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Death at SeaWorld: Shamu and the Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity

Tekijä: David Kirby

JäseniäKirja-arvostelujaSuosituimmuussijaKeskimääräinen arvioMaininnat
1729157,483 (4.16)4
A scientific thriller that exposes the dark side of America's most beloved marine mammal park. It centers on the battle with the multimillion-dollar marine park industry over the controversial and even lethal ramifications of keeping killer whales in captivity. Following the story of marine biologist and animal advocate at the Humane Society of the United States, Naomi Rose, the author tells the story of the two-decade fight against public relations-savvy SeaWorld, which came to a head with the tragic death of trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010. The author puts that horrific attack in context: Brancheau's death was only the most publicized among several brutal attacks at marine mammal theme parks. This book introduces real people taking part in this debate, from former trainers turned animal rights activists to the men and women that champion SeaWorld and the captivity of whales. As the story progresses and orca attacks on trainers become increasingly violent, the warnings of scientists fall on deaf ears, only to be realized with the death of Dawn Brancheau. Finally the book covers the media backlash, the eyewitnesses who come forward to challenge SeaWorld's glossy image, and the groundbreaking OSHA case that challenges the very idea of keeping killer whales in captivity.… (lisätietoja)
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Näyttää 1-5 (yhteensä 9) (seuraava | näytä kaikki)
Great except for the last 100 pages of depositions which were a bit of a snooze. ( )
  minkscat | Jan 29, 2022 |
I picked this up because we watched the documentary Blackfish, and it was so fascinating I wanted to learn more. This is a really well written book, with plenty of well documented research. It's also a really hard read at points, because it's so heartbreaking. But if you're at all interested in whales, science, or the environment it's definitely worth a read. ( )
  bookbrig | Aug 5, 2020 |
Our relationship to the animals around us is a tenuous one. As the earth’s top predators what responsibility do we have to other species? I remember going to Seaworld in California many years ago and watching in awe as the orcas performed their tricks. I would be less enthralled today after what we have learned over the years regarding the natural habitat of the orcas compared to the cramped and unnatural living quarters of those in captivity.

Tilikum had been captured as a baby off Iceland (note that the Icelandic orcas have a different culture than those off British Columbia and different diet, the ones in B.C. feeding on fish, the others on mammals. Some have even been known to drown baleen whales in order to eat their fins.) He was kept in a small tank for several years with two dominant females (orcas are primarily matriarchal) and often tormented by them. It was just a matter of time before Tilikum became what we might call psychotic and unpredictable.

One of the themes brought out in this book is the natural antipathy between those who believe zoos are the best way to see and learn about animals and those who think that keeping animals of high intelligence, and there is no doubt that whales and apes have very high intelligence, is not only unworthy of humans but detrimental to the animals themselves and that the only way to study and learn about them is in the wild where the animals can behave normally. There was even some speculation that emerged from the hearings after Tilikum killed Dawn Brancheau that institutions like Sea World and zoos have a vested interest in subtly portraying the dangers of nature. Indeed one of Sea World’s major arguments for not returning their killer whales back to the wild was that they were safer penned up. This argument morphs over into a more general one that nature is dangerous for humans as well so come see the animals in the zoo, please, where you won’t get hurt (and by the way buy a few t-shirts, mugs and pizza while you are there.)

There had been four deaths in the pools from interplay with orcas. Many others have been injured, several quite severely. The hearings in Congress that ultimately resulted following Dawn’s death had to answer two vital questions: “ 1. Is captivity in an amusement park good for orcas: Is this the appropriate venue for killer whales to be held, and does it somehow benefit wild orcas and their ocean habitat, as the industry claims? 2. Is orca captivity good for society: Is it safe for trainers and truly educational for a public that pays to watch the whales perform what critics say are animal tricks akin to circus acts? Not surprisingly, people who support SeaWorld and other marine-themed entertainment parks (pro-caps in the lingo of this particular argument) answer affirmatively.”

There is little doubt these large animals are fascinating creatures with a sophisticated culture. Lots of information here on that. While the author’s sympathies clearly lie with those wishing to study animals in the wild, he does a good job of presenting both sides of the issue although he does focus primarily on those people like Naomi Rose, an orca expert and her evolution into anti-Seaworld activist.

One can sympathize with the Zoo proponents but that sympathy tends to waver in the face of their use of euphemisms and obfuscation in an attempt to make animal life at Sea World appear as “happy” as possible. As the great muckraker Upton Sinclair put it, “It is difficult to get a man to understand something when his salary depends upon his not understanding it.” ( )
  ecw0647 | Sep 13, 2015 |
Dawn Brancheau, an experienced trainer at SeaWorld, was killed in 2010 by the killer whale named Tilikum. This wasn't the first death of a human by a captive killer whale or the last. David Kirby examines the history of captive whales from the first captures to the OSHA case against SeaWorld after Ms. Brancheau's death. He follows ex-trainers, biologists, and a number of whales through this history. Most closely, he follows a scientist working for the Humaine Society and the troubled whale featured in the recent documentary Blackfish. His bias is evident from the beginning (and the subtitle), but does not shy away from pointing out flaws in the statistics and science of the experts he follows. The history of these captive whales, the science, the ethics, the humans involved, and the whales themselves are fascinating and Kirby's writing supports that. As Blackfish has stirred the debate on keeping orcas captive, this book might see an increase in circulation. Blackfish tells a slightly more updated story, but Death at SeaWorld tells a fuller one. Recommended for public libraries and colleges with an Animal science program. ( )
  MissyAnn | Jan 14, 2014 |
I bought this book because I have always been fascinated with orcas and was also very excited about the upcoming film Blackfish. The reviews at amazon were also very positive. Although the information presented is interesting [particularly the parts about the actual whales], this book suffers from poor writing and even worse editing. The book starts out well enough and the information about early whale captures and the history of whale captivity is quite well done. The scientific information about wild whales was also good, particularly about their social structures. The narrative about the release of Keiko was also of interest.

