Films / Movies / MARINE MAMMAL PARKS

A Fall From Freedom, The Dark World Behind SeaWorld and Marine Mammal Parks

by Jennie Richards · Published June 2, 2017 · Updated July 26, 2021

For over 50 years dolphins and orcas have entertained humans in marine parks and aquariums. But at what cost? The critical documentary A Fall From Freedom examines and reveals the sordid and dark underworld of marine parks like SeaWorld. The film exposes raw behind-the-scenes footage of the brutal and deadly captures of wild orcas and dolphins, the painful separations from their pods and families, the long flights to their imprisoning captivity, and their restrictive world in captivity that causes their emotional, psychological and physical deterioration—all for human entertainment.

The film confronts the controversy behind the captive marine mammal industry. Many of these marine parks and aquariums are directly or indirectly responsible for the death of thousands of the very animals they use for public entertainment. Their capture methods have frightened, injured, disrespected and killed hundreds of killer whales and thousands of dolphins. Their forcible kidnapping of young orcas from strong, bonded family units have destroyed future generations of their gene pool which have not recovered for decades, and their traumatic capture has destroyed the individual orca and dolphin’s well being causing deep depression and premature death. Their captivity in tiny concrete swimming pools has caused their boredom, stress, aggression, psychosis and abnormal behavior. And SeaWorld’s secret deals, illegal practices and covert activities in order to bypass U.S. regulations and the law—have all contributed to SeaWorld and other marine parks misrepresenting the truth, which is that their business is founded on the suffering and premature death of thousands of intelligent, sentient marine mammals. These and many other issues are well presented and documented for the first time in documentary film, narrated by actor Mike Farrell.

Length of Film: 81 Minutes

Film Launched: 2011

How to Watch the Film

Rent or Buy on Amazon

Watch on Apple TV

Learn More about the Film

What You Can Do to Help

Don’t Attend or Visit Marine Mammal Parks or Aquarium Shows – Don’t support their captivity, breeding in captivity, and hunting down wild baby orcas and dolphins, tearing them from their families to imprison them and making them perform.
Tell Friends and Family Not to Visit or Support Marine Mammal Parks – Like Miami Seaquarium, Six Flags in Vallejo, CA, SeaWorld in San Diego and Orlando, and Marineland in Canada – they are all bad.
Sign Petitions! – See the petitions below and sign! Ask airlines to stop transporting dolphins from Taiji. Ask SeaWorld to stop holding shows at SeaWorld with dolphins and 29 orcas. Ask businesses and industries to stop supporting SeaWorld and other theme parks and aquariums from this cruelty.
Ask For Bans – Support efforts to BAN the cruel hunts in the ocean and BAN the establishment of captive facilities around the world holding dolphins and whales.
Speak Out – Encourage marine parks to become spaces for rehabilitating injured mammals and releasing them, and not breeding or hunting them. You can leaflet at local marine parks and aquariums, here’s how. And write letters and send emails expressing your opinion and concern to marine parks in your country that use and abuse whales and dolphins.
Call and Write Your Congressman and Elected Officials – Tell them not to support marine mammal captivity. Find your Senators, find your House Representatives. Here are steps to help legislate change for animals. Read Passing Animal-Friendly Legislation.
Educate Yourself – Watch Blackfish, The Whale, BreachTheFilm, visit Center for Whale Research and The Orca Project, and read Death At SeaWorld.
Watch the BlueVoice Videos – Learn more here http://bluevoice.org/webfilms.php.
Share A Fall From Freedom – With your friends, family and on social media.
Keep Your Community Free of Captive Facilities – Learn how here
Animal Alert! – When you see a captive animal suffering in a theme or marine park, or dolphinarium, take positive action and File A Report. REPORT IT NOW.

Please Sign the Petitions!

Stop the Taiji Slaughter, http://savedolphins.eii.org/take-action/take-action-save-japan-dolphins/

Stop the Slaughter of Whales and Dolphins, http://savedolphins.eii.org/take-action/dwp-take-action/

Ask SeaWorld to Stop False Claims About Captive Orcas, http://savedolphins.eii.org/take-action/kwr-take-action/

Stop Cetacean Captivity and Denounce Taiji Hunts, http://savedolphins.eii.org/take-action/fwd-take-action/

Ask Walmart to Stop Supporting Dolphin-Deadly Tuna, http://savedolphins.eii.org/take-action/dsf-take-action/

Ask CEO of Star Alliance, Mark Schwab, to Issue a Policy Against Transporting Live Dolphins, https://us.whales.org/campaigns/sign-now-stop-airlines-transporting-dolphins-from-taiji-hunts

Quotes from the Film

“These shows are nothing more than a display of dominance. They teach us dominance is good, dominance is right, dominance works,” over these marine mammals. The show only serves to perpetuate our insidious, utilitarian view of nature. It is in fact a form of very bad education, and that is what this issue is all about.” Ric O’Barry, Dolphin Project & former trainer for Flipper

