An orca – wrongly dubbed as ‘killer whales’ by we humans – stares through tank windows at some SeaWorld keepers. An image from the film Blackfish
NAL blackfish film event,
A Brief Comment and Advance by Doug Draper
Marineland may be closed for the season, but the debate over keeping marine mammals in amusement parks like this one in Niagara Falls, Ontario is not.
Blackfish – a critically acclaimed documentary film that should make us all think twice about opening our wallets and paying the ticket price to view whales and other marine mammals in commercial parks like Marineland and SeaWorld – drew hundreds of Niagara area people for a one-evening viewing in St. Catharines earlier this fall.It also hit the screens for a week or two in Dipson theatres in the Bufalo, New York area.
The producers of the film allowed it to be shown in St. Catharines as the feature attraction of a fundraising event for three former Marineland employees and one animal activist from Niagara who have each been sued for more than a million dollars by Marineland for allegedly damaging its reputation in ways that can potentially discourage people from wanting to shell out some of their dollars to visit the park.
And now any of you who have cable television in your home can view Blackfish for the first time on CNN this coming Thursday, October 24th at 9 p.m.
Following the St. Catharines screening and during a question and answer period with quests, including a former SeaWorld trainer featured in the film and Naomi Rose, an American marine mammal biologist and long-time opponent of keeping these animals in captivity, a number o people in the audience said the film shold be mandatory viewing for us all, including children in schools whose teachers sometimes take them on trips to parks like Marineland and SeaWorld on the grounds that it is an ‘educational experience.”
Blackfish, as Mike Garrett, the Niagara, Ontario activist now facing a $1.5 million suit from Marineland, told the audience at the St. Catharines screening; “shows another side of captivity – the side that SeaWorld and Marineland don’t want you to see in those fuzzy commercials they show all summer long.”
Blackfish, some in the St. Catharines audience stressed, should also be mandatory viewing or municipal, provincial and federal politicians who, within their own jursidictions of law-making, are making it possible for parks like these to continue to confine these animals in cement ponds and to go on exhibit and exploit them for commercial purposes.
Let’s hope that they too take some time this October 24th to view this film.
In the meantime, click here for more info on the film http://blackfishmovie.com/about and, for the official trailer for the film, click on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G93beiYiE74 .
(Niagara At Large invites all of those who dare to share their first and last name with their views on this issue to share a comment in the space below.)
Niagara At Large 
“Blackfish, some in the St. Catharines audience stressed, should also be mandatory viewing for municipal, provincial and federal politicians who, within their own jursidictions of law-making, are making it possible for parks like these to continue to confine these animals in cement ponds and to go on exhibit and exploit them for commercial purposes.”
It is a shame that despite numerous invitations not one single member of Niagara Falls City Council took us up on the opportunity to view this film.
There were lots of their constituents there that night that are obviously concerned about this issue but council members seem only interested in meetings at John Holer’s request. I hope when the next municipal election rolls around voters will remember that council members couldn’t be bothered to sit through an 88 minute film that highlights the concerns of many.
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I will set it up so I can see this film. I think it should be mandatory viewing for members of Niagara Falls City Council, as well as other organizations like Marineland that like to get their way through filing multi-million dollar SLAPP suits.
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