TOW #29 Blackfish Argument

        Whenever there is an argument on animals it usually boils down to whether animals have the same emotional capacity to that of humans. In the documentary Blackfish the argument arose that the whales that were kept in captivity were going mentally insane, which was to root cause to them attacking their trainers. I believe the captivity of animals causes mental problems similar to those that they would find in the human mind.
       In the documentary there is the main Orca Whale named Tilikum who wound up killing multiple of his trainers, while in captivity. Whales have gotten the bad rap now that swimming with them could lead to death, and the documentary even mentioned the fact that SeaWorld now has the rule that trainers are not allowed in the water with the killer whales anymore. The reputation that the whales are getting is similar to that of Pit Bulls, the breed of dog has almost become synonymous with fighting. There are people who believe that Pitbulls are a terrible breed of dog, and they should not be family pets. Pitbulls are not bad dogs they are simply trained to be bad by their owners, some may have some attack instincts, but it is the actions of the owners that lead to them becoming vicious animals . It was not choice of Tilikum to kill his trainer, he may have had the tendency but it was a direct cause of their actions that he killed. The whales should not be given a bad rap just because there have been some instances of attacks.
      In in documentary the intelligence of the whales was displayed through numerous examples. The animals display characteristics that are similar to humans. The whales have their own means of communications, and can form intimate relationships with one another. While being held in captivity the whales will gang up o one another and will even attack the other whales when they feel threatened. With this logic it only makes sense that an animal with the mental capacity can also break while in captivity. I can only draw the conclusion that these animals are capable of going insane while being held in such confined locations.
     Tilikum was not responsible for the deaths of his trainers. He was the reason that they died, but he had no control over the fact that he would lose his mind while being kept in a space that did not hold up to the standard that would keep him from killing people,