Expert Dolphin Trainer Reveals Why Orcas Keep Killing Their Trainers | Ric O'Barry
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- Опубліковано 24 кві 2024
- Full episode: • Expert Dolphin Trainer...
Danny Jones Podcast channel: / @koncrete
Ric O'Barry is founder of the Dolphin Project, a group that aims to educate the public about dolphin captivity. He was featured in the Academy Award-winning film 'The Cove' which used covert techniques to expose the yearly dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan. - Розваги
Full episode: ua-cam.com/video/g0y8N_jCGgo/v-deo.html
Danny Jones Podcast channel: www.youtube.com/@Koncrete
Ric O'Barry is founder of the Dolphin Project, a group that aims to educate the public about dolphin captivity. He was featured in the Academy Award-winning film 'The Cove' which used covert techniques to expose the yearly dolphin slaughter in Taiji, Japan.
Trash
Hes part of the problem!
@@strangleholdoutdoors
What's trash?
@@skateboardingjesus4006 His sleeping quarters, in his mother's basement.
@@rjampiolo32
Probably from throwing little boy tantrums.
It’s simple….. they’re tired of being in a bathtub 24/7!!
They’re rightfully angry about being held captive against their will.
Yes, they are way too big and intelligent to be kept in a fish bowl.
And the foods bad
Prison/Gladiatorial arena.
Exactly,
Who would've thought that taking a 13,000 lb, apex predator and turning them into a circus act would eventually turn out negatively.
Back when they were being kidnapped from the wild for entertainment purposes, they didn’t know (or care to learn) just how intelligent these creatures are.
It is ONLY recently that attention has been given and voices heard about their intellectual and emotional intelligence.
@@mononoke813i think the point is no matter the era, its not smart to capture and force train a huge animal that you cant properly communicate with isnt wise.
Anybody with 2 braincells to rub together...😊
I was thinking the same thing when I saw your post. I morally disagree with the sea world shows, it makes me sad.
@@michaelmccoy1794 Our leaders!
Well, it is the old "If you are in prison for life without parole, you have nothing to lose"...
Hard to blame the sea dwelling fella
How many dogs savage their owners or strangers ?
They all have a call of the wild factor.
How many toddlers in the US poke around in a purse, find a gun, point it like on TV, and kill a parent.
Scary statistic : one a month in the US.🫢
@@snipelite94 So we need to release toddlers into the wild?
@MarieAnne now your getting it
@@MarieAnne.You like seeing normal hardworking guys never know anything else but unnatural work wondering why they are fucked up and nobody gives a shit till you end yourself or you make it past 25 and finally get something worth living for have something that makes it easy to get out of bed and start your day.
They are incredibly intelligent beings. Smart enough to know who is holding them captive. They do not develop Stockholm syndrome, they wait for their perfect moment.
“We need another and a wiser and perhaps a more mystical concept of animals. Remote from universal nature and living by complicated artifice, man in civilization surveys the creature through the glass of his knowledge and sees thereby a feather magnified and the whole image in distortion. We patronize them for their incompleteness, for their tragic fate for having taken form so far below ourselves. And therein do we err. For the animal shall not be measured by man. In a world older and more complete than ours, they move finished and complete, gifted with the extension of the senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings: they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.”
~Henry Beston-Naturalist & Animal Rights Activist - June 1, 1888 - April 15, 1968
Imagine how pigs feel , they are about as smart as orcas and we torture them in the billions the suffering of orcas is a literal drop in the ocean compared to pigs.
That horror is perhaps so great most people can’t even face it.
@@WaddyMuters yes, it is terrible and horrible and everything else in between. :(
Expert, eh?
@@WaddyMuters Comparing pig and orca intelligence seems rather arbitrary. On the other hand, yeah, meat industry is F'd.
Tilikum did not just die, he killed himself by beating himself against his confinement trying to free himself. He died trying to live.
So Very Sad 😔
So horrific
They should've been closed down for that act of cruelty. Orcas are smarter than we ever thought. They are extremely social and capable of living in pods for decades. They are to be admired from land and carefully monitored and left alone.
And he was abused by the older female orcas. His entire story is just so tragic.
He avulsed my friend, fvck that whale!
I worked at SeaWorld San Diego as a "Sea Maid". I did underwater ballet with Beluga whales and I worked at Japanese Village as a pearl diver. I knew three "Killer Whale" trainers very well. ("Killer whale" the self-serving euphemism used to describe these majestic creatures) One day, during a show, the male orca, "Shamu", used his pectoral fin (gently) to hold a trainer at the bottom of his enclosure. He knew e x a c t l y how long he could keep her there without killing her. It was a gentle warning. The senior trainer punished the Orca. The trainer who was held down thought she was targeted because she was smoker, and the whales didn't like her smell. The truth is, these "trainers" knew a little more than the average person knows about the animals they were in charge of "training". One of the Beluga whales I worked with was called, Kojack. It wasn't until Kojack gave birth did these abject idiots realize, Kojack was female. I do not understand how and why we allow these people to continue to capture and abuse seals, sea lions, dolphins, and whales. It should be against the law across the globe to take these intelligent creatures from their natural habitats and stick them in a fish tank for human amusement.
You are correct and people should look at SeaWorld as a slave market, that is exactly what it is
By punishment what did they do?
@@annaelisavettavonnedozza9607made him watch Free Willy reruns. I don’t know it’s very sad, interesting testimony above, thanks.
They do it for the money. People need to know they are paying to watch animals be tortured.
It should be illegal.
We had a place here in Finland that kept dolphins but after a piece on their mental health,public boycotted them and they shut down.
It took 30 years of regular protesting and the death of Dawn Branchau and a documentary, exposing the cruelty against these animals before SeaWorld stopped their breeding program.
Sometimes I wonder if it would be better if the US was divided into three smaller countries as opposed to one enormous mass.
Smaller countries seem to have their shit together more than we do.
They have been banned in England a long time! Not banned as such just the wlfare laws are such that they are too expensive to keep. No Dolphins/Orcas have been captive for over 30 years. Thankfully.
Yeah, Särkänniemi. Saw the place they kept them when I was 6. It was so small.
