‘Flipper Committed Suicide’, Says Ric O’Barry

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by Michael dEstries April 30, 2010
Categories: Film/TV.

“She was really depressed… You have to understand dolphins and whales are not air breathers like we are. Every breath they take is a conscious effort. They can end their life whenever. She swam into my arms and looked me right in the eye, took a breath and didn’t take another one. I let her go and she sank straight down on her belly to the bottom of the tank.

The next day I was in jail for trying to free the dolphin – that’s how I reacted to it. I was gonna free every captive dolphin I could.”

– Ric O’Barry, talking about the loss of his beloved friend from the popular television show Flipper.


Categories: Film/TV.

About Michael dEstries

Michael has been blogging since 2005 on issues such as sustainability, renewable energy, philanthropy, and healthy living. He regularly contributes to a slew of publications, as well as consulting with companies looking to make an impact using the web and social media. He lives in Ithaca, NY with his family on an apple farm.

View all posts by Michael dEstries →
  • http://blog.babyganics.com Linda

    I used to watch Flipper, never really thinking how much such a show can impact the life of the dolphin.

    This news just saddens me. Free the dolphins! hope people will never keep them again for shows, TV or live…

  • ash

    omg. I agree to free all dolphins, whales, any wild animal in captivity. so sad.

  • Kimitake Hiraoka

    See this is like what I was saying about whales committing suicide. Don’t try to save them. They know they are over-populated and are trying to rectify the situation.

    If anything, help them out and end their suffering quickly with a penthrite grenade to the brain. It’s the humane thing to do.

    • Erika

      The only humane thing to do is not kill them at all and let them be.

    • From MN, with hope…

      Just leave this website and never come back. Your illusions couldn’t be further from the truth. Whales and dolphins aren’t overpopulated, and even if they were than they wouldn’t have the capacity to know that they are overpopulated. Um, humane? How would you like to have your head blown up? Do you even know what humane is? Flipper committed suicide because he was miserable and depressed, and didn’t want to live anymore.

      • DIANA

        im with you MN!!! 100%

      • http://s181454115.onlinehome.us Erik

        yo..twit..
        what are yur muddled “thoughts” on calimari or octopus? Do you have any thoughts about how cod are netted then literally squeezed to death, and finally asphyxiated when brought onboard? nothing about the terror a crab must feel when hauled up from the depths just to be stuffed on top of a pile of others? Or shrimp… mussels ? herring ? cows…pigs…. deer… nauga’s….

        your idiotic anthropomorphizing shows you to be the twit I have always thought you were. How about you dig up some peer reviewed and published papers showing anythng that you claim.
        Innocent?
        Sentient?
        Smart?

        ANYTHING

        until you do, you simply are projecting your thoughts and wishes on just another animal.

    • P Smith

      Why do you make really dumb comments? I can only assume you have zero intelligence. Is this the case?

    • Touche Turtle

      LOL…what a Whack Job! Oh no…not another One (shakes his head).

    • Alyssa Freeman

      (1) No whale species is overpopulated. Most are still endangered. Look it up. Humans are overpopulated, though. Would you throw a grenade at a person trying to commit suicde to help them end it all and end the overpopulation of the human race?

      (2) When whales wash up on the shore it’s not becuase they’re trying to commit suicide. It usually has to do with their SONAR being damaged or interfered with, somehow. It’s a known fact that submarine sonar has affected cetaceans off the coast of Puerto Rico.

      (3) If cetaceans were washing up on shore to commit suicide, why would they swim back out to sea when being rescued? Why not just turn back around and stay on shore? If they were going to commit suicide, why swim to the shore to do so? That would be like a person in San Franciso driving 3000 miles to New York City (or flying from Tokyo to London) to jump off a bridge. Do you think they’re trying to make a statement to humanity??

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1334100330 Elyse Renee

    I have always been extremely concerned with the effort to save the whales and after seeing The Cove I am even more concerned with our ocean as a whole. God put animals on the planet for many reasons, but torturing them was never one!

  • David

    “God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground.” ”

    Sounds like God put the animals on Earth for humans to rule over.

    And yes I know that whales aren’t fish and I know that there are other Bible passages that can be read to contradict Genesis 28. That’s the point. Using God and what God’s reasons were to justify anything is kind of silly since the whole book is full of contradictions.

    • joe

      but, rulers are supposed to protet and care for there subjects, yes? even the most violent leaders didnt wipe out entier groups of there subject. the few who tried are almost universally accepted as evil, like hitler. plus most of the world went to war against them.

      the japanese are pretty much doing the same to blue fin tuna. does the world go to war against them? enact snations? make a ban on fishing them? threaten them with anything? nope. dosnt seem like were doing too good at the job God gave us are we?

