Argumentative Essay On Blackfish

Blackfish is a film on the various incidents involving orcas in SeaWorld, focusing on Tilikum especially, who killed three people.
Blackfish argues that captivity causes psychological harm to orca. It claims that because orcas are used to swimming up to 100 miles per day, keeping them in small enclosures has a detrimental effect on their mental well-being. A neurologist interviewed in the film says that all orcas in captivity are emotionally scarred, traumatized, and are thus “ticking time bombs”. Evidence in the documentary is used to suggest that orcas exhibit signs of stress, hyperaggression, depression, and frustration, which, especially with Tilikum, seemingly manifested itself as violent outbursts against the trainers, and other orcas

This much was made clear when many SeaWorld trainers said that up to 25% of orcas in the wild have collapsed dorsal fins, something other scientists believed to be untrue and argued that it only happens in 1% of orcas in the wild. Moreover, Blackfish claims that orcas in the wild live much longer than its fellows in captivity—though SeaWorld trainers claimed that orcas live longer in captivity than in the wild. Interviewees in Blackfish said that female orcas live up to 100 years while males live 50–60 years; in SeaWorld, they had a tendency to live 30-40 years. Something that was interesting, though, is that there is not enough study on orca lifespans to determine with enough confidence what the actual average

It supports this by presenting the various incidents involving orcas in which they attacked and injured or killed their trainers. The film suggests that theses incidents were all a direct result of the orcas’ distress from being in captivity. It contends that the inherent wild nature of orcas, as well as their size and strength, makes them unsuitable for both captivity and close interaction with humans. While this much may be true, Blackfish really focuses on instances of aggression that SeaWorld says are isolated cases and do not represent the overall behavior of orcas in captivity. They emphasize the millions of other safe interactions that humans have had with orcas and claim that Tilikum was an isolated case separate from other orcas.
Just because there have been many more safe interactions with orcas than dangerous encounters does not necessarily mean that all orcas are safe, however. While not all animals become dangerous in captivity, certain species are not suited for small, artificial spaces. Orcas certainly are part of this group, as they are not only large and strong but apex predators in their habitat that have complex social structures that do not do well living in a confined space with other