@@PrimitiveArchery6 My mom and daughter live there in Tampere and mom told me Särkänniemi is experiencing financial troubles.Just not generating enough cash flow.
Because the local people there actually cared and dare to think!
Those companies will keep doing that as long as they have paying customers.
It's all about the dollars. It can't be about anything else, if it is the business would fold. They say corporate entities have the same rights as people, they breath money. It's absurd.
@@SuperMrHiggins You don´t get what the commenter meant. There are no dollars to make if empathy-lacking and "fun-seeking" people.
This is why there needs to be regulations against cruel treatment of animals. Clearly corporations aren't going to stop out of the goodness of their hearts.
Sad but true. As it is, all we can do is not buy the tickets, what means nothing if someone else does.
They have Tom the Mime to distract folks from the truth.
"Why did one of the smartest predators kill humans in stressful captivity?" We don't question tigers. We don't question hyenas. Why do we question sharp-toothed whales?
You answered your own question. They're judged by those standards precisely because of their intelligence. Personally I believe the hellhole known as SeaWorld should be shut down.
@@splatninja9447The fu ny thing is that here in San Diego I used to work right next to Sea World. Had a roommate with absolutely no work ethic and a penchant for stealing food on her shift. By the way, she shared this love of unethical work practices with a cook at Fuddruckers in Mission Valley. The amusement park I worked at was called Belmont Park. There, expired and pest-contaminated food was sold next to damaged and overpriced souveneirs that were cheap China quality and origin rather than handmade or even local. The work environment celebrated laziness and if you didn't steal from work you would be cast aside as some sort of narc. They would even send in managers and planted employees to catch workers in the act of giving food and merch out for free and only the hard-working, honest, and undesired perhaps by their boner-giving capacity were left alone without a write-up or termination.
My point is that when you have people doing horrific things and people who are desensitized from the lack of surveillance or self-control, there is a root stemming from massive lack if structure which affects every aspect that leads from it. Worst of all: people who work under sleazy companies and business owners who demand money above all else(no regard for client safety, employee satisfaction, or accountability for their own greed) will remain parasitic and create even more of a parasitic environment around to those around them to become the same.
I get your point but bear in mind tigers & hyenas are natural predators to humans… as far as I’m aware there are no documented cases of orcas killing humans in the wild… that doesn’t change the fact it’s absurd how they’re treated in captivity
@@splatninja9447being more intelligent makes them more cruel
we question them because Their intelligence is on par with humans. Our stupidity & ignorance makes us think the enjoy captivity for an intermittent piece of fish. Its downright cruel what us humans do
Cancel SeaWorld
If people stopped going until they get rid of their dolphin and killer whale shows they would do it. But as long as the public buys tickets it will continue.
Snowflake ❄
@Mothman308
only subhumans abuse animals.
And zoo's!!
Want this as a shirt
Sea World used the Killer Tilikum for years to breed more Orcas. He had killed three people and fathered 21 Orcas.
They ray p'd him to accomplish that too. No in the tank cuddling... just a trainer and a plastic tube. :(
@@jentanner9418Oh that is so gross.
@@ditzygypsyyup
@@jentanner9418 Yeah, I'm sure he didn't enjoy that....
@@redskins1523 I'd get pretty pissed if someone did that to me. It's a lot like the post apocalyptic story "A Boy and His Dog." This underground society kidnaps him and he says, laughing "Well if all you wanted me to do was knock up your broads you shoulda' just asked!" and then to his horror they tie him up and connect him to a machine until he breaks out.
A Spaniard here. When O'Barry talks about the Canary Islands, in Spain, he's referring to Loro Parque ("loro" being Spanish for "parrot", because that's how the park started out; a small parrot "sanctuary" and they also had many beautiful and exotic flowers, like orchids, etc.). The trainer who was killed by an orca was named Alexis Martinez, a 29 years old young man who loved his job and loved animals -especially orcas and dolphins-, and the orca that killed him was called Keto. This happened in Christmas eve of 2009 -or on the training days before Xmas eve, I'm not sure right now-; he had already been expressing his concern -and other trainers' as well- about Keto. They knew each other quite well. On the tragic day of the "accident" (as the owners of Loro Parque called it), Keto had been acting funny, spoiling an exercise on purpose, and had been reprimanded. I think it was the third time they tried this familiar exercise (the trainer stands on the orca's nose and then jumps/is pushed into the air) when Keto held Alexis by his leg, pulling him to the bottom of the pool, while biting and smashing his body with its tremendous might. He didn't die by drowning, but due to the wounds Keto inflicted on him. The whole thing lasted some 5 minutes, the other trainers rapidly tried to isolate Keto so they could help Alexis out of the water. Keto wouldn't obey any commands, and even placed its body between the main pool and the security pool where they were trying to isolate it, so the hatch could not be closed. Those minutes were critical for Alexis (RIP).
Now, a comment about how Sea World sent those orcas to Loro Parque: by plain. Big mistake, they are intelligent creatures, and don't take well being mistreated. It is likely that their sensitive ears were harmed during the flight. So, the animal was in pain already when it came to Spain. And, another mistake: at Loro Parque, they were all male orcas; but, in nature, they live in pods (small groups lead by a female, very similar to elephants), so, without a female to lead them, the four males in this park were often engaged in fights for leadership.
All these facts contributed to the death of Alexis Martinez, and many other trainers around the world, just like O'Barry said.
This is so idiotic
Great info, thank you for your thoughtful comment. Sad for Alexis and for the whales. I bet you're right, the plane ride would have hurt their sensitive ears. How terribly sad all around.
Imagine living 24/7 in your bedroom, you can't leave, and a 12" tall person comes and demands you do tricks before he gives you food.
doesnt sound so bad to me, lol
@@joedirt4097 give it a couple decades.
some orcas dont mind just like some people
@@Unpainted_Huffhines A single year of that would drive most of us barking mad.
Better get used to it. And the music too. 😉
No orca or dolphins should be in captivity other than rescue animals...the psychological affects of being contained in a small swimming pool on theae animals are devastating to them....
The sad part is that some of the captive born orcas are essentially "mutts".
You can have a half Norwegian/half South American orca. Where would it go?
