 38

Separating calf from mother Kalina was disruptive to her mother and the other whales, and at the age of 4 ½ was moved to another park. The Film misleadingly depicts a calf that is only days old, not 4 ½ years old.

Another example of cinematography which SeaWorld cannot criticise without being hypocritical. Regardless of whether Kalina was a few days old or four years old, separating a mother and calf just because the calf is being “disruptive” during shows is never okay. Bonds should come before bucks.

Determination: Hypocritical

Reason 39

Separating Kasatka (mother) and Takara (daughter). Separation occurred at SeaWorld San Diego in April of 2004 when daughter Takara was 12 years old. Takara, at the time of the move, had her own calf, Kohana, who went with her to Orlando. At the time of the move, John Hargrove was not even working for any SeaWorld park, much less Sea World San Diego. By that point, he had not worked for SeaWorld in 3 years.

Kohana, Kasatka and Takara (left to right). Photo by SeaWorld.

Regardless of the fact Takara was 12 years old or that she had her own calf, it’s never okay to forcefully separate a mother away from her offspring. Takara may have been sent to Orlando with Kohana but the mother and daughter pair were separated around 2 years later. Hargrove did not need to work at any SeaWorld park at the time of the separation to say what he said in Blackfish. He’d previously worked with both Kasatka and Takara and his former colleagues shared the details of the separation with him after witnessing the distressing event.

Determination: Invalid / Debunked

Reason 40

Hargrove: “SeaWorld brought in a scientist to analyse the vocals. They were long- ranged vocals . . .looking for Takara.” This is false. SeaWorld did not call in a scientist to analyse Kasatka’s vocals. There is no evidence, scientific or otherwise, that these were “long ranged vocals …looking for Takara.”

Again, this is down to who you believe. John Hargrove details the name of this scientist and her findings in his book ‘Beneath the Surface’ (Pg 103). So far in this analysis, I haven’t found an example of Hargrove lying. The same can’t be said about SeaWorld who has lied numerous times in its critique of Blackfish, including about Hargrove.

During this narration, the Film shows footage of a killer whale, leaving the viewer with the impression that the whale is Kasatka. The whale is at what appears to be underwater viewing glass and is opening and closing its mouth, which leaves the impression that the whale is “vocalizing” and otherwise “calling for Takara”. However, this footage is not Kasatka, nor was this even taken at SeaWorld San Diego, which is where Kasatka lives.

Again, Blackfish merely employs cinematography due to the absence of usable footage. SeaWorld cannot criticise this without being hypocritical.

John Hargrove was not working for SeaWorld at the time of Takara’s move, and would not have known what behavioural reaction, if any, Kasatka had to Takara’s move.

Surprisingly, friends and former colleagues do communicate outside of work. He may not have been present at the time but his former colleagues would have been. It’s pretty safe to assume they told Hargrove about the separation. Don’t be so ridiculous, SeaWorld.

Determination: Hypocritical & Invalid / Debunked

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