“People who walk out of our parks have a better appreciation and understanding of these animals.” ~ SeaWorld Executive, Brad Andrews

“It’s not just about the 1000 dolphins in captivity, it’s about the millions of people who think dolphins belong here in confinement because of the SeaWorlds.” ~ Ric O’Barry

“You don’t have to see and touch a dinosaur to know them. Seeing an animal in captivity teaches a child anti-conservation. That ‘we’ can control these animals; ‘we’ can take them out of their natural environment so you can see and touch them.” ~ Lori Marino, PhD, Emory University

“In the 50s and 60s there was a purpose for the education. That function has long passed now. Basically, we’re seeing nothing new on the educational horizon that we didn’t already know in the early 70s. It’s far more educational to conduct research in the wild, than conduct it on captive marine mammals.” ~ Dr. John Hall, Marine Mammal Biologist for SeaWorld

“When you look at the social life of dolphins and whales, their social life is everything for them. They cannot be dolphins and whales without other dolphins and whales. These animals belong only in the wild.” ~ Lori Marino, PhD, Emory University

“The idea that dolphins and whales are no more intelligent than dogs is not defensible. Their brains are so much larger. They have very rare, complex intelligence that is not matched anywhere else in the animal kingdom except in humans and primates.” ~ Lori Marino, PhD, Emory University

“Instead of whales and dolphins in public trust in the oceans, they are now the property of aquariums, dolphinariums and marine parks—to do with them as they wish.”

Capturing Dolphins and Orcas

“SeaWorld is at the heart of the slaughter.”

“Jay Sweeney has been responsible for capturing bottlenose dolphins for decades. A net is deployed. It’s a very violent procedure to capture a dolphin. The netted dolphins are wrestled into submission. They fight for a very long time before they give up. From the moment they are pulled up onto the boat, they will never see the ocean or their family again.”

“We saw a huge flotilla of boats chasing whales into southern Puget Sound, setting explosives that are illegal and are not permitted. They forced them into an inlet into purse seiner nets. Babies were outside the net, mothers inside the nets. The captors lit these explosive devices as fast as they could light them, throwing them into the ocean—it was like a war, just explosion after explosion after explosion. It was really was one of the most gruesome things I have ever witnessed. We did some research, and found that it was SeaWorld behind this horrific capture of orcas.” ~ Ralph Munro, Assistant to Washington State Governor Dan Evans and witness to capture of orcas by SeaWorld in the Puget Sound

“In previous captures, lots of whales have died that were pursued by SeaWorld. SeaWorld’s history of capturing killer whales is lengthy and highly controversial. Shortly after SeaWorld caught 80 whales in Penn Cove, four dead whales washed ashore, their bodies slit open, and weighted down by massive steel chains to sink them. After months of denial, Don Goldsberry admitted that they sunk the whales.”

“Don Goldsberry later became head of ‘Animal Collections’ for SeaWorld. More than 40 individual orcas were removed from this particular area in the sea, in fact a whole generation that was removed and lost for decades. Only 40 years later have they just started coming back. It has had a drastic impact on the orca population. In fact, in 2005 these orcas had to be listed in the Endangered Species Act to be protected.”

“Jay Sweeney was hired by The Shedd Aquarium in Chicago to capture Beluga Whales and Pacific Dolphins from California. Video taken by Canadian TV revealed how these captures are conducted: High speed boats are used to chase down and separate the whales from the herd. Then drive them as they panic into the shallows. The capture team jumps out of the boats onto the individual whales and wrestles them in the shallows to subdue them. They tie them up immobilizing them, load them into small boats carried in slings to a tiny holding tank.”

“Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, CA, captured dolphins in Asia that has resulted in countless deaths.”

“Japan has been slaughtering dolphins for 40 years. The Japanese make huge profits killing dolphins for food and capturing them for marine parks. Aquariums and SeaWorld have caused the start to the killing of dolphins again, because they demanded more dolphins from the Japanese. On Iki Island in Japan, the Japanese drive the dolphins into the coves, select the few they want, and allow the fisherman to kill and slaughter the 100s of “rejected” dolphins.” ~ Hardy Jones, Executive Director of Blue Voice

“Jay Sweeny is contracted to capture and move the animals for SeaWorld.”

“Jay Sweeney is part of the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji in Japan. He takes dolphins out of the harbor, and begged me not to film him. It was SeaWorld who is responsible for this “drive fishery industry” that is hunting and capturing dolphins. SeaWorld employees are involved in the transport of six killer whales, flying them from Tokyo, to Hong Kong, to Singapore, to Dubai, to Amsterdam, then used as trading material for getting another whale. They then traded those 6 killer whales for Goudra. They put these animals through immense stress all to avoid U.S. regulations and laws, because of their lack of permits to capture them.” ~ Ric O’Barry

“SeaWorld was largely responsible for Taiiji.”