      • Erik

        joe, joe, joe…
        your pathetic ramblings only show that you’ve visited the sscs site and picked up several cups of the koolaid there. Japan may PURCHASE a majority of the world markets BF tuna, they aren’t the ones catching it. Australia holds that honor for the southern bft. You do realize that Aus also did not want the bft bas enacted, and they got their wish. As for reading barry’s transcript, so what? I’ve seen watson’s transcript too. PURE ANTHROPOMORPHIZED bs…
        How about you or that twit from MN showing the rest of the world some PEER REVIEWED studies on the great whales showing…
        1. Any form of self recognizance. ANY
        2. Any form of familial activity that does not occur in any groups other than the great apes, human, or the great whales.
        3. Any research showing that the vocalizations are anything more than chicken clucks, dog barks, purring.
        ANY PEER REVIEWED and PUBLISHED data will do.
        I’ll wait.

      • Valerie

        No the Janpanese are not doing well in their dealings with marine life. Most especially the dolphins.

        And that bad pr of the thug fishermen poking their sticks at the Disney star Hayden Panettiere a few years ago really was impressive.

        Now we have an academy award winning documentary showing just how bad they are to the dolphins.
        Put Japan off my tourist list please!

  • Erik

    The NON-anthropomorphized version reads: “as I tried to interact with the dolphin it repeatedly tried to avoid me, until finally, still from exhaustion, I was able to grap its flukes and pull it to the side of the pool, unfortunately, I let it’s blow hole remain under the surface too long where it finally died from anoxia.

    more BS like watsons version of a whale looking him in the eye as it died.

    As for impact, how many people know SOMETHING about dolphins and orcas due to media shows and aquatic parks? How many people CARE now that they know something?

    • joe

      no, its not. the quote you just provided is so wrong it isnt even funny. the quote posted here is 99%, they missed and s after one word.

      you want proof, rather then a made up “fact”, ask anyone who watched Oprah on earthday. he said this aon national tv. get a transqript of the show and youll see it right there.

    • Alyssa Freeman

      Erik: This is a study done by the Osbourne Laboratory of Marine Science at the New York Aquarium in May 2001. It’s called “Mirror self-recognition in the bottlenose dolphin: A case of cognitive convergence” and proves self-awareness of Bottle-nosed Dolphins.

      Go to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC33317/

      Here’s a second study, this one performed by The Dolphin Institute, titled “Awareness of one’s own recent behavior:
      http://www.dolphin-institute.org/our_research/dolphin_research/awarenessofownbehaviors.htm

      I also recommend the book, “When Elephants Weep: The Emotional Lives of Animals,” by Jeffrey Moussaieff Masson.

  • TitaniumTotem

    There’s a very interesting article by a former president of the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society that talks about this kind of dolphin abuse specifically, entitled “Human Celebrities versus Animal Celebrities”:

    http://www.whales.org.au/policies/white.html

    It is VERY insightful reading.

    • From MN, with hope…

      Paul Watson is, and has been the ONLY president of Sea Shepherd.

    • joe

      paul was the first and only prez. of sea shepherd. plus he created it, and contrary to what that idiot said, its still anti captivity. just read this commentary, striaght from the real sea shepherds.

      http://www.seashepherd.org/news-and-media/editorial-100225-1.html

      • http://s181454115.onlinehome.us Erik

        again you fail to read the article. Why is it lemmings like you two REFUSE to read actual data from the people ACTUALLY INVOLVED ?

        http://whales7.tripod.com/policies/white.html

        why not simply google PAUL WATSON STEVE WYNN
        and READ about paulie accepting $50k to endorse the dolphin show at the Las Vegas resort. Nut noooo…. you are DETERMINED to be as stupid and uninformed as possible. Perfect watson lemmings.

  • Joan

    hopeful MN says, “Whales and dolphins aren’t overpopulated, and even if they were than they wouldn’t have the capacity to know that they are overpopulated.”

    “…Wouldn’t have the capacity to know…” oops! Guess they aren’t sentient after all.

    ” Flipper committed suicide because he was miserable and depressed, and didn’t want to live anymore.”

    So, you think cetacean brains are capable of forming complex thought to allow them to plan ahead, envision a bleak future based on present circumstances, weigh an alternative outcome and act upon that thought? My God, boy; wake up!

    • joe

      yes actually. just take a look at the killer whale in sea world, he knows whos keeping him trapped. and he acted on that.

      • Erik

        we’re still waiting for your links to ANY peer reviewed studies on your claims.

        ANY studies on the great whales at all…

        you and the other twit just continue on with your lies and trash, It might be better for you, and more intellectually honest if you’d just say “I’m against whaling BECAUSE I am” then you get your chance to be ignorant on purpose and continue your