It's not like humans are treated any differently people locked up for 30 years for pot
@@patrickday4206 well.. that was a big leap
Tilikum was stolen from his pod at 2 years old then thrown into solitary confinement. He had such high stress from 8 shows a day at SeaWorld that he had stomach ulcers. This should be a FELONY
💀🇺🇸💀 #blackfish
@@patrickday4206Except humans have a choice, animals don’t. They can’t change laws or not do something because there are laws to stay out of prison.
They’re brilliant animals. You don’t think they’re aware that they are basically slaves living in a bath tub? How can you be a trainer? It’s such cruelty
“Are you not entertained!!”
Maximus
This is a stupid question/discussion ... Why does a wild animal, named KILLER whale, whose habitat is the entire f*ckin Ocean, klll a person who has it performing tricks after it was kidnapped and put into a sink (in comparison to the size of an ocean)
Hmmm??? Don't need to be a f*ckin dolphin expert to answer that lol
Well said bro💪
The name is actually whale killer it just changed through time.
@@emreekcreative6073 wait ... Ur saying the name of Orcas is Whale Killer?
🤔😏
😂😂😂😂😂
Yeah really... and they are non violent to us in the wild typically, but have you seen the way they capture them? It's sickening. They have an example in the documentary "Blackfish"
People don’t understand these animals aren’t meant to be captive for our entertainment. They get tired and pissed off just like us.
I totally agree with you. These aren’t domesticated animals. They’re aware that they are in captivity. That’s why for me personally, I much prefer seeing wild animals in the wild. I was a full time charter boat mate out of the Outer Banks of North Carolina for 7 years. I used to tell the charters that the trip was as much about seeing the wild life out there as much as it was about the fishing. I’ve seen pilot whales, humpback whales, spotted dolphins, clymene dolphins, frigate birds, blue footed boobies, albatrosses, giant manta rays, great white sharks, etc. and that’s not counting all of the different species of fish I caught. To me it’s so much more interesting to see these animals in their natural environment.
And they are extremely powerful
@@billdavis6900 I completely agree
I think they understand, they just don’t care, profit before morals unfortunately
Same with the circus, cruelest shows on earth. Zoos are nothing more than animal trafficking.
Orcas are highly intelligent mammals that deserve to live in the natural habitat, wild and free. It is so disgusting that people think kidnapping Orcas from their family pods and wonder why the heck they are angry at being a prisoner. Do people really think these whales want to entertain them? This is animal abuse. I am not a radical. People just do not “feel” anything anymore and use their common sense. Take them
Home.
I really hate that this captivity and abuse continues. What can we citizens do to stop this negative behavior and turn it into positive for the sake of sea life? GOD bless that host and the older gentleman for giving the public awareness. 😢😢😢
What can we citizens do to stop this negative behavior...? We can pledge to never attend a live ocean mammal show or exhibit. Once enough of us have done so it will no longer be lucrative enough for anyone to spend the money on making it happen.
While it does suck. Humans problems always take priority
@@CoreyT127 In that vein I suggest humans stay out of harm's way by refusing to capture or work with orcas altogether. It would fix every associated problem once and for all and everyone would be happier.
@@CoreyT127 This is true, because animals aren’t considered people and in the US at least, if you’re not a person under the law you don’t have rights. It’s ridiculous
HunterJumper-sf8cb Even more ridiculous, research what "person" really means... hint: it ain't a human 😡🤷🏽
Orcas travel thousands of miles in the wild.
So even being in what we consider a large body of water in a zoo is the equivalent to being trapped in a cupboard for us.
Yes you're going to be bad tempered living like that
Exactly!
Cup board is a bit dramatic I would say being stuck in a bathroom stall
Harry Potter turned out alright 🤷🏽
Isolation drives intelligent, social animals out of their minds. Look what it does to humans.
If the shutdowns and the lockdowns during the pandemic, make regular folks go nuts, can you imagine what it would do for somebody stuck in solitary confinement for months or years?
@@spiralrose He was in there for 21 years. Over two decades. A prison sentence.
Totally correct op. There is a reason why even isolation is a deeper punishment when a person is already in prison. That is what is happening to these orcas.
A killer whale who kills someone isn't out of its mind, it's just doing what nature meant for it to do. These animals are relatively intelligent predators who can be pretty nasty to their prey in the wild, and being astonished by this behavior is as stupid as putting your hand in a lion's mouth and then being totally surprised when the lion bites the hand off.
@@boltzmannbrayn
Except it as don’t hunt people. Period. Not naturally. They’re way more intelligent than lions. It’s more like a person murdering another person out of anger and frustration than a predatory or fear based animal attack.
"Take it to trial." Easy to say, especially in the beginning. Then after four years of delays, judge transfers, having to live day in and day out with all the defenses dirty tricks, and seeing all the corruption first hand, it's another story. Also realizing that a random jury will be deciding your fate you start to have second thoughts. It gets to the point that you just want it to end and a settlement doesn't look so bad. There are no guaranteed cases. When you're looking at the very real possibly of walking with nothing if you go to trial and lose, or taking a lesser, but still life changing amount, you take the settlement and don't look back.
Edit: Also remember that if the case goes all the way to trial and you do win, you get to wait another 1-3 years, while the opposition appeals the decision. This is particularly bad if the case related to an injury and the family has been struggling to pay ongoing medical bills such as physical therapy. So 2-4 years to get to trial, then another 1-3 years to actually receive any payment.
When I was injured in an accident the lawyer stressed not going to court because a jury is unpredictable
Take the money and run.
It was so gross too.
Male (defendant/prosecutor) speaking to female representative of OSHA: isn't it in an Orcas nature to be aggressive?
Female representative: Well I can say that you as a man are capable of grape.
Judge: strike off the record.
Tell that to the dead trainer with the pigtail.
This clip of interview was very good. There was no “explaining” though. Why are orcas killing their trainers. Anger and frustration, sure. But EXPLAIN that. Don’t label your video as an “explanation” if it’s not. More people need to hear this content, but if you clickbait your titles, it just leads to exasperating your potential audience.
There was an explanation. They keep getting killed because those who get injured settle out of court. And the Dept of Commerce I'm sure gets handsomely rewarded for allowing it to continue.
