‘Blackfish’ Cast Demands SeaWorld Denounce Taiji Dolphin Slaughter
The SeaWorld backlash continues to spread as the theme park’s former employees who are profiled in the documentary “Blackfish” have demanded that it denounce the capture and termination of almost 250 bottlenose dolphins near Taiji, Japan.
“SeaWorld’s silence in the midst of this record-breaking dolphin cull is deafening, atrocious and telling,” “Blackfish” cast member Dr. Jeffrey Ventre said in a press release. “Why don’t they lend their voice like Ambassador Carolyn Kennedy and Yoko Ono Lennon? SeaWorld tries to call itself a conservation organization, yet it doesn’t take action here because the drive fishery is a source of cheap assets for the marine mammal display industry, of which it is the largest player.”
This is just the latest in a series of events involving the theme park since the release last summer of Gabriela Cowperthwaite’s film about an orca that killed a SeaWorld Orlando trainer while in captivity. Musicians like the Beach Boys, Pat Benatar and Barenaked Ladies have backed out of performances at the marine park and its sister parks and advocates have pressured SeaWorld partners like Southwest Airlines to drop all sponsorship deals.
Before SeaWorld went silent about the doc, it described the film as “shamefully dishonest, deliberately misleading and scientifically inaccurate.”
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