A chart showing the family tree of all the captive whales would have helped (where they were from, when captures, life span, offspring, etc.) It got very confusing trying to keep them all straight.

The book's narrative structure alternates between the perspectives of Sea World trainers, narrative about the whales in captivity and their behaviors, and Naomi Rose (Humane Society whale biologist). I thought that there was a missed opportunity to make a connection between Rose's fieldwork, which centered on the ways orca pods manage socially with the presence of mature males and the behaviors that they use in the wild to curb male aggression, and issues of captivity and aggression. It seems like the author suggests that these social management techniques cannot be used in captivity, leading to greater aggression on the part of captive male whales, but this point is never made explicitly.

The writing makes parts of this book unbearable--the author quotes at length from Rose's dissertation (seriously, no one's dissertation is worth quoting at length) rather than providing a concise summary of her findings. He also cuts and pastes needlessly from professional papers that she writes. Its a classic case of telling, rather than showing. In trying to make Rose into a character, there's also lots of unnecessary dialog where she explains things to colleagues but the way the author narrates, it just sounds like she's talking to herself, as there's never any response. Its a monologue, not a conversation. Again, a neat summary would have helped rather than paragraphs of one sided dialog.

The repetition by the end of the book is so pronounced--we know the arguments already about whales in captivity, we know what SeaWorld executives will say, etc. The book just rehashes them too many times and by the end of the book, its as if the reader needs to be hit over the head with statistics on captive vs. wild whale longevity just one more time to make the point stick. The author also uses annoying lingo, like "anti caps" (anti-captivity, we are to assume) and "SW" (SeaWorld) without explanation.

The book ends on a super uninteresting note, as it ends with a not-very-interesting lawsuit against SeaWorld by OSHA. (This is, in fact, the epilogue.) The lawsuit has nothing to do with captivity issues, which is the argument that the author has been building, but rather whether or not SeaWorld has followed safety regulations and whether it should continue to allow trainers in pools with the whales. This should not have been the epilogue at all...the epilogue should ideally take us back to the beginning and the original argument of the entire book. Worse, the book ends before we find out the resolution of this lawsuit (it is, admittedly, ongoing).

There's also this annoying underlying assumption that everyone who goes to SeaWorld is brainwashed by their experience there into believing that whale captivity is A-ok. (Especially the trainers. The author seems to suggest that one trainer never knew anything else about whales outside of SeaWorld and what a researcher told him. Did he live in an information vacuum?) In other words, there's never any suggestion that perhaps people find out about whales in ways other than SeaWorld and other than scientific research. I think people do find out about scientific research, but they do so through other mediums of pop culture: internet, YouTube, movies (despite the fact that the film Free Willy is a major part of the plot and a catalyst in anti-captivity movements). I don't think people are quite as gullible as Kirby suggests here and the trainers' personal motives more complex than he gives them credit for.

This book also has zero claim to objectivity. Its bias is evident from the start, although it pretends to be objective in parts. It also repeatedly anthropomorphizes animals while scolding SeaWorld for doing the same.

Not every single piece of information needed to be included here, much less repeated endlessly--this book is an example of poor research and writing. It needed a good editor to tighten the prose.

For my money, I'd read Tim Zimmerman's Killer in the Pool, instead. ( )
  lisamunro | Oct 23, 2013 |
Näyttää 1-5 (yhteensä 9) (seuraava | näytä kaikki)
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Englanninkielinen Wikipedia (1)

A scientific thriller that exposes the dark side of America's most beloved marine mammal park. It centers on the battle with the multimillion-dollar marine park industry over the controversial and even lethal ramifications of keeping killer whales in captivity. Following the story of marine biologist and animal advocate at the Humane Society of the United States, Naomi Rose, the author tells the story of the two-decade fight against public relations-savvy SeaWorld, which came to a head with the tragic death of trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010. The author puts that horrific attack in context: Brancheau's death was only the most publicized among several brutal attacks at marine mammal theme parks. This book introduces real people taking part in this debate, from former trainers turned animal rights activists to the men and women that champion SeaWorld and the captivity of whales. As the story progresses and orca attacks on trainers become increasingly violent, the warnings of scientists fall on deaf ears, only to be realized with the death of Dawn Brancheau. Finally the book covers the media backlash, the eyewitnesses who come forward to challenge SeaWorld's glossy image, and the groundbreaking OSHA case that challenges the very idea of keeping killer whales in captivity.

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