Brancheau, Blackfish and San Diego shutdown: a SeaWorld in turmoil timeline

As SeaWorld announces an end to its killer whale shows in San Diego, here is an overview of its recent troubled history, following trainer deaths, a critical documentary and social media action

Will Coldwell

24 February 2010 SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau dies during a training session with Tilikum, the largest orca held at SeaWorld Orlando. Brancheau drowns after Tilikum pulls her underwater by her ponytail, in front of horrified visitors.

30 July 2010 Outside Magazine publishes an investigation by reporter Tim Zimmermann into Brancheau’s death. Entitled The Killer in the Pool, the article details the psychological effect of keeping orcas in captivity – and the risk this poses to trainers.

15 July 2011 Zimmermann follows up his investigation with another report, Blood in the Water, describing the circumstances of another orca trainer’s death in 2009, and asking whether Brancheau’s death could have been prevented.

May 2012 Federal agency the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fines SeaWorld $12,000 for safety violations and trainers are banned from having close contact with the whales.

July 2012 Death At SeaWorld, a book by journalist David Kirby, further details Brancheau’s death, as well as other violent incidents at marine parks, following the story of marine biologist Naomi Rose, who had warned for years about the dangers of keeping orcas in captivity.

19 January 2013 The documentary Blackfish premieres at the Sundance film festival. Building on the work of Zimmermann, and produced and directed by filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the film is highly critical about the practice of keeping orcas in captivity and takes the story of Brancheau’s death to a wider audience. SeaWorld refuses to take part in the documentary and dismisses it as “inaccurate and misleading”.

December 2013 Blackfish has now been screened by CNN, BBC4 and released on DVD in the UK and US. SeaWorld attendance drops by 5% during the course of the year. Musicians including the Beach Boys, Willie Nelson, REO Speedwagon and Heart cancel performances at SeaWorld Orlando. SeaWorld continues to dispute the facts of Blackfish, describing protesters as “misinformed”. The company takes out a full-page advert in major US newspapers, taking on criticisms over animal welfare and defending SeaWorld as a place that cares for its whales. Blackfish is not named in the ad.

February 2014 SeaWorld launches a social media campaign, which marks the first time the company directly takes on Blackfish as a critic. It launches a section on its website called “the truth about Blackfish” stating that the film is “propaganda” and listing “69 reasons you shouldn’t believe Blackfish”.

March 2014 SeaWorld CEO Jim Atchison speculates that Blackfish had actually increased interest in marine parks, after the company reports record revenues for 2013.

April 2014 SeaWorld announces visitor numbers at SeaWorld have dropped by 13%.

May 2014 Following falling attendance in its parks across the US, SeaWorld announces plans to expand into the Middle East, where attitudes towards marine parks remain less hostile. SeaWorld had previously considered this in 2008, when it briefly considered the idea of opening a park in Dubai but shelved the plans due to the financial crash.

June 2014 An amendment to the Agriculture Appropriations Act is unanimously passed, calling for the United States Department of Agriculture to update its policy on cetacean captivity.

July 2014 Southwest Airlines – following pressure from animal rights activists and a petition with over 32,000 signatures – ends a 25-year marketing relationship with SeaWorld and repaints planes that feature SeaWorld animals on its livery.

August 2014 The “Blackfish effect” begins to take hold on SeaWorld. The park announces attendance has dropped a further 1%-2%, while shares have fallen by 33%. Having downplayed the impact of the film, the company admits that it is having an effect on business. SeaWorld announces it plans to build a new, state of the art orca environment named the Blue World Project.

September 2014 Investors launch a lawsuit against SeaWorld, claiming the company misled them about the impact the film had on attendance of its parks.

November 2014 SeaWorld suffers financially as public opposition increases. Attendance drops by over 5% and profits fall by 28%.

December 2014 SeaWorld CEO Jim Atchison announces he is standing down. In the period since Blackfish premiered, the company’s shares have fallen by 51%. Journalist Melissa Cronin, who writes for animal rights website the Dodo, comments on the phenomenal news cycle of the story: “No animal story has been more consistently covered by mainstream media this year than the dizzying decline of SeaWorld.”

July 2015 One Direction singer Harry Styles amplifies the anti-SeaWorld campaign during a concert in San Diego. “Does anybody like dolphins?” he asked the audience. After they screamed “Yes” back at him, he replied: “Don’t go to SeaWorld.” Analysis of social media showed this single event caused the highest spike in negative commentary about SeaWorld online since Blackfish was first shown. The same month SeaWorld is accused by PETA of sending a staff member undercover to infiltrate the animal rights charity, accusing the company of running a “corporate espionage campaign”. SeaWorld suspends the employee.

August 2015 SeaWorld reports an 84% drop in earnings in the second quarter of 2015, compared with the previous year, along with a 2% drop in visitors.

