What can we learn from the lives of whale and dolphin trainers? In recent years, marine parks like SeaWorld have become controversial for keeping marine mammals in captivity. Even so, more than 180 million people visit zoos, aquariums, and marine parks every year in the U.S. alone. At SeaWorld, the killer whale show still fills up the stadium. It seems that beyond the surface-level opposition, we are still drawn magnetically to the domesticated wild animal.I argue that it hits something deeper about our human experience, to see life that's different than our own.
In this book, I'm taking another look at the lives of whales and other animals in human care. In doing so, I hope to assemble a new perspective on the human-animal relationship--one that is less romantic of subjects like "freedom" and "emotional experience" and more accepting of different lived experiences throughout the animal kingdom.
Through heavy archival research, cutting-edge scientific research, and exclusive interviews, we will look at the stories of exotic animal trainers, scientists, and activists. I will present the story as a mix of academic analysis, personal narrative, and oral history. This is a very long-term project. Publication date not set.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below are some of the things I get asked quite often when I approach people for an interview. I cover specifics and personal opinions in the next section.
What are you looking for?
As an oral historian, I interview people for their life stories, not for their opinions. I think human stories are amazing, and I try to tell them without editorializing or searching for "gotcha" moments. My (more sensitive) subjects have an opportunity to review my writing before publication.
I'm looking for stories that illuminate the human-animal connection. This can come from an animal trainer, an audience member, a hunter, a scientist, an activist, or just a plain, normal person. I'm looking for how the animal--as an experience, a story, a concept--can transform our lived experience. Fundamentally, I'm hoping to treat all animals as sentient individuals while focusing on the human experience of the animal. Of course, I am a biased writer and I will be writing in favor of zoos and aquariums. For those reasons, I am extra interested in featuring people who disagree with me.
Who have you talked to?
I am acquainted with a generous handful of current/former marine mammal trainers at all three SeaWorld parks, Miami Seaquarium, Loro Parque, and Marineland Antibes. My academic work has put me in contact with many people from the International Marine Animal Trainers' Association (IMATA), and many of these people have agreed to contribute their oral history to this project. These people are first and foremost my friends and I seek to tell their story with compassion. I owe some of these connections to the Dawn Brancheau Foundation and one of Dawn's sisters, who has so kindly supported me throughout this process.
To maintain a nuanced perspective, I have also interviewed some marine biologists and scientists who have become animal activists. I attended Superpod8 in the summer of 2023, a convention that focuses on anti-captivity advocacy. In addition to providing the needed nuance, these opposition perspectives provided an interrogative force that helped shine a brighter light on how we should treat animals.
To add to the broader story about human-animal relationships, I have interviewed various "normal" people, including the guides of a whale watching ship, a dog walker who spotted a stranded whale, and various internet activists. I am also interested in how indigenous wisdom can be productively applied with scientific principles to inform the human-animal relationship.
What are you writing?
I am writing a creative nonfiction book. This means that everything you read will be based from archival content, interviews, and academic analysis. But it also means that you will find creative elements that are typically not found in history books, like funny dolphin training stories and the quirks of running an amusement park. You will find parts of my personal story. It's gonna be fun!
What are your qualifications?
I'm a senior producer for the Stanford Storytelling Project and minoring in creative writing. Thanks to a wonderful collection of mentors, I've been trained on the craft of interviewing and story creation. For my creative writing minor, I've also been through many workshop classes that teach the art of writing. But most importantly, I am willing to listen, and to empathize.
I also have direct experience working with dolphins and sea lions in the Navy Marine Mammal Program. I can't talk or write about this experience publically, but it has given me a far better feeling for what the field is like, a feeling that I can transfer into my work. It has also given me many connections to people who may be willing to share their story.
Finally, I have a strong technical background, which has helped me understand some of the research done on animal cognition and behavior. The framework of behavior has many connections to my main research in robotics, which means that I will be able to talk about animal training in ways that go beyond the superficial overviews often found in some other works.
Domain-Specific Questions
Below, you will find topics that I think about quite often when I work on this project. Bear in mind that these are my personal opinions and they may change without warning.
What do you think about captivity?
I support reputable zoos and aquariums, and I'm an open advocate for having marine mammals in human care. It is a viewpoint I share with many scientists. This being said, it's important to realize that these are personal differences in philosophy, much like religions or political affiliations. We all have reasons to believe what we do, and there is far more to the story than arguing about the ethics of zoos. There's a lot to be said about the human experience with animals, inside and outside of zoos. I have worked with people who have very different views on captivity, and I am energized by some of their ideas. I do not, however, condone misinformation spread by activists or organizations designed to attack the reputation of zoological professionals.
Do whales have human-level intelligence?
This is actually a moot question. Animals are all really good at their own existences, humans included. Like sensory systems, intelligence is also modularized. Whales and dolphins are highly social animals and therefore have a much keener sense of others. At the same time, they underperform on object permanence tests, which underscores the fickle nature of intelligence comparison.
This being said, it is generally accepted by psychologists that humans have some unique capacities, including a true language, astounding creativity, and an ummatched emotional experience. Ocean animals like whales don't need to act upon their environment in complicated ways (as compared to humans with dexterous hands), but they need powerful processing systems for sound and vision. Therefore, it is more reasonable to assume that more of their cognitive power is spent understanding the world around them.
The question becomes even less satisfying if we ask about an animal's emotional experience. The structure of the brain, even the presence of emotion-processing analogues, tell us very little about the emotional experience. The brains of serial killers and poets are nearly structurally identical, so how are we expected to understand the emotional capacity of animals?
What is the future of marine mammal facilities?
I believe that welfare improvement of managed-care facilities is an iterative process. It could mean bigger pools, more enrichment, or innovations in enrichment, like video games. Welfare is a scientifically-measurable quantity and we need to rely on these scientific principles as our North Star for facility evolution. If ocean sanctuaries exist (and they do have upsides), their efficacy should be quantitiatively verified, and their operations should be completely independent from any activist organization or idea. I am a strong advocate for maintaining a managed-care population through non-releasable rescues and responsible breeding.
Why are zoos important?
Scientifically, zoos provide a controlled population of animals that allow for ground-truth calibration of sensors, model-building, and other applications. While the controlled populations may not match wild animals exactly, it is far better than having no ground-truth data. I got to experience this first-hand with the Navy Marine Mammal Program, which does incredibly meaningful cognition and bioacoustic research that is only possible with animals in facilities. In general, it is hard to argue against the value of zoological facilities and the unreplaceable ability to experience an animal. This being said, animals are a significant ethical responsibility and all facilities have an obligation to treat their animals with high welfare standards. Unfortunately this isn't the case for all facilities; we all need to do better.