First paragraph: After its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013, the documentary Blackfish reached nearly 21 million viewers within its first month of airing on CNN. The film tells the bleak story of Tilikum, a performing orca at the US marine park SeaWorld

Thomas-Walters, Laura

Veríssimo, Diogo

Stirling Online Research Repository (RIOXX)

Academic rigour, journalistic flairBlack sh: how captive killer whale documentary endedSeaWorld’s orca breeding programmeJune 21, 2021 4.41pm BSTAfter its premiere at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013, the documentary Blackfish reachednearly 21 million viewers within its first month of airing on CNN. The film tells the bleak story ofTilikum, a performing orca at the US marine park SeaWorld.After being taken from his mother in the wild at the age of two, Tilikum was held in a tank at SeaLandCanada with two larger females who routinely attacked him. Together the three SeaLand orcas killed a trainer, and Tilikum was transferred to SeaWorld in Orlando on the understanding that he should nolonger perform. This advice was ignored, and Tilikum went on to kill two more people, includingtrainer Dawn Brancheau at SeaWorld in Orlando in 2010.Blackfish presented Tilikum’s aggression as symptomatic of post-traumatic stress, induced by a life incaptivity. This contradicted SeaWorld’s claims that orcas cooperated willingly during each show. TheAuthorsLaura Thomas-WaltersPostdoctoral Research Fellow inBiological and Environmental Sciences,University of StirlingDiogo VeríssimoResearch Fellow in ConservationMarketing, University of OxfordTilikum, the orca who killed three trainers, was captured at the age of two and performed for most of his life. Milan Boers/Wikipedia, CC BY-SAdocumentary sparked a public outcry against orca captivity.The hashtag #EmptyTheTanks spread on Twitter and viewers pressured artists into cancelling theirshows at SeaWorld and demanded corporate sponsors such as SouthWest Airlines to drop theirpartnerships with the company. There were also protests outside the park, and in cities worldwide.In the year following Blackfish’s release, SeaWorld’s attendance dropped by one million visitors. In2014, the company announced a 84% fall in income and saw its share price drop by 33%. AlthoughSeaWorld attributed this to “the seasonal nature of the business”, the media largely blamed Blackfish.In September 2014, SeaWorld’s shareholders launched a lawsuit against the park, claiming it had misled investors about the effect the documentary would have on its business. In February 2020SeaWorld agreed to pay out $65m to settle lawsuit claims.In 2016, SeaWorld announced the immediate end of its orca breeding programme, and in the sameyear, California passed a ban on captive orca breeding. Five years on, we conducted a study to find outjust how influential Blackfish was in bringing about that decision.Blackfish’s impactThe high number of viewers, social media engagement and press coverage indicate the documentaryhad a wide reach, but they cannot tell us the role that Blackfish actually played in changingSeaWorld’s policies compared to other factors. For this, we carried out an impact evaluation todisentangle the complex causes.We used a method from conservation which attempts to understand why a species has recovered inthe wild. We compiled a list of 15 potentially important factors that could have led to the change inSeaWorld’s breeding policy and stock market drop, including competition from other marine ortheme parks, economic factors that meant guests had less spending money, the 2015 change inSeaWorld’s leadership, and the effect of other media – like the 2015 book Beneath the Surface, writtenby a former SeaWorld trainer.We interviewed 26 people with expertise in marine conservation, marine mammal training, zoo andaquarium collections, animal welfare and media communication. This included SeaWorld trainers,though SeaWorld’s leadership refused to take part. We asked them, based on their expert knowledge,whether they thought each of the 15 factors may have affected SeaWorld, and how. We then looked forcorroborating evidence.After eliminating less plausible explanations, our analysis indicated that the negative publicityresulting from Blackfish changed how people viewed orca captivity, and this, rather than a seasonalvariation in guest numbers led to a drop in SeaWorld’s visitors and market value. This becameparticularly clear when we compared SeaWorld’s stock market value over the same period to otheramusement parks, such as Disneyland and Universal Studios.Interviewees identified several reasons why Blackfish had such an impact. The support from majordistribution channels like CNN lent credibility to the documentary and allowed it to reach a largeaudience. As one former employee of SeaWorld said:Having that movie picked up by CNN gave it credence [and] made people think…this isn’tjust a propaganda piece. This is news.Blackfish also made viewers empathise with Tilikum. One media communication expert screenedBlackfish with her students and described its impact:They get really emotional, very sad or very angry but quite a strong emotional reaction.The testimonies of the diverse range of experts we interviewed suggested that viewers felt SeaWorldhad been dishonest and reckless. As one animal welfare campaigner put it:It just really offended people that they’ve been lied to for so long… A very severe blow to acompany that relies on the goodwill of the public.The company’s dismissal of Blackfish as propaganda did not help either. One person who worked inthe aquarium industry said SeaWorld had been “incredibly slow to anticipate the fallout.”Timeline of key events pre- and post-release of Blackfish. Laura Thomas-WaltersBut our study also made clear that the timing of Blackfish’s release was vital. Various filmed andwritten works released prior to Blackfish, such as the 2009 documentary The Cove, had slowlyinfluenced public attitudes towards marine mammal welfare and rights.Blackfish benefited from a perfect storm, building upon decades of animal welfare and animal rightsactivism against marine mammal captivity.By exploiting that and creating an emotional bond with viewers through the plight of Tilikum,Blackfish achieved what researchers have so far only speculated about when it comes to the potentialof documentaries – sparking widespread activism and, ultimately, change.Documentary Animals in captivity SeaWorld Orca CetaceansOverall theory of change depicting the impacts of Blackfish, including the contributing drivers that explain how Blackfishcame to be so influential. The thick outlines show the original intervention (Blackfish) and outcomes of interest in the study.Laura Thomas-WaltersYou might also likeBlackfish: proof thatdocumentary can be aAre some species justtoo wild for a happy lifein captivity?Obituary:Tilikum 1981-2017‘Talking’ killer whalereveals orcas can learnto mimic human speechpowerful forcefor change

Blackfish: how captive killer whale documentary ended SeaWorld's orca breeding programme

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Blackfish: how captive killer whale documentary ended SeaWorld's orca breeding programme

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