"Opinion: SeaWorld vs. the Whale That Killed Its Trainer"

Millions venture in and out of SeaWorlds throughout the world. These people spend their day perusing the souvenir shops and enjoying the shows, nine years ago I was one of those people. During my trip to SeaWorld I assumed all of the animals were well taken care of and since then I never thought twice about it. Until now. After reading Kenneth Brower’s National Geographic article, I have come to the realization that SeaWorld does both good and bad. Brower doesn’t just emphasize all of the horrific things that SeaWorld does but also some of their “good, altruistic work in sea-mammal rescue and rehabilitation.” Brower informs his readers about how SeaWorld did do everything they could in order to help drastically improve Keiko’s stay while in Mexico City without any benefits. He continues by discrediting SeaWorld’s letter to film critics about Blackfish by dissecting it little by little and proving them wrong by bringing in facts and expert opinions. I thought it was interesting to see how Brower intertwined ethos and pathos in his writing to persuade readers to side with him in the debate about the treatment of killer whales at SeaWorld. After reading this article I found myself agreeing with him and Molly in that “[they] are not bad whales,” the only reason humans are danger is because they are in captivity and not able to swim freely in the ocean.