6 November 2015 Congressman Adam Schiff says he will introduce legislation that will force SeaWorld to end the captivity of orcas. The Orca Responsibility and Care Advancement (Orca) Act will phase out captive orcas in the US within 50 years.

9 November 2015 SeaWorld announces it will end theatrical orca shows at its theme park in San Diego next year, as part of a major overhaul of the company, but not at its theme parks in Orlando or San Antonio. Chief executive Joel Manby, said the company “is listening to our guests, evolving as a company …” and that the new orca environment will be launched in 2017. Manby also said that revenues are still falling and that the company expects a $10m hit to its profits this year. Schiff welcomed the news, but stated that “much more needs to be done”. He called on SeaWorld to end its orca breeding program and work to create ocean sanctuaries. The SeaWorld announcement marks a major concession at one of its flagship parks.

Blackfish (2013) – a Documentary Film Directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaithe

Blackfish premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013 where it was picked up by CNN films and Magnolia Pictures for a limited cinema release. It then found its way to Netflix where it was able to reach a much wider audience. It has since been broadcast on TV both in the US and UK and has been released on DVD and Blu-Ray. The documentary was nominated for Best Documentary at the BAFTAs in 2014. It is rated 8.1/10 on IMDB.com and 98% on Rotten Tomatoes.

The Role of the Media:

Meeting Needs (To Inform, To Educate, To Entertain) and Influencing Behaviour and Attitudes

The role of a documentary film is to inform. However, information presented isn’t always without bias. The information in Blackfish has been labelled ‘animal liberation propaganda’ by some supporters of SeaWorld. They claim the film deliberately misrepresents the reality of what happens in their parks to promote the attitude or belief that keeping animals in captive environments such as this is wrong.

Emotive Scenes and their Influence

There are, undoubtedly, emotive scenes in the film that are clearly designed to leave the audience feeling angry and upset. One example is the scene where we see wild orcas being captured (around 14 minutes into the film). The contributor at this point is one of the men who captured the ‘infant’ orca. He is shown in medium close up. His arms are covered in tattoos which traditionally connote toughness, yet we see him break down when he discusses his actions and how it felt to capture the orca – ‘just like kidnapping a little kid away from its mother’. The comparison itself is emotive, and the viewer know from looking at the contributor’s reaction how they are supposed to feel – upset and angry. His interview is intercut with archive footage of the whale being captured. The audience therefore gets to see the process. The tools used look painful – metal hoops and unnatural mechanical slings – which adds to the idea that what you are witnessing is wrong. The noise of the whales communicating is interpreted as crying which is also upsetting to the audience. The contributor goes on to explain that some whales were killed and that he had to cut them open and weight them down as the whole operation to catch them was ‘illegal’. Another contributor then names a court order issued in 1976 which forbade SeaWorld from capturing wild whales in Washington. The idea that SeaWorld were doing something illegal also puts the audience against them.

Other scenes may include – when the audience are shown the death of the trainer Dawn Brancheau; when we see the damage that whales in captivity suffer e.g. Tilikum’s ‘rake marks’ from the other whales; etc.

It would be a good idea to watch these scenes and make notes on them in terms of how they influence the audience through the technical and cultural codes used. The full documentary is on YouTube as well as Netflix.

Impact (of Influencing Behaviour/Attitudes)

Public Response

Since the film’s release in 2013, SeaWorld has witnessed a drop in profits from ticket sales at its parks and a fall in its share prices. SeaWorld (as reported in the national press – the Daily Mail) lost $25.4 million in ticket sales as attendance figures dropped 2.2% between October-December 2013. The national press have blamed this on the negative publicity that surrounded the film. The CEO of SeaWorld, Jim Atchison, stepped down after these figures were released.

Following the film’s release, a number of bands and singers who were scheduled to perform at a SeaWorld event in Orlando pulled out of the show. These included Reo Speedwagon, The Barenaked Ladies and several others.

Additionally, a number of bills have been introduced to prevent the abuse of whales in captivity.

SeaWorld’s Response

In response, SeaWorld have launched a PR campaign to counter this negativity. They have produced a YouTube ad, print ad and are planning a TV ad as well. The YouTube ad focuses on behind the scenes footage of the ‘excellent’ care the animals receive from their ‘highly trained’ veterinary staff. The print ads are to feature in high profile newspapers such as The New York Times and The Wall St. Journal. There is also now a section of their website dedicated to dismissing some of the claims made in the documentary.

SeaWorld have also pledged to double the size of their whale enclosures.

These are attempts to prove to consumers that SeaWorld is a caring organisation – not like the one represented in Blackfish.

A former SeaWorld employee was interviewed by CNN and said that the film ‘ignores the extraordinary benefits SeaWorld has in terms of conservation, scientific research and education’ and is therefore not informing viewers and instead is ‘propaganda’. The interviewee claims that SeaWorld is therefore ‘misrepresented’ and that the film is ‘misleading’.

Big thanks to Ms Urquhart for this!