Ok so you admit that you dont understand why a highly intelligent being that needs a lot of sensory input goes crazy if you keep it in a tiny enclosure?
Either you have no Empathie or you are trying to dismiss the underlying critizism.
He did explain a couple of times. The Orcas were killing people because the trainers didnt go through with the lawsuits and settled out of court.
Maybe there's not an explanation because it's self evident lol
I agree. Good video, but it does not address the title.
These animals want to be set free.
Yeah you can’t release them they’d die fairly quick
All animals do. We treat them like s***.
Free Willy Keiko was set free. The orca didn't want to be set free. She liked to be fed. Liked the warm pool. Liked the human interaction. Keiko starved to death cause the orca didn't know how to hunt.
@@imdeaded Which is exactly why we need to leave them out in the wild and leave them alone!!!
They’re taken away from their mother and pod too young and don’t know how to hunt, also they’re prone to infections in the wild because they don’t build up the natural immunity they would in the wild, so they die
Every person and every family in the US should absolutely BOYCOTT these Sea World amusement parks! Seriously.
My family has
I didn't even know Sea World still existed. There was one somewhere around us here in Ohio when I was very young. It has been gone for many years now though.
Idk if it holds true but in 2016 they stopped their killer whale breeding program. The ones there are apparently the last generation.
I still don't support SeaWorld treating wild animals like they're domesticated. I was never into dolphin shows or the circus as a kid, just seemed strange. Conservation/rescue efforts are great, but where is the line drawn with those who just want profit from tourist attractions?
@@Killer_TurnipYeah, I’ve always felt the same, even as a little kid. It just always struck me as very cruel to keep animals penned up like this. Orcas & dolphins (and chimps/orangs & gorillas) in particular, because it’s clear that they’re intelligent & aware creatures.
Yeah, blackfish opened my eyes. At first I was on sea worlds side thinking they were actually helping with conservation efforts and inspiring future marine biologists, but have to admit their propaganda got me.
I haven’t been to a dolphin/killer whale show since then, and urge people to avoid them and their parks.
It's a WILD ANIMAL. You can never point a finger on why they snap.
Except that apparently wild orcas for whatever reason seldom ever harm humans, it's primarily the ones raised in captivity. The cause has been narrowed down enough to where they could be finding solutions by now.
It's like that line from the secret life of walter mitty, beautiful things don't ask for attention. These animals are already a part of something bigger and it ain't human entertainment.
‘Kept him in a tiny tank until he died’ as punishment.
How are these people not in prison for animal cruelty
So basically put the whale in prison for life?
No brainer leave animals alone
Especially one that is intelligent enough to understand their condition,
I agree on things like sea world & with animals like orcas but zoos are critical to keeping a lot of species alive + education. Closing zoos would be beyond stupid.
@@LudiCrust.As someone who worked with a lot of zookeepers, I agree with you. As long as they are AZA accredited zoos, who make sure zoos and the quality of life are up to standards. Unlike orcas who are captured, or roadside zoos like the Tiger King, zoo animals are all domestically bred. Their genetics are carefully tracked and monitored. When you see a local news report about a zoo that is getting a new addition from another zoo, that is usually for the breeding program and expect a baby soon. These animals have never seen the wilderness in generations. And their keepers love them like children. Not only that, the careful breeding and collecting of DNA are kept in case of emergency if something happens to the species in the wild.
The exhibits are special designs now for quality of life. And now zoos hire experts to make sure they get enrichment and fulfillment. The oldest zoo in the country, the Baltimore Zoo, deliberately keeps their first bear cages on display. They are tiny, nothing but metal bars and just a cement slab. And they would keep 2 bears in one of these. It is to show how far zoos have come. You can see pictures online, it is awful.
What most people don't know is behind the scenes. Animals who can't handle public facing are kept in solitude. They are also busy taking in and rehabbing black market, failed exotic pets, to be released to a refuge or into the wild. They do a lot of good works for such a low pay, but it is a labor of love.
@@LudiCrust.No.
Leave people alone too.
These animals r basically kept in a bathtub. They r meant to dive deep & swim miles a day. These r highly complex thinking animals. They r torn from their families. Such a sad story.
Touching reply
Yeah like Africans taken from their homeland.
They’re hostages.
Thanks both of you for posting this conversation.
Tilikum grabbed Dawn's arm and dragged her down. It wasnt her hair.
The man nailed, “It’s about MONEY!” It is ALWAYS about the money regardless of the damage to people, animals, and Mother Earth!🤬😡🤬
Greed is like the Norse wolf, only Tuesday had the courage to stand up to greed.
Greed is devouring our world if every man has a price then no man has a soul
Money is very important. It fixes the holes in your teeth, provides food, shelter and helps to allocate resources in a society in a way that actually functions. People may abuse money, but money itself serves a very important purpose.
@@yakhalheart I guess that purpose is above the lives of people, animals and the environment we live in. End-game Capitalism destroys as much as it has created if not more.
All societal problems trace back to government. Government uses regulations to create cartels and monopolies so it can split the profits with them. An article on the Mises Institute website titled, "The Myth of Natural Monopoly" by Thomas DiLorenzo gives a lot of examples.
Greed is a deadly sin for a reason..
So you’re surprised that a living organism that can feel emotions is mad that it’s being held in captivity and forced to perform😂😂😂😂
Tillikum also witnessed his mother being killed by humans! They are intelligent being that REMEMBER TRAUMAS. Gorillas have used sign language expressing memories of the death of their mother being killed by humans.
Exactly. Not sure why people can’t have this same collective mindset as it relates to enslaved people.
@@jed2998 Exactly!
@@jed2998it's not the same situation, I'd say those orcas have it worse
So Orcas are killing trainers cause trainers didnt sue Sea World enough. Got it.
I'm glad this ended up on my feed. Interesting, informative and important discussion!
