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How Outside revealed the scandal of the exploitation of orcas

How Outside revealed the scandal of the exploitation of orcas

In 2013, the release of the documentary "Blackfish" had the effect of a bomb. Shock film on the conditions of exploitation of marine mammals in amusement parks, it was based on a report by an Outside journalist, Tim Zimmermann, who went to investigate the strange behavior of a 5000 kg killer whale who had killed his trainer at the American theme park Seaworld. It was his third victim. Why was the journalist so aggressive then? His report was to reveal an overwhelming animal misery. Twenty years later, what has changed? In February 2010, Dawn Brancheau, a trainer at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, was working with Tilikum, a 20-foot-long, 5.5-ton killer whale, when the animal grabbed the youngster's ponytail. woman in her mouth, dragged her to the bottom of the pool and shook her like a dog with a toy. By the time the rescuers could extract Brancheau, she was already dead. Outside correspondent Tim Zimmermann – already nominated for a National Magazine Award for “Raising the Dead,” a deep-sea drama report published in 2005 in Outside – then began investigating to figure out what had happened. pass. And what he discovered was shocking. Killer whales such as Tilikum – many of whom were captured as calves – were separated from family groups that have lived together for decades. Removed from the ocean, they were confined to concrete pools in parks aquatic, whose narrowness generates boredom, extreme agitation, conflicts between killer whales and multiple infections. When Dawn Brancheau died, Tilikum had been in captivity for nearly 27 years. And it was the third human death in which the animal was involved. The publication in 2010 of the report by Tim Zimmermann, entitled "The Killer in the Pool", will have a profound impact on water parks, the safety of trainers and the daily life of orcas in captivity...