Manchester Teacher Teaches Kids That Orcas Should Be Free

After Blackfish won plaudits from the likes of Ewan McGregor, Leona Lewis and Stephen Fry, you’d be forgiven for thinking that the must-see documentary of 2013 – which tells the story of Tilikum, the orca held captive at SeaWorld – couldn’t get any bigger fans. But then you’d be overlooking Mr Parkinson’s Year 5 class at Davyhulme Primary School, which has been writing and narrating stories and creating adorable videos about the cruelty of keeping orcas in captivity. For his efforts, Lee Parkinson of Davey Hulme Primary School in Manchester has received PETA’s Compassionate Teacher Award!

The children’s stories, which were inspired by the documentary’s trailer, perfectly demonstrate the cruelty of confining intelligent, sensitive marine mammals to tiny concrete tanks and depriving them of all that’s natural and important to them.

A current trend in spurning marine parks would seem to be on the side of Mr Parkinson and his students: according to a poll conducted by CNN, which aired Blackfish in the US, 86 per cent of people now refuse to take their children to SeaWorld.

Closer to home, Morgan is an orca who, like Tilikum in the film, was born in freedom but is currently held in captivity. At Loro Parque in Tenerife, she is forced to perform trivial tricks and confined in a cruel and unjustifiable manner to a tiny barren concrete tank with incompatible orcas who bully and attack her. Take action, and ask for her to be transferred to a coastal sanctuary, where she can be rehabilitated for potential reintroduction to her home and family.