I used to work at a bank in my early 20s and Ric was one of our regular customers. He would always bike to the bank, and to my knowledge, anywhere else he went. He wasnt a big talker and neither was I, but after several years of helping him at the bank we became acquainted and spoke more over time. I grew up in the Florida Keys and have always loved the ocean, like Ric. One day it came up during conversation with Ric, and the next time he came into the bank he brought me a copy of the Cove. He told me about all the crazy stories freeing dolphins and being arrested and fined for it. I remember being surprised about how passionate he was. He had lots of tattoos, mostly ocean related...if memory serves he has a dolphin on his hand, and I think an anchor. Good dude, always enjoyed helping him and glad to see he's doing well, still at it saving dolphins which is amazing.
I grew up in key largo!! Where were you?
@johngratton2301 I was in Long Key. Love Key Largo, too. We're building a house down there now!
Awesome I lived right across the street from the Quay and the Howard Johnson
A friend and I visited Sea World in San Diego about 15 years ago on our Round the World Trip from Australia. "Shamu" was the name of the main orca. I was concerned that the fins of some of the orcas seemed to be bent over which seemed unnatural to me. That's the reason why I lingered behind after the show ended and snuck into the back part where I expected to see a huge body of water for the orcas to swim in. Instead, I saw their cramped positions in tiny holding pens, similar to putting a human being in a cage for the rest of their life. I was about to photograph these holding pens when a Sea World employee escorted me away telling me the bent fins were a natural feature. I have since discovered otherwise, that it is a sign of stress. EVERY SINGLE captive orca needs to be set free. It is cruelty personified to keep them imprisoned in such an unnatural environment. Circus and zoo animals too, unless under a program that will benefit their breed.
It's what happens to the cartilage in the fins when they're not in constant use against the resistance of free swimming in the ocean.
Unfortunately, it wouldn't be much better for them out in the wild either.
They set the orca who played Free Willy free (he was in captivity for nearly twenty years at that point, I think) and he never joined a pod of other whales and would swim up to boats for food. Sadly, he died alone in 2003.
If they could teach the freed orcas how to hunt and eat the sea lions taking over marinas it would be a win win.
Alternatively, they could just have enough space for them to live…
Water too warm
Orcas are highly intelligent mammals, on a level with elephants. To put them in giant fish tanks is the cruelest punishment for Orcas
You know this guy genuinely cares because he knows each of these trainers by name and you hear it come from the depth of his heart.
Orcas are extremely social and love their families. They are taken from their family and probably witness their family being slaughtered. Considering all that, they are beyond friendly to humans.
Same mindset of slaves.
And you know their families were slaughtered? Where when how? Or are you just thinking that is how they captured them.
That’s what white people did to black people.
You'll have to tell us what "beyond friendly" means, because I have no idea. What is "beyond" being friendly? Is it a place or a thing? Here's my point: just because a phrase becomes popular doesn't mean it makes sense or should be picked up and propagated. "Beyond ... whatever" is a lazy way of admitting you don't know what word to use, and you just go "well beyond friendly sounds good" even though it's meaningless and trite gibberish. You're welcome.
@@dap777754 you’re fun at parties. You should consider getting a life.
This is the first time i saw the 2 whales working together for the perfect hit, one speeds up, one slows down.
They show this video on Blackfish.
Indeed
it was like watching a tag team finisher
😂😂😊
The hunt in packs- like wolves.
The trainers are fools to mess around with orcas,these creatures should not be used as entertainment.
Dude was literally riding backwards on an orca and yanking on its dorsal fin and wonders why he got body slammed lol
Wildlife Trafficking should be stopped now !
100%
100% here too
They don't even give a fuck about human child trafficked. You think they give a shit about wildlife? Especially when it makes them so much money?
Let's push a button to stop it.
Do not push any red buttons in the Oval Office.
Almost looked like those two Orcas coordinated the timing of that slam together. People that do this to animals have the same mindset as slave owners in my opinion
I wonder how you treat your plants
@@TheKos2Kos HUH???
I have an open door policy with my plants. As long as they are back before 10pm they can come and go as they please!
@@MarkWalmsley HILARIOUS!!
@@Polo22546 I forgot I wrote this lol
Thinking about what he said regarding them ‘keeping the ones they want’, and therefore not wanting the ones with scars or injuries is crazy. The ones with injuries would logically be the one’s you would want to keep to raise awareness to the damage we do! Made me rethink my perspective of my local zoo. The only birds they house are the ones with missing or damaged wings or other injuries that make it literally impossible for them to be released. It doesn’t look pretty but when kids learn about how the birds got the scars they seem to have a new appreciation for all the ways we impact nature and make it harder for wild animals to survive.
I went to Seaworld a few times as a young child, then I saw that in the dolphin enclosure (behind show tanks) there were dolphins just endlessly circling agitatedly, and the more I looked at them the more I got the sense of every one of them being in utter misery psychologically, and I just started weeping. I told my parents I never wanted to go back to Seaworld, when it used to be my favorite place because I loved watching animals far more than riding rollercoasters that the other amusement parks offered. People think dolphins are always happy because the corners of their mouths are permanently turned up in what looks like a smile, but that may be FAR from the truth. Some of the captive dolphins in parks like Sea World have been known to suicide - they just go settle on the bottom of their tank and refuse to come up to breathe, and even if other dolphins in their pod or the humans try to rescue them by bringing them up to the surface, they still will not take a breath until they asphixiate. Dolphins and whales are some of the few creatures on earth that have total control over their breathing and each breath is a conscious decision to choose to keep living; that is why they sleep with only half of their brain at a time, because the other half has to stay awake to take their next breath and watch out for predators.
👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍
Thank you for this educational and insightful information! It’s a travesty that these places still exist to imprison these magnificent creatures.
When I saw the orcas circling their tank after a show I realized they were sentient, and unhappy.
@@debbiecreter2005 I don´t think people need so much information, they need empathy. If you "really" look at these creatures how can someone overlook that?
a dolphin can commit suicide by holding it's breath sounds implausible
I'm shocked the orca performances are still happening in the US. I thought it was stopped after the young lady was killed. This testimony is really upsetting.
Well dolphins never killed anyone 🥴 and are completely tiny compared to an orca. But yes they still go on. Go to Mexico and see how they treat theirs in captivity….horrible.
@@manda2759 I'll revise my comment.
They never stopped they just can’t get in the water anymore.
@manda2759 You're one of those, huh?
