{"id":389548,"date":"2010-03-04T16:43:15","date_gmt":"2010-03-04T21:43:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.greenrightnow.com\/?p=9597"},"modified":"2010-03-04T16:43:15","modified_gmt":"2010-03-04T21:43:15","slug":"from-%e2%80%98the-cove%e2%80%99-to-the-red-carpet-dolphin-activist-ric-o%e2%80%99barry-keeps-making-waves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/389548","title":{"rendered":"From \u2018The Cove\u2019 to the Red Carpet: Dolphin activist Ric O\u2019Barry keeps making waves"},"content":{"rendered":"

(Note: The Cove<\/em> won the 2010 Oscar for best documentary.)<\/p>\n

<\/strong><\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"Marine<\/dt>\n
Marine mammal activist Ric O’Barry: ‘We would like to see the Justice Department investigate SeaWorld. This girl did not have to die.’<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

By Melissa Segrest<\/a>
\nGreen Right Now<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is an interesting time to be Ric O\u2019Barry.<\/p>\n

On one hand, the marine mammal activist is counting down the hours until Sunday, when he may win an Oscar for his role in the documentary The Cove<\/a> <\/em>\u2013 a compelling and gruesome expose about the secret slaughter of dolphins in Japan.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, he is all over the news as the unabashed enemy of whale captivity, the go-to naysayer in the wake of a SeaWorld<\/a> trainer\u2019s death in the jaws of an orca \u2013 a killer whale.<\/p>\n

Fighting for the rights of dolphins and whales is nothing new for O\u2019Barry. In a way, he blames himself for starting it all. He was the man who captured and trained the dolphins who performed in the \u201860s TV show Flipper<\/em>.<\/p>\n

He\u2019s been trying to make up for it ever since, fighting to free captive dolphins, including the orcas, which are the largest members of the dolphin family.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a><\/p>\n

A scene from a SeaWorld killer whale performance in San Diego. SeaWorld says that their programs provide the public a unique experience with the whales, which leads to heightened concern about their fate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\u201cWe have a utilitarian relationship with these animals \u2013 SeaWorld does,\u201d he said. \u201cThe fact is that 90.4 percent of all the orcas captured since 1961 are dead. That\u2019s appalling for an animal that should live 70 years in the wild. We know of 152 orcas that have died in captivity.\u201d<\/p>\n

For SeaWorld \u2013 and other entertainment aquariums around the world that train dolphins and killer whales to perform \u2013 O\u2019Barry is an unceasing, increasingly high-profile irritant, reminding the world that these are highly intelligent creatures are not domesticated.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese are wild animals, and they are forever wild. Playing lovey-dovey with them is not smart. . . . These (attacks and injuries to trainers) are not accidents. These are incidents and they happen quite often. Then they are covered up,\u201d he said, mentioning another recent, relatively unpublicized death of a trainer at an aquarium in the Canary Islands in December. Reports say he drowned after an accident during \u201cplaytime\u201d with an orca.<\/p>\n

And most everyone following the news knows that the orca that killed trainer Dawn Brancheau in Orlando last month, Tilikum \u2013 the largest killer whale in captivity today –\u00a0 had killed before.<\/p>\n

Why are we so attracted to the spectacle of flipping Shamus and ball-tossing dolphins? SeaWorld spokesman, beloved animal advocate Jack Hanna, says these interactions between the crowd and the dolphins and orcas help sensitize us to their amazing beauty and make us care about their fate.<\/p>\n

Despite the death of Brancheau on Feb. 24, the multimillion-dollar business of dolphin and killer whale performances goes on. The big black and white mammals are the headliners at entertainment aquariums around the globe, and that means millions of dollars to the \u201cabusement parks,\u201d as O\u2019Barry calls them.<\/p>\n

That quip, along with lots of others, has brought lawsuits, legal threats and nasty letters his way, O\u2019Barry said. None of which seems to have any impact on him.<\/p>\n

\"Ric<\/a><\/p>\n

Ric O'Barry's first contact with dolphins was as the trainer for the '60s TV program 'Flipper.'<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The “seaquarium” industry is powerful, with lobbyists, lawyers and PR firms working hard to keep their image clean. \u201cThey\u2019ve been able to convince people over the years that these animals belong here, doing these stupid tricks. And that\u2019s the problem \u2013 we\u2019re brainwashed into thinking they belong here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to recognize that there\u2019s a space between us and wildlife that we don\u2019t respect. And so, what they (the seaquariums) do is a form of bad education. Yes, it\u2019s educational, but it\u2019s bad. It only serves to perpetuate our insidious utilitarian relationship with nature,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s also all about control, he says. With dolphins\u2019 perpetual smiles and playful antics, it\u2019s hard to think the force driving those behaviors might not be love.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a spectacle of dominance. I think anybody who watches that show \u2013 if they are honest with themselves \u00a0\u2013 would have to admit that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd it teaches us that dominance is good. Dominance is right, Dominance works. So everything is upside down and backwards,\u201d O\u2019Barry said.<\/p>\n

To counter those comments, SeaWorld\u2019s CEO Jim Atchison and others try to sooth a troubled public in an official statement: \u201cIt is important that I again stress that we provide the highest standard of care, and no animal is ever subjected to punishment in any form. Tilikum is no exception.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is there a disconnect between our wish to keep these sound-sensitive marine mammals safe and watching them splash around in what O\u2019Barry calls a \u201cconcrete box\u201d? There is that, and more: If we need a better example, look no further than Japan, he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Note: The Cove won the 2010 Oscar for best documentary.) Marine mammal activist Ric O’Barry: ‘We would like to see the Justice Department investigate SeaWorld. This girl did not have to die.’ By Melissa Segrest Green Right Now This is an interesting time to be Ric O\u2019Barry. On one hand, the marine mammal activist is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6460,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-389548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6460"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=389548"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/389548\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=389548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=389548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=389548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}