A fateful moment occurred in Orlando, Florida on February 24, 2010 when a 12,000-pound, 22-foot killer whale, Tilikum, killed one of Sea World’s most gifted trainers, Dawn Brancheau. Although the joyful interaction between Tilikum and Ms. Brancheau usually delighted audiences at this famous theme park, there was no joy on the day that the giant orca pulled his trainer into the water and killed her. “I didn’t understand why a killer whale would essentially bite the hand that feeds it,” stated Gabriela Cowperthwaite, in a recent ABC News article. Ms. Cowperthwaite is the filmmaker whose latest documentary Blackfish opens this week in theaters in New York and Los Angeles. It will also expand into other markets in subsequent weeks, and air on CNN this fall. In Blackfish, Ms. Cowperthwaite uses shocking footage and emotional interviews to tell the story of Tilikum, examining how Tilikum and Brancheau arrived at that fateful moment three years ago, and raising the question of whether killer whales should be held in captivity. Interestingly, Ms. Cowperthwaite also stated in the ABC News article that “there is no documented case of a killer whale ever killing anybody in the wild. It’s only in captivity where these incidents have happened.” It was also reported that there have been four deaths involving killer whales in captivity, and Tilikum has been associated with three of them. - See more at: http://veganamericanprincess.com/dont-miss-the-documentary-blackfish/#sthash.cl1179EH.dpuf
