Blackfish Page #2

---

we do a lot of deepwater work,

breath holds, very high-energy

behaviors with animals.

Obviously they're giving out

a lot of energy too,

but we're working together

and having a lot of fun as well.

She's beautiful, she's blonde,

she's athletic, she's friendly.

You know, everybody loves Dawn.

And I mean this so sincerely,

watching you perform yesterday--

you're amazing.

- Thank you.

- You really are.

She captured what it means

to be a SeaWorld trainer.

She had so much experience

that it made me realize

what happened to her

really could have happened to anyone.

This is Detective Revere

with the Orange County Sheriff's Office.

Today's date is February 24, 2010.

The time is 4:
16.

In the room with me right now

is a Thomas George Tobin.

- Is that correct?

- Correct.

- So the arm is nowhere...

- Right.

OSHA, on behalf of the federal government,

is basically suggesting that swimming with orcas

is inherently dangerous

and that you can't completely predict

the outcome when you enter the water

or enter their environment.

That's the crux of the OSHA case.

Stay out of proximity with the animals

and you won't get killed.

It will have a ripple effect

through the whole industry.

This was national headline news.

SeaWorld's whale performances

may never be the same.

Right now the theme park is arguing in court

to keep whale trainers in the water,

something OSHA says is extremely dangerous.

These are wild animals,

and they are unpredictable

because we don't speak whale.

We don't speak whale, we don't speak tiger,

we don't speak monkey.

And tempers flared between the two sides today

when OSHA's attorney suggested

that SeaWorld only made changes

after trainer Dawn Brancheau's death

outraged the public.

OSHA doesn't want

the trainers going back in the water

without a physical barrier

between them and the whales.

Being in close proximity

to these top predators is too dangerous.

They won't then be getting in the water

riding on the whales, things like that.

If you were in a bathtub for 25 years,

don't you think you'd get

a little irritated, aggravated,

maybe a little psychotic?

The situation with Dawn Brancheau--

it didn't just happen.

It's not a singular event.

You have to go back over 20 years

to understand this.

It was a really exciting thing to do

and so everybody wanted to do it.

What were they telling you you were going to do?

Mm, capture orcas.

Whoo-hoo!

They had aircraft,

they had spotters, they had speedboats,

they had bombs they were throwing in the water.

They were lighting their bombs

with acetylene torches in their boats

and throwing them as fast as they could

to herd the whales into coves.

Rate this script:4.4 / 8 votes