Blackfish, is a documentary that was released in July of 2013 discussing the behind the scenes treatment of the Orcas and the reasoning behind the several accidents caused by these majestic animals, all of which is presented through the insight of the park's previous employees and sea life specialists. .
Although Seaworld owns an array of sea mammals, the documentary Blackfish is centered on the more popular park attraction, the killer whale, and the several tragic incidents that have taken place after the capture and breeding of a specific whale named Tilikum. This documentary emotionally captures its viewers as it is told from the trainers' point of view and presents these animals as being vulnerable especially in the hands of Seaworld, therefore explaining the aggressive actions of these whales. Seaworld has an account of over seventy killer whale incidents all of which have either killed or seriously injured a trainer, Tilikum being the most recent threat (Blackfish). In the documentary, former trainers, Orca researchers and a neurologist go far into explaining that a majority of the whale's actions are primarily caused by the habitat and conditions they are placed in. For example, early signs of Tilikum's behavior occurred at a park called "Sealand" where his aggression began due to tight confinement and punishment enforced training; after his first incident of drowning a trainer the park closed down and Seaworld then purchased Tilikum (Blackfish).
"All whales in captivity have a bad life. They're all emotionally destroyed. They're all psychologically traumatized. So they're ticking time bombs." Says neuroscientist, Lori Marino (Blackfish). Throughout the documentary, each of the trainers talk passionately about every whale they've worked with and explain that the way in which Seaworld runs their corporation is immoral. Seaworld advertises false knowledge of their whales in order to protect their multi billion dollar company, stating false information to their visitors to disguise the truth behind a happy orca in the wild compared to the captured whales in Seaworld's pools.