Eco Tourism & Nature Conservation


Both Blackfish and The Cove did a beautiful job at showcasing the horrors of what has been happening to dolphins and whales for monetary gain. Focusing specifically on Blackfish, the film documented what really happens to the whales behind the scenes. For the first time, people were able to see that SeaWorld isn’t the happy place that it is marketed to be. The killer whales that inhabit these parks are either capture from the wild, or they’re bred at the parks and are separated from their offspring. This introduces extraordinary amounts off stress on these animals. Not only that, but at night they’re kept in small cages where they don’t have room to swim around. This is no way to treat a wild animal, especially ones of their size.

Companies like SeaWorld need to be held accountable for their actions, especially once it becomes well known how they treat the animals at their parks. The easiest action that people can take to prevent this from continuing to happen is by not going to the parks. Without the funding from admissions, they won’t be able to afford to stay open.

To take things a above and being just boycotting the business, further awareness should be raised as to why individuals shouldn’t be visiting these parks. Although a box office movie was made to bring this to light, the reach still hasn’t been wide enough to stop people from going and supporting SeaWorld. This same kind of awareness needs to be made about the dolphin hunting in Japan. Not only are dolphins being killed, but it is creating hazardous oceanic conditions due to the mercury in the meat of the dolphins. These issues are not issues that the general public is well informed of.

From the perspective of a UN ambassador, it would be important to get all the facts from these companies and individuals who exhibit this behavior. If they’re not breaking any laws, it might be time to lobby for laws to be made to prevent this from happening in the future.


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