Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish

This was such an amazing read that provided a lot of insight into areas the Blackfish documentary touched on. John with Howard were able to immerse you in John's experiences with the whales, both the good and bad. As someone who was also fascinated with orcas at a very young age, it was incredible to step into John's time at SeaWorld and what he had experienced.

Review of “Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Behind Blackfish” by John Hargrove with Howard Chua-Eoan, Palgrave MacMillan, 264 pp.By Mark J. PalmerAssociate DirectorInternational Marine Mammal ProjectEarth Island Institutewww.DolphinProject.orgOn its website, the marine park conglomerate SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment says that it is a “leading theme park and entertainment company that blends imagination with nature.” Parse the sentence, and you’ll see that this is little more than marketing-speak for saying that the company offers its visitors a kind of fantasy. Captive marine mammals frolicking and doing tricks for crowds of human — it’s a make-believe vision of what the ocean might look if it were designed by Walt Disney.Underneath the water surface, however, is a much darker reality, one characterized by routine suffering and occasional bursts of lethal violence. At least, so says John Hargrove. He is no ““animal rights extremist” (as SeaWorld recently called my colleagues and I at the International Marine Mammal Project). Rather, he is a product of SeaWorld itself, someone who trained there and spent 14 years performing with orcas (AKA “killer whales”). And what he has to say about SeaWorld is not at all flattering to the company.(Full disclosure: I am working with Earth Island Institute to consult on a recent lawsuit filed against SeaWorld for false advertising and violation of consumer protection laws in California.)Hargrove’s new book, "Beneath the Surface", is a quick read, but not an easy one. Orcas kept in small concrete tanks are not “happy,” but often bored and sometimes badly stressed. They are heavily medicated with antibiotics and sometimes antidepressants. They die at higher rates than do orcas in the wild. They get sick from diseases they would never encounter in the wild. And they can turn on their trainers, sometimes with lethal results.Hargrove knew little of this coming in. SeaWorld chooses its trainers for their swimming abilities and their good looks. Hargrove details how a trainer has to learn to work with a huge marine mammal that can easily crush or swallow a person. Orcas are also extremely intelligent, often playful and very attentive to their trainers. But their good will has limits.Hargrove went along with this for years. He and his fellow trainers knew that if they were not careful, they could be switched to some other job at the park other than training their beloved orcas. But over time his concerns for the orcas’ well being and his resentments against SeaWorld built up. Far from being a happy family, he came to believe that SeaWorld was a corporation that viewed orcas and trainers as mere commodities for making money.Then two trainers were killed by trained orcas. On Christmas Eve 2009, orca trainer Alexis Martinez was killed at Loro Parque, a marine park in the Canary Islands that houses several SeaWorld orcas and has business dealings with SeaWorld. An orca named Keto grabbed Martinez from behind and held him underwater and crushed him. Just two months later, Dawn Brancheau, a trainer at SeaWorld Orlando, was dragged underwater and nearly dismembered by the orca Tilikum, who had been involved in two other incidents in which people died. SeaWorld publicly blamed the trainers and classified the gruesome deaths as “drowning.”Unlike the Loro Parque incident, SeaWorld could not cover up the Brancheau killing. The US Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined SeaWorld and prohibited SeaWorld trainers from entering the water with orcas due to the danger; SeaWorld fought the order in court, but eventually lost and accepted the decision.Eventually, Hargrove decided to leave SeaWorld, and shortly after was interviewed for the documentary film "Blackfish", a chilling indictment of SeaWorld’s treatment of orcas. Hargrove’s book is, above all, fair and honest. He praises SeaWorld and its staff in cases in which he thinks the organization conducts business in the right way. He is particularly protective of his fellow trainers, many of whom were once his friends but no longer talk to him.At the same time, Hargrove explodes many of the false claims SeaWorld makes. SeaWorld claims, for example, that the amusement parks never separate mother orcas from their calves. Hargrove says he is personally aware of at least 19 times in when orcas calves and mothers were separated, only two of which were due to medical necessity.Orcas are highly intelligent, family oriented, and wide-ranging animals that simply do not belong in the artificial environment of SeaWorld tanks, despite all the smiling trainers, the snappy music, the veterinary care. Along with "Blackfish" and David Kirby’s book, "Death at SeaWorld," Hargrove’s book has blown a hole in SeaWorld’s PR veneer. Thanks to this book, SeaWorld’s abusive practices are floating on the surface for all to see.

"Beneath The Surface" is an intense book on the plight of killer whales and one trainer's journey from becoming a trainer to his eventual decision to leave Sea World due to his belief that the orca there are mistreated. The book is a nice companion to the movie 'Blackfish', which was a stunning expose on this same topic. Throughout this book, John Hargrove explains well many of the problems with Sea World's treatment of the orca in its possession, and, towards the end, he talks about his decision to leave to company and become, as he puts it, an advocate on behalf of the orca that he loves so much.So, why only 4 stars? Two things. First, a lot of the material Hargrove covers is nothing new. Many of the stories about the whales and their bizarre and dangerous behaviors have been covered in "Death at Sea World" and in "Blackfish", so as I read this book, I wasn't surprised by much of what I read. Second, Hargrove seems to indicate that he is going to cover a lot about why he left Sea World, when in fact, this is only covered in the last section of the book. It would have been good to learn about more of the negative altercations that occurred later in his employment at Sea World and more about his feelings about why he eventually 'converted' into an advocate. It would also have been nice to learn about what some of his colleagues felt about the issues he was bringing to light and his decision to leave.Despite the above, the book is riveting and well-worth the read; in fact, I read it over the course of just 3 days. For anyone who cares about the evils that Sea World is doing to these whales, this book will be a nice addition to your collection. Taken together with 'Death and Sea World' and 'Blackfish', John Hargrove's book helps to cement the story of these beautiful creatures and how man's avarice and greed trumps the potential for a beautiful coexistence.

Really well written and engaging.

Wer diese Tiere mag, sollte dieses Buch unbedingt gelesen haben. Es öffnet einem die Augen und ist super spannend zu lesen. Ich mag den Autor auch sehr, und dass er solche Sachen offen legt. Hätte ich niemals gedacht.

Il punto di vista dell'autore (un ex-istruttore SeaWorld) su tutto ciò che ha visto è vissuto durante la sua esperienza lavorativa. Apprezzato particolarmente l'amore traspirante da ogni pagina per questi magnifici animali e la capacità di restare in tema e non cadere facilmente in facile tentazione divagando sul macabro e sugli aspetti più scabrosi delle vicende. Consigliato

Perfect quality and as described.

Esta es la perspectiva de un entrenador de orcas. Desde hacer realidad un sueño de la infancia hasta enfrentar la verdad de este trabajo, donde corporaciones miran para otro lado ante las evidencias de la violación de códigos naturales que se llevan a cabo para realizar los shows, se comparten experiencias maravillosas y desmitificadoras desde una perspectiva única: la que sólo alguien que ha compartido tanto con estas maravillosas criaturas puede ofrecer.Llevo algo más de la mitad y estoy encantado, lo recomiendo encarecidamente para concienciarnos de lo que representa para la fauna de este maravilloso planeta ( que no nos pertenece ) continuar alimentando negocios como zoológicos y acuarios.Gracias John por escribir este libro y compartir tu extraordinaria experiencia