146 John Hargrove - Taking on SeaWorld

Inquiring Minds

Science, Society & Culture, Neuroscience, Female Host, Interview, Social Sciences, Critical Thinking

4.4 • 848 Ratings

🗓️ 26 August 2016

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

We talk to former Senior killer-whale trainer for SeaWorld and supervisor of Killer Whale Training for Marineland in the South of France about his book Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/inquiringminds

Transcript

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0:00.0	It's Friday, August 26th, 2016, and you're listening to Inquiring Minds.
0:06.7	I'm Andrey Gashorehari. Each week, we bring you a new in-depth exploration of the space where science, politics, and society collide.
0:14.7	We endeavor to find out what's true, what's left to discover, and why it all matters.
0:18.9	You can find us online at motherjones.com
0:21.2	or inquiringshow.tumler.com. You can also find us on Twitter and on Facebook. And you can
0:27.9	subscribe to the show on iTunes or any other podcasting app.
0:43.3	One of the reasons I find science fascinating is because it opens up my eyes to aspects of the world that I hadn't seen before, and it also helps me understand some of the
0:47.6	universe's biggest mysteries.
0:50.4	So how an animal, as big as an oracle whale, can be socialized and trained to perform for humans, is one of those mysteries, in my opinion.
1:00.5	When I was given a book detailing the personal experiences of a seasoned killer whale trainer, I knew we had to have them on the show.
1:07.7	The book is called Beneath the Surface, it's published in 2015 and it's written by
1:12.2	John Hargrove, co-authored by Howard Chuan-Ewan. Hargrove is a former senior killer whale trainer at
1:19.6	SeaWorld and he also worked as a supervisor of killer whale training for marine land in France.
1:25.2	You might know him from the 2013 documentary Blackfish, and he's also
1:29.5	spent the last few years advocating against keeping killer whales in captivity. So let me give
1:35.5	you a bit of a background on his experience. He started his career as an apprentice trainer in
1:40.6	1993 working for SeaWorld in San Antonio. Two years later, he transferred to SeaWorld
1:46.1	in San Diego, where he worked until 2001, ultimately landing a top spot as a senior trainer in the
1:52.2	Park's Chamu Stadium. He then left SeaWorld to work at Marine Land's training facility in France.
1:58.5	In 2008, he returned to SeaWorld San Antonio, where he worked as senior
2:02.2	trainer in the Shammu Stadium until he resigned in 2012. This show, this episode, has been a
2:09.2	long time coming. And that's because the topic is controversial, and we've done a lot of work
	...

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