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Beneath the Surface
- Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish
- Narrated by: John Hargrove
- Length: 8 hrs and 21 mins
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Beneath the Surface
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Summary
Over the course of two decades, John Hargrove worked with 20 different whales on two continents and at two of SeaWorld's U.S. facilities. For Hargrove, becoming an orca trainer fulfilled a childhood dream. However, as his experience with the whales deepened, Hargrove came to doubt that their needs could ever be met in captivity. When two fellow trainers were killed by orcas in marine parks, Hargrove decided that SeaWorld's wildly popular programs were both detrimental to the whales and ultimately unsafe for trainers.
After leaving SeaWorld, Hargrove became one of the stars of the controversial documentary Blackfish. The outcry over the treatment of SeaWorld's orca has now expanded beyond the outlines sketched by the award-winning documentary, with Hargrove contributing his expertise to an advocacy movement that is convincing both federal and state governments to act.
In Beneath the Surface, Hargrove paints a compelling portrait of these highly intelligent and social creatures, including his favorite whales Takara and her mother Kasatka, two of the most dominant orcas in SeaWorld. And he includes vibrant descriptions of the lives of orcas in the wild, contrasting their freedom in the ocean with their lives in SeaWorld.
Hargrove's journey is one that humanity has just begun to take - toward the realization that the relationship between the human and animal worlds must be radically rethought.
What listeners say about Beneath the Surface
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- john staniforth
- 21-09-18
Everyone should listen to this book.
This is a brilliant insight into sea worlds animal cruelty. I wish that all people could read this book and understand what is going on. Our poor whales.
Great easy read and gripping. I couldn’t stop listening!
John is fantastic and I value everything he has done.
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- rebecca donovan
- 05-04-22
Abosolitly inspireing
I thought this book was inspiring because it gives you a glimps of how thw orcas are treated,and how we might be able to help.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Nathan bingham
- 19-12-19
great stuff john
loved every min of this. SeaWorld are a gross company. 8 hours of gripping stuff
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- jennifer
- 14-03-16
very powerful, and emotionally moving
It is a wonderful insight into the world of captured orcas, the truth being told and bringing out the sad truth about the people and Wales exploited by Seaworld.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Christopher C.
- 05-05-15
Orcas in captivity
Read this after seeing Blackfish, a must read and good insight into orcas in captivity and life for the trainers. It's a no brainier these animals should not be in captivity, they are being exploited for amusement and greed, read and make up your own mind
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Cheryl Cromie
- 22-04-15
Everyone should listen to this story!
Loved this audio! As an Orca lover since the age of 10 when I visited Seaworld Florida for my first and only time. I knew from that young age that I had to learn more about them and I was positive they DID NOT BELONG IN CAPTIVITY!!
This audio describes in detail just how much Orcas suffer being held captive and I have been wanting them to be freed like they all should be however a chapter in this book has made me realise that this will never be possible in the same way wild Orca are free! These captive Orcas are to badly damaged due to the way they have been treated.
This realisation saddens me deeply as I have spent the last 21 years hoping that one day they would be free!
I thank John Hargrove and all the other ex trainers for now standing up against Seaworld and I hope and pray that for all the captive whales over the world that if there is no way to free them into the wild then they are provided with a much better environment than they are in now and treated with more respect as the magnificent animals they are NOT MONEY MAKING PROPERTY OF HUMANS!!
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1 person found this helpful
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- thomas paul robinson
- 06-09-17
great listen very entertaining and informative
great listen very entertaining and informative very sad at times I also learnt a lot
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- Miss L
- 10-08-18
Wow!
Informative, heartbreaking and at times infuriating. A must have for those who care about captive orcas. This is a brilliant production of a fascinating book. I very much enjoyed it.
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- Amazon Customer
- 21-07-20
Powerful and inspiring
As someone studying marine biology /conservation, I found this book to be inspiring to do all I can to keep animals and more specific cetaceans where they are ment to be
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- Amy l.
- 28-10-23
very insightful
certainly opened my eyes more than they were at seaworld corruptions. loved how balanced views were and the good as well as the bad. thank you for sharing
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