“After Seaworld could no longer collect killer whales from the Pacific, they needed a new system of getting more whales. So they set up an operation where an advance team would obtain permits from Iceland to collect live killer whales from Iceland. Since SeaWorld had no permits themselves, they would capture and hide the whales in Holland. SeaWorld caught whale after whale in Iceland and hid them in France, Iceland and all over Europe to avoid illegalities in the U.S. These whales were shipped to South America and worldwide, without the knowledge of the Icelandic government.” ~ Ken Balcomb, Researcher

“SeaWorld was hiding Junior and kept Junior in a warehouse alone in solitary confinement, a hidden whale who died of deep depression at 5 years old. He was one of the “hidden” whales that SeaWorld ignored.”

Dolphinariums and Dolphin “Swim” Programs

“In the U.S., animals were protected by the Animal Welfare Act (AWA) and the Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA). But in 1994, the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums, which SeaWorld is part of, lobbied to have the AWA and MMPA moved to (APHIS) Animal Plant and Health Inspection Service that is underfunded and much less regulated. With this move, the fate and welfare of captive marine mammals has just gotten much worse. Records are falsified, undocumented, and very flawed.”

“Dolphin “swim” programs started under this transition. Jay Sweeney started them at the Waikoloa Hotel in Hawaii.”

“Now in the U.S. there are no regulations for dolphinariums. Once males and females reach sexual maturity at 7 years old when they become highly aggressive, what do you do with them for the next 30-35 years? You brought them to the dolphinarium, then what? Injuries are the result of holding sexually mature mammals that should not be in captivity.”

Quality of Life

“Captivity cannot meet their physical, mental and emotional needs. We put them in these noisy, loud, stressful environments and ask them to perform every day, the same tricks and stunts, over and over and over again.”

“Everything is taken away from them in captivity – the freedom to swim distance, to be with strong social units and families, the ability to escape from threats. In SeaWorld, whales are forced to live too close together, they are bullied, attacked, and die from being physically assaulted.”

“I question the mental health of these captive marine mammals. Captivity changes them forever. Many trainers have been hurt, but it’s not the animals fault, it’s because of what we’re doing to them.” ~ Ric O’Barry

“In the wild, there’s never been a single instance of an orca injuring or killing a person. Not one single instance of aggression. It tells you the behavior that they’re exhibiting in captivity is purely abnormal behavior.” ~ Lori Marino, PhD, Emory University

“The Monterey Aquarium in California is proof that you can have a very successful, profitable business, without having any live dolphins and whales. They do it right, and they are the most successful marine aquarium in the U.S. with the highest attendance records. Instead, they have beautiful models of orcas and dolphins.”

“Our strategy is to revolutionize the marine parks. The show is to rescue injured animals and let them go.” ~ Ric O’Barry

“Keeping them confined in concrete tanks makes no sense.” ~ Dr. Paul Spong, Neuroscientist and Cetologist

“Once you take the dolphins out of these concrete chlorinated boxes and release them back into the wild, they adjust.” ~ Ric O’Barry

“What’s incredible is the hypocrisy of SeaWorld – Death after death, orca whale after orca whale dying, orca whales attacking trainers killing trainers. But SeaWorld never retires their performing whales. Many of them could be brought back to be put in sea pens or released, but they are “money machines” for places like SeaWorld. They could “retire” them, but they choose not to release them. Their whole attitude at SeaWorld is about perpetuating the money machine of marine mammals.” ~ Dave Phillips, Earth Island Co-Director

“These animals are in small facilities until they die. These animals would give anything to be back in the wild.” ~ Dr. John Hall, PhD

“It is clear that facilities like SeaWorld that hold these animals must be accountable. Whales and dolphins don’t exist merely for us to exploit, or for future generations to exploit. They are social, intelligent and sentient animals that need and enjoy each others company in the wild, and have for millions of years. If appreciation and compassion can be developed for them as wild, free creatures in a natural, free environment. Then captivity must cease to exist.”

“It is a choice that they {orcas and dolphins} cannot make, we must make the choice—for them. We must change.”

Statistics

Animals in captivity live very short lives, significantly shorter than in the wild. Male killer whales live an estimated maximum life expectancy of 50-60 years in the wild and females live a maximum of 80-90 years, but of the 140 whales taken from the wild for SeaWorld and marine parks, 90 percent are dead. Of those dead, none have lived past their early 30s and most have died by their late teens.

At SeaWorld facilities, in 25 years—25 captive whales have died in their facilities ranging in age from months old to 25 years old.

Marine park officials vehemently dispute how long whales and dolphins live in captivity. SeaWorld claims that male whales live only 20-30 years in the wild, and females 30-40 years old. But it’s completely not true, because males and females at that age are reproducing.