06-03-2010
Fuck you, Larry King. For interrupting Tippi Hedren when she was making a point about wild Killer Whales.
And fuck you, Jack Hanna.
Watching you mock, demean, and derail Ric O'Barry, and turn your back on the plight of captive Killer Whales, was nauseating.
Hanna works with animals in captivity all over the world. He certainly knows about the controversy surrounding a Killer Whale named Lolita, star attraction at the Miami Seaquarium, in Biscayne Bay, Florida, her tiny, illegal tank, and the struggle to return her to the wild. His callow attempts to undermine the impassioned activist working on her behalf were a shocking and brutal betrayal, not only of the whales under discussion, but of every person who has watched him over the years, and regarded him as an animal advocate, and educator.
Hanna's case for captivity...
* That people couldn't love Killer Whales without seeing one in person. To which Tippi had a good reply: that children love dinosaurs, and they can't, and don't need to see a living dinosaur to love one.
* That "Over 12 million people visited Sea World parks last year, and over 90% of those folks said that it was the most incredible experience of their lives," which proves that no animal rights are being violated.
* That the natural habitat of these whales is too far for most people to travel in order to share the experience, and become educated about whales.
In that vein...
Should the Louvre become a franchise and move half its collection to Abu Dhabi?
When the world learned that French Culture Minister Renaud Donnedieu de Vabres had signed a 30-year agreement with Sheik Sultan bin Tahnoon Al Nahyan to borrow the Louvre's name and hundreds of its artworks, people were outraged.
Aren't our wild Killer Whale populations more precious than a collection of art? Not to mention, these are families we're splitting up, not canvases. When an argument suggests strongly that we turn a blind eye to some suspected injustice for "the greater good" of mankind (in this case, public education), we're in deeper waters than you'd expect over an accident at a theme park.
I don't need to touch a Picasso to know why it's special.
And part of what makes something like that so valuable, to the individual, is the effort given to learning about it, and the fact that seeing one in person does usually require a pilgrimage of sorts. It's not an experience you can purchase at the mall, like a t-shirt, and shouldn't be.
And neither should we diminish the experience of viewing a live Killer Whale.
Certainly not at the expense of that whale's mental, emotional, and physical health. Even if there were no question of abuse, the implication that we, as a society, cannot effectively teach children about the natural world without the aid of a theme park, is horribly insulting.
Let's stop pretending that this is about education.
If Sea World really were educating the public about these animals, people would come away knowing what a horror show they'd witnessed.
It's obviously in Sea World's best interest to report that these whales--these free-ranging, sonic creatures, as O'Barry put it--are better off in Sea World's concrete boxes, performing twice a day, every day, for loud, obnoxious crowds, to loud, obnoxious music.
What else do you expect they'd say?
Bottom line...
As long as Sea World is profiting off these animals, they shouldn't get a seat on the jury.
In nearly every interview about the attack, I've heard someone claim that trainer Dawn Brancheau would want the show to go on, and that we should remember her "legacy," not her death.
The question of whether these whales should remain in captivity effected Dawn Brancheau on a personal level; she wouldn't have had a job if they were returned to the wild. It isn't fair to say what she would, or would not have wanted, as she could not have been an impartial judge.
And she wouldn't have a public legacy to speak of if the whale she trained hadn't killed her.
View Larry King Live / Whales kept for abusement?
View Larry King Live / Barker: Whales belong in sea.
View Larry King Live / Whale trainer laid to rest.