@@CarolHewett-ug2cw No biggie! The Orca shows still do go on, but no trainers get in the water anymore. When the last Orca passes away the Orca shows will end completely at SeaWorld. I wish SeaWorld treated their dolphins and Orcas better. They should have saltwater tanks and also much larger tanks which can go out to the ocean at least. There's an aquarium in Connecticut with Beluga whales from SeaWorld that can't be set free from being born in captivity. They treat them SO SO SO good! They have a big tank for them, do enrichment activities with them, throw them birthday parties, and have people come play music for the Belugas all the time. The Belugas come over to the music and will sit there listening to it. Look up Juno the Beluga on UA-cam to see a lot of heartwarming videos of their Belugas! Juno LOVESSS the little kids and plays with them through the glass!
I live on the shores of the Strait of Juan de Fuca. I often see Orca Whales while running out to where I am going to fish. If I cut my engine and drift they will often just hang out a bit and look. The young are especially curious. But nothing can prepare you for seeing them snatch a 2000 lb Sea Lion off a channel marker and make a meal for the family. They will grab the Pinniped and hold it under water while the rest of the family submerges and rips it to pieces swallowing 100lb bites. The gulls go crazy as they dive for smaller pieces. Its something to witness. Yet, never once have I ever seen them be aggressive to a small boat which they could obliterate with one slap of their tail.
Shock in that animals that are tortured,imprisoned and forced into obedience at some point decide they had enough and kill the beast that tortured them.
Yeah! Only because we failed to end them first.
Years ago I watched Blackfish. Since then, I will never go back to Sea World. This will continue until the people stop going.
🤣🤣
Blackfish is definitely worth watching. I’ll never go to Sea World again, either.
@@dal7143 … 🤣🤣
I was at Sea World many years ago and there was a sign like this:
In the end we will only save what we love. And we will only love what we understand.
These poor animals are the sacrifice we MUST make so we care enough about them NOT to use them as a source of meat and oil. They and their trainers.
Wouldn't you care more about tuna if there was a tuna show and a tuna petting pool?
@@xhagast No, I wouldn't. I think a person just has to have a certain amount of compassion, period. I don't believe that's fine at all.
Those smiling Trainers are essentially jailers and prison guards to them, these sea mammals are incredibly smart, dolphins are self aware and will react to themselves in mirrors etc. So you can imagine what longterm captivity would do to their psyche.
Nat Turner syndrome
That's what I tease my orange cat with when he doesn't react to himself in the mirror, that he is dumber than a dolphin or chimpanzee 🐈
How about this, you don’t go and allow other people to think for themselves?
@procintu1 What's your point?
I have no respect to SeaWorld or anyone who is associated with it including the trainers. That's why I never feel bad when trainers get attacked. If they truly cared for those orcas they wouldn't have wanted to be involved in keeping such majestic animals in a bathtub.
👏🏻👏🏻🙌🏻
I was at SeaWorld San Diego in 1997/1998 and was watching the Orca night show. A trainer was doing a jump from the nose of the Orca but then accidentally landed on the Orca when he landed. The Orca swam around in a circle and rammed the man trainer. All of the trainers went super stressed looking all the while still dancing and going with the show. Most in the audience didn't even notice. The trainer was able to get out of the pool and they soon ended the show. I never thought the same about Sea World and Orcas since then.
For those who aren't aware Tilikum not only killed Dawn Brancheau but He also killed the young lady in Vancouver as the expert alluded to before he got off track
He also killed a homeless man that broke in and tried to swim with him
Ate his Winnie 🌭
The punishment pool was right next to the open sea.
It was in Victoria bc I believe
He a serial killer whale
Imagine going from 139 million square miles of ocean to a 5,000 sq feet tub. Must feel like maximum security prison.
My grandmother was aed to say, "The more you know about people, the more you like dogs"
The more I know about people, the more I prefer anything other than people.
I think Adolph Hitler also said this. Though he was a megalomaniac.
@@albertoj.mollinedo4116Exactly. Its not a good thing to have no empathy or care for human beings as if we are all worthless or less then animals. I wouldnt trust anyone who felt this way.
@@Vanessa-ok3yspeople (some) are complicated and it's not all black and white - if you cannot comprehend the meaning behind what that phrase truly means then ...I got nothing.
Smh 😐
@@Vanessa-ok3ys lack of empathy has nothing to do with my grandmother's statements. Lack of care has nothing to do with them either. Your statement about not being able to trust anyone who felt the way she did is almost exactly expressing the same sentiment that she did. You learned something about her that you disagreed with and it colored your opinion of her in a negative direction.
I won’t attend a performance of orcas or dolphins and I hate going to the zoo. It’s the saddest thing to see these animals in captivity.
unfortunatly zoos at times are neccesary because some animals are poached and captivity is the only way the animals are able to be kept safe.
@@ZeroOmega-vg8nqwould rather take my chance being wild with freedom than caged up in a prison
@@michellerichardson91 you also do realize that some animals that have been kept in captivity so long are unable to be released at all? prison or gilded cage zoos unfortunately serve a purpose for the animals at times.
They should never be caged up , it’s all about money , how disgusting are we that we cage these beautiful creatures up for profit think about it
@@michellerichardson91I do know that some zoos only have animals that can’t be released and/or are rescued from illegal and unsafe situations. Like all the lions in the Detroit zoo were kept as illegal pets before they were rescued and taken there. They can’t be released but they live a good life there
2:13 If the trainer / rider is spurring the whale on, doing something that makes it uncomfortable to try to get it going, to que it to hurry up, and the whale doesn't like it, or it hurts it, then it will send out distress signals, which the other whales can pick up, then the other whale was trying to protect the first whale from the "predator" upon its back. That's natural for them.
What an interesting topic and interview!
Ric O'Barry is a HERO.
God love him he's been fighting this for Decades.
who is GOD to you
@@why33-00 Universe & the sacred life held within
That explains the out come of his multiple decade fight
@why33-00 ooohhhh so edgy. Yet you're no closer to enlightenment or divnity as anyone else. Well done. Sacrifice your life and sanity on the altar of "reason" if you wish. Others choose religion, others choose knowledge and questions. Some seek none of those and just want cash and clout. To each their own. Except when you tell others their idea is wrong if they're causing you no harm. That is a d*ck move.
