Blackfish

In 1986 my Aunt Bernadette and my Aunt Gina took me and my cousin Jenny to Orlando. It was a blast and Disney World totally lived up to our expectations and beyond. On our last day we went to Sea World. In truth, I was really looking forward to getting a Shamu stuffed animal more than seeing the whales themselves. Towards the end of the show they took a kid from the audience and placed him on the Orca's back. I remember thinking how exciting it would be to actually touch a killer whale, but even at age ten I realised that maybe that wasn't such a good idea. Everyone knows that animals are unpredictable and this one was massive. So, no thanks, I'll stay in my seat.

As someone who has been vegetarian and now vegan purely for ethical reasons, I don't honestly feel a deep love or kinship with animals in any way. I respect them. They have their place and I have mine and I don't feel that we should have any sort of meeting ground. I do not visit zoos or enclosed animal housing because I believe it is immoral. If I wish to interact on some level with say, a giraffe or elephant, then I would save my pennies and go on an African Safari and view them in their natural state. But really, I don't have any drive to do so. I think animals are beautiful creatures but it goes back to what my mother had always taught us; it's not nice to stare. Let them be in their world and let them remain safe.

Watching Gabriela Cowperthwaite's Blackfish only reaffirmed my feelings. In discussing it with a coworker, he said the film completely opened his eyes and that he would never again visit Sea World. He has three sons and doesn't want them to think that keeping a killer whale in a tiny pool where they do not belong is acceptable in any way, shape or form. My hopes are that many more people check out this documentary and have that same reaction.