Whistleblower John Hargrove and Two Other Former SeaWorld Trainers Tell All

Last Friday, the CBS television show Whistleblower presented the case by John Hargrove and two other former SeaWorld trainers about the dangers to orcas and trainers at SeaWorld.

The show featured Hargrove along with former trainers Greg Stryker and Sharon Vietz, who spoke out publicly for the first time.

Watch the CBS Whistleblower episode.

Hargrove had wanted to be a trainer at SeaWorld since he was a child, but he learned early on that behind the scenes, SeaWorld was not such a magical place.

Orcas are large animals that swim long distances in the ocean and have tight social bonds that often last a lifetime. That freedom and those social bonds are cut ruthlessly when the orcas are captured and placed in small concrete tanks to spend the rest of their lives doing tricks for entertainment. Even in the case of forced artificial insemination to produce baby orcas in captivity, the calves are often separated from their mothers by SeaWorld to perform at other parks.

In addition to the harm that captivity causes orcas, including shorter life spans, the stress and boredom can produce animals that lash out at their trainers. Hargrove spoke of being attacked and pulled underwater by captive orcas on ten different occasions during his career at SeaWorld parks, and of the three trainers that have been killed in parks by captive orcas. By contrast, there is no record of a wild orca attacking and killing a human.

John Hargrove told me after the show aired: “I’m grateful to CBS. The show was a huge success beating all other shows on all networks except the NBA Finals Game 4!”

“Sharon Veitz and I are the most experienced killer whale trainers in the world to ever speak out,” John added. “Greg Stryker is the most experienced non-killer whale trainer to ever speak out. I’m grateful for their bravery to speak out for the first time and to be with my friends I worked with during my career at SeaWorld San Diego during the four-month filming of this episode."

'“We are also the most recent trainers to ‘defect’ and speak out about this very large chapter in our lives.”

Not surprisingly, John noted that: “SeaWorld started legally threatening CBS within one month when filming began. Shortly after, Blackstone [Group LP] tried to stop it legally as well. An all-out war!” (Blackstone Group LP is a multinational private equity firm that held majority stake in Seaworld before they sold it to China’s Zhonghong Zhuoye Group Co Ltd in 2017.)

According to the trainers, the SeaWorld culture is contingent on suppressing the truth about the adverse impacts that captivity causes orcas and other cetaceans. As former trainer Stryker says: “If SeaWorld had a motto for its trainers, it would be: Show up, suit up, shut up.”

Once Hargrove left SeaWorld, he became an outspoken critic, despite harassment and pressure from SeaWorld. He appeared in the documentary Blackfish just a week after he quit and went on to write Beneath the Surface, an engrossing book about his experiences of the problems at SeaWorld, which made the New York Times Best Seller List.

John’s book Beneath the Surface can be bought through your local bookstore, Amazon, and other book sources.

Blackfish is available on Netflix and Amazon Prime .

The International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute is working to retire all captive cetaceans to seaside sanctuaries and end the cruelty of captivity for orcas, dolphins and beluga whales. Please help us help thEM by donating today!