swindled patreon

95. The Captive (SeaWorld)

🕑 Added 2023-05-21 18:07:29 +0000 UTC

Comments

Lauren Griswell

Currently available on Netflix

Lex

“Swim with me…” I’ve listened to this episode so many times. It’s incredible. Thank you.

Vino Galan

Is one was pretty tough to get through ngl

Haley Ashton

So incredibly sad! These poor whales 😞

Brendan Woodford-Robinson

Imagine spending 40 years in a pool, no friends, Hardly any room to swim around, no stimulation from the natural environment, you’re just stuck there, having to float in a budget arse pool, and going crazy… and waiting 40 miserable years until death frees you from the suffering. An innocent soul doesn’t even know why it’s happening, just feels it, drag on day after day. Treating anyone or creature like that is so wrong and unbearably sad.to think about. 40 fuken years!!!

Bryant Edwards

Fuck SeaWorld.

Isabelle Beauprez

Despicable, I was not aware of this sad situation, although, all animals in captivity must be banging their heads against the wall, most of them, less harmful to their handlers...

Meghan french

Such incredible content. Damn. This was one of the best but definitely the hardest episode to take in. Grateful for this podcast.

Swunkie

Wow! I thought I knew this story. Best line of the episode: "And here comes the whale."

Kardonay

No way !!!!!!!! Looks like ACC needs to come to Newcastle for a meet and greet. At least 2 of us would show up !!!!

Lady Blanche

Hey there neighbour

Jessica Vasquez

When I watched BlackFish when CNN broadcast it.. I couldn’t bring myself to ever give my money to sea world or zoos EVER again.. my heart breaks for the animals all for the monetary gain of some asshole.. good job ACC for working on making this episode what it is..

Melissa Vizza

ACC, this one may be your best yet!! I loved your second-person narration introducing Tilikum.

Kardonay

We have an animal park down the road from us - the kids love it but those poor creatures should be free. What spanner thought a fucking Lemur would do well living in Newcastle, Australia??

Amanda Bailey

Good to know we can swindle other species too 🥲🫣 I remember being enamored by Sea World Ohio as a kid… what an actual toilet it must’ve been for those animals. If it were open now I don’t think I could stand to see the reality of it as an adult. Thank you for the reminder that saving the whales means protecting their world, not forcing them to adapt to ours.

Celine

I love it when animals take revenge on people

Celine

I never watch animal movies. Will not promote that

Celine

People are the worst. I love animals way more

Nick Saunders

Absolutely fucking heart-breaking episode.. If this (rightly) upsets you watch Dominion too. www.watchdominion.org

Jane S

Dude, your instagram post today was heartbreaking

Alison Ryland

Omg PETA, I'd love to never hear about you again 😆

Stephanie Barnes

Great, albeit heartbreaking, episode.

Frances Mary

Alternate title: "Want strangers to see you ugly cry? Listen to this one in public."

Michelle Hebert

Thanks for the warnings, everyone. I CANNOT listen to or watch anything involving cruelty to animals. So will pass on this one just like I passed on the horse story.

Cas Thibeau

This one really got me 😢

Swunkie

This episode is so powerful, if you mailed it to someone in a package it would blow up in their face. I do not trust you.

Keenan

Great episode!

Jane S

I tried to watch Blackfish after listening to this episode but that was just more than I could take. The visuals of the small tanks and the gorgeous animals forced to do carnival tricks was overwhelming. ACC, thank you, as always, for telling the hard stories.

Jenn

Oof. This was rough. As a child of the 90's, I too was obsessed with sea life, so this one hits a bit harder. Thanks again for your brilliant reporting, ACC

Emily Rusnak

One of the hardest listens fr

sucriC drawkcaB

Pay the Writers!!!

Alexis Mobley

Tillikum was the Nat Turner of his species. Those trainers paid the price for our hubris.

Nolan Pollock

This was as hard to listen to as the horse killing one from a while back

Sheryll Poe

Man, this one hurt so much more than the usual "human scum exploits other humans" stories.

Chelsea Halladay

So many grenades lobbed in this one, and I'm here for it! So glad my parents never took me to Sea World.

Gilena Simons

Excellent episode. I was crying the whole time, yet felt it was my duty to keep listening as a concerned citizen. I can’t imagine how hard it was for you to produce such a powerful episode. Ty. ❤️🇬🇧

Dani Whitaker

💔💔💔

Stella

There is some stuff in the movie that this didn’t cover as much. The incident at Loro Parque is covered in more detail by the movie. And there are lots of interviews with park employees and even some of the fishermen who were responsible for Tilikum’s capture. However, ACC did a really good job covering other incidents that the movie either glosses over or doesn’t discuss at all. And his coverage of the most current events with seaworld is awesome.

Matt H

I loved the content of this episode but it hurt to listen at the same time. Exploring the manipulation to decades of abuse allows people to see what is behind the curtains. Thanks for the excellent episode and I hope you create more content like this one.

Jenny Brown

Heartbreaking but so glad this story is being told, as many people that can hear it the better. Thank you as always 🙌🏻

Jenny Long

I'll NEVER swim with dolphins! I watched a video of how they get those dolphins...they coral them in shallow water and pick the ones they want then SLAUGHTER the rest! It's HORRID!! I'll also NEVER go to SeaWorld and we don't do zoos or circus' either!! 😡

Mahogany Scales

Took me all day to work up to listening to this one. Brutal. But as usual, epic storytelling from ACC.

Alan

Like a real life Jurassic Park, add in a dash of kidnapping, slavery and good ol' capitalism. U-S-A. Great episode ACC and great music, deformr.

Nico H

So glad I listened to this before bed. Gonna have some wild dream tonight 😞

Jace Beleren's Unpaid Child Support

The Orca cries broke my heart.

Calvin joiner

Damn bro. Kaiko was a member of the 27 club… Just like sid vicious and Kurt Cobain. A true rocker. I haven’t finished the episode yet. I just got to the end of the first half.

Andrea Johnson

That makes them smart.

Dana Contini

Is there more information about this in the movie?

Jane Blackbird

Appreciate your comment; now I know I can’t listen to this one for my own good. ✌️

TJ Tiong

This is NOT the episode I was looking for first thing in the morning, on a Monday. I feel sick listening to the Tillikum sequence.

Gina Uybungco

Your storytelling when you're Tillikum being captured and ripped from your family was pretty epic. So heartbreaking.... Well written and told sir!

Nancy Charest

Great episode. I’ve seen “Blackfish” many times and am interested to hear what’s happening now. Did you know that those “swim with dolphins” experiences go through 30 dolphins for every one dolphin they can train adequately? Maybe a subject for the future. Also I read that orcas have begun attacking boats: https://www.washingtonpost.com/science/2023/05/21/orca-killer-whale-boat-attacks/

Dani Whitaker

This was a great episode. Terrible subject, but I reckon it'll fire up the public again the way Blackfish did when it came out. Great job, ACC.

Allison2750

That was a rough one.

Haydn

That 'swim with me' sequence is definitely one of your most effective 'putting you in the situation of the victims of the swindlers' sequences. Trevor Howard's music incorporating those ominous bass-synth pulses, and the clacking beats and thrumming in the part after it introducing Tilikum's captive living situation especially added to the horror of it all. Found myself cringing through a lot of the detailed accounts of the deaths and the pain the animals must have felt - and can't help but feel ultimate sorrow for the trainers like Dawn Brancheau, whose passion led them to the job only to be thrown under the bus by the company not wanting to admit fault to the problems that their business caused to the orcas. Another informative listen.