I am Australian and took my daughter on a trip to America back in the mid-80s. She was 10 years old, but even at that age was critical of some of the things she saw on that trip. One reaction that surprised me, for instance, was when we went to Disneyland. She despised the place! At the entrance I bought a whole book of tickets to different things you can do at Disneyland and I thought we'd basically spend the day there. Instead, we were out again in less than 30 minutes and I ended up giving our tickets away. She had never seen Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck and didn't know they were cartoon characters. She thought they looked ridiculous and just didn't take to the whole Disneyland vibe. In San Diego we went to SeaWorld, and she commented furiously on Tilikum's swimming-pool size enclosure. At 10-years of age, she immediately recognised the agony of an animal that size being kept 24X7 in such a narrow confinement. I believe Tilikum spent 30 years or more in that pool, and even as a child of 10 my daughter knew how terribly wrong it all was.
Smart kid.
Your daughter might be on the spectrum. I'm serious, I don't think there's anything wrong with that. My kid is, and he's perfect. But girls with autism are often over looked by a massive margin because the criteria is based on boys, and boys simply behave differently than girls.
I'm not a professional, don't take my word on it, but just give it some thought, look into it, maybe have her evaluated by a couple behaviourists. It could help her a lot. Especially before puberty hits.
@@daffyf6829 I'm not sure I get it. You think that because she didn't take to Disneyland she might be autistic? Seriously? Anyway, she is 44 years old now and seems fine.
@@leonaessens4399 Seriously, ignore that comment lol. daffy is talking nonsense, and apparently believes your daughter is still 10 years old. You would have discovered that long ago if it was true.
@@rjampiolo32 Yep, he did seem to think she was still 10 years old. And of course there were just as many Americans who were less than impressed with SeaWorld's activities.
Great discussion.
I can see how The Whale thought the ladys pony tail was a fish being dangled.
The crazy thing is Orcas are Dolphins so their brains are almost as developed as ours. So they animals understand everyday that they are in prison. So putting Tilikum in isolation is one of the worst forms of torture.
Yes that was the point. They know those animals are capable of murder because of their intelligence so they treated the orca that intentionally killed the trainer as a murderer and locked Tilikum in solitary confinement until he died.
@@phillipmargravethey literally created the problem and then punished the whale. Thats not the point at all. Ffs
Well, now I know which park to never go to again. FFS 😕
Yeah that’s why solitary confinement is considered torture in all civilized countries except the US.
I was locked up during covid and we got locked in a cell alone with zero reading materials, no tv, etc then add in the fact that we only got out 5 mins a day to make a phone call? I was going crazy after two weeks.To do something similar to these orca is absolutely disgusting but hey the Sea World executives need their millions.
@@marquisdelafayette1929we know darn well it’s the worst torture- that’s why they’ve had the j6ers in solitary confinement for nearly going on 4 years without being able to talk with their families or have their hearings- sooo wrong.
I was at Disney for a business meeting we went on a tour and I saw a dauphin in one of the aquariums it was swimming in back and fourth and I remembered thinking “you don’t belong here bud.” It was an incredibly sad experience for me. Growing up and a surfer I would encounter dauphins all the time and to see one in federal Disney prison it was just a gross situation. I have since become a father and my child will never visit Disney if I have my way.
Why are mixing a French word (dauphin) with English words 😂
I agree. Ive seen them in the wild in portugal, i took my boys to the equivalent of SeaWorld in the algarve. It was heartbreaking seeing them in captivity. We go to portugal every year and i have never taken them back to that place. Seeing them in the wild one week and the next stupidly taking them to that awful place, it didn't sit right with me at all.
Bro if you do take your child to Disney you make sure to handcuff them to you while walking around the park!!! Every time they bust pedophile rings in Florida there are always multiple Disney employees involved. Kids go missing down there in Orlando Florida!!!
@@user-cq9wv1vp4iwe live and we learn from our mistakes.
@@TheKos2Kos man I’m not going to lie, spellin is not my strength. 😂
He saw his trainers the same way prisoners see their guards…thats why
Lawyers don’t decide whether to accept settlements; clients do.
"Blackfish" is a greta documentary about this. Scary.
Heartbreaking documentary. Those poor orcas.
ua-cam.com/video/VnSCBNmLuAA/v-deo.html
It’s a generational curse from the main Orca (Telecum) it’s real.
I never heard of Blackfish. Im going to search that video! They should ban zoos and seaworlds!
@@user-dk3up2nl1m There's also a book, which probably has a lot more background and detail than the film.
The trainer named Dawn, who worked for SeaWorld, was scalped by Tilikum after he grabbed her by her ponytail, and then he ripped off her arm and ate it. He was then put into a small holding tank for years where he died from pneumonia and was running into the walls on purpose.
💔💔💔
lol
@@robertmiles1603 lol at your rotten mentality.
That’s torture prison.just awful. How can humans do such awful cruelty?
@@ihanakaunotar2741pure ego and greed
The client decides whether to take it to trial and not the lawyer. The lawyer never should NOT have promised that he would take it to court. The attorney knew it was not his decision whether to go to trial.
I live in the san juan islands where orcas are part of the marine sanctuary. The resident pods are close in this year, salmon population is down. Starvation & pcb poisoning are problems. The south eastern & b.c. populations seem to be doing betrer. Puget sound has become unhealthy waters for them. Hard to imagine them being a commercial product. Thank you for your work.❤
This is really depressing. Its been years since blackfish and seaworld is still around.
The true horror of the modern age is the realisation that the bar for sentience was never set by us.
Why is it horrifying? I never understood why it's so hard to accept other creatures are emotional and intelligent.
@@vanyadolly Its horrifying because for most of our species existence we didn't even entertain the idea that anything was even capable of intelligence. The fact that they are intelligent is not horrifying it is the fact that we have taken so long to realise it.
@@Scarletlord, define intelligence. Everything depends on that definition.
@@seriouscat2231 That brings me back to my original post that bar cant be set by humanity because we are locked into our view of the world and our own definitions of it. Now, I don't think a fly for instance is a creature of emotion, however orca and octopus along with many other species have shown themselves to be capable of a lot more than we gave them credit for up until very recently.
@@Scarletlord, so what is our definition of intelligence?
Why do we need an expert to tell us the animals are miserable?
Where is the full version of the interview
The bastards that run those prisons need to answer for the suffering they've caused
Thenpeople attending the shows too….
@@dibe1950 give all attendees the vaccine
All Orcas should be free to roam the oceans.
As a dog trainer I go into what happened with Tikikum and the 'tactics' used to train killer whales in my book 'The Force Free Dilemma: Truth and Myths in Modern Dog Training'
What happened to Tilikum and all the other whales & dolphins still in captivity is a disgrace.
I just got a sea world ad while watching this.
Idiot guards: "prisoners are surprisingly feisty"
this is basically that
This is like a SS-Guard suing Nazi Germany for getting bitten by a Jew.
I understand O'Barry's frustration, but a lawyer's first allegiance is to his client, not the public in general. It's up to the CLIENT if thy want to accept a settlement, even if the lawyer might counsel otherwise. This is why deep investigative journalism, class action suits , and these independent news sources are so important. Thanks for posting.
That whale jumped directly on top of that guy with great, premeditated precision. Wow!
They're wild animals. People are dumb to think a wild animal's instincts will never kick in😂
Because they are very intelligent, they keep them in a pen and they miss their pod or family!
Imagine being captured by aliens, retrained, then put on display doing circus acts to entertain these aliens in a setting no bigger than a tennis court for the rest of your life.
i think its coming to humans one day
They kept tilikum alive in isolation for years after dawn died, because he was the largest orca in captivity. And they used him for breeding.
Hi Ric glad to see you still at it. Big hug 🤗 Sazacha Red Sky
Love this man. As a teen, I went to Alaska and saw a humpback breach. Seeing that free thing playing like that was my first real life in person sight of a cetacean, and I’d have it no other way. I’m glad this man actually was a true friend to Flipper.
Those whales are kept as wild pets. They live off tourism. They are fed on a daily basis by the tourism company. Why do you think it costs so much? They are dependent on the humans that take care of them. Ever feed pigeons in the park? Same thing.
@@imdeaded um, I saw it IN THE WILD OPEN SEA of ALASKA, know it all. You have a lovely, narcissistic tone you use for talking to someone you don’t know, but then again I would too if the only knowledge I had of animals was off of Wikipedia. You don’t know crap about me or what I do, so take the tone elsewhere to someone who’d be impressed by it.
I lived on Key Biscayne in my childhood, and the Miami Seaquarium obtained “Lolita” as a juvenile from her family resident pod in the Pacific Northwest. As a youth, I saw her swimming in circles in her rediculously small tank performing tricks for the clapping tourists. I now live in Washington state and regularly see Orcas in their natural habitat (I actually saw several today). Seeing them in the wild is so much more satisfying than watching them perform in captivity. It should be a crime keep them like that. If you want to see what a public aquarium should be, visit the Monterey Bay aquarium in California. There are no performing dolphins or whales there, and people get to see the animals in as close to native habitat as possible.
I first saw orcas off the coast of San Juan Island the summer I worked there. I would spend my day off at Lime Kiln Pt waiting for them to pass by. Spectacular. Later i saw the orcas in Vancouver BC, and was so sad for those whales in captivity.
@@megofiachra3247Orcas in captivity was banned in Vancouver some years ago. There was a referendum and it was voted out.
Not an environmentalist, naturist or anything close but I think in this day and age we don't need any animal shows anymore.
In the wild, Orcas are sinking boats deliberately.
Fascinating interview, thanks gentlemen for sharing the true details of this industry.
“Ya, we’ll take it to court.”
An 8 figure settlement is more important than future lives, for sure.
People probably kill for that job too
To the person receiving the money, it absolutely is. Taking a case to trial takes years, costs a ton, and the award is completely unpredictable. Any attorney worth his salt will try to settle the case and get the Plaintiffs money within a couple years. An award at trial can also be appealed and it could be 10 years before anybody sees any money. Only about 3% of cases will ever go to trial
@@jbaker..3337 Money over lives = EVIL
No matter your reasoning. Treat others the way you wish to be treated. Guess you'd die for someone else's cash?
@@naerwyn239 , isn’t always some lame ass on the internet that tries telling other people what to do financially and accepting a settlement over going to trial is evil. Trying to appear virtuous on the internet does not make you a good person, it makes you a complete phony. If you feel that strongly about it, donate money to help finance wrongful death lawsuits, or donate towards supporting a young child that does not have their parent around to financially support them and could use the money from the settlement proceeds to buy them food and house them and pay for their education, or donate towards a person struggling to pay their medical bills while waiting for trial, or better yet explain to a family why they should pass on life changing money and risk it all by going to trial. You’re not a better person by passing on settlement money to go to trial, you’re either well off and don’t need the money or you’re a fool. Let me save you the suspense, if you were in the same position as these people, you 100% would accept the money.
The trainers know what they are doing. The lawsuit wasn't going to save anybody.
Honestly im surprised this doesnt happen more.
It does but we dont hear about it
They stopped performing in the water with the killer whales. They only have them do on cue tricks and jump ups on the landing areas/ splash the crowd etc...they don't allow trainers in the water with them anymore
We went to CMA last summer and I remember thinking how sad it must be to see the wild waters only when they leap from their tank. He's absolutely right about what they could have done with that Dolphin Tale movie money. I didn't even think about seeing the sky up above them and I wonder why they did that. How awful, not only be in a tank, but to not be able to see the sky. My son is in love with dolphins but I can't bring myself to take him to Discovery Cove. We did Little Toot in Clearwater where you take a boat out, spot dolphins and create waves and the pod can decide if they want to play or not. It is flipping delightful.
thanks for this 💙
There was Tilikum in Orlando Sea World that killed 2 trainers and on trespassing guy. That male orca was capture when he was just 2 years old and lived in a tank for 35 years. He died in 2017.He was vey smart and worked very well with his trainers until the first killing. It was in Canada. He took his trainer by the ankle and drowned her. Then he was sold to Orlando and killed 2 more. After the last killing and under security norms, he performed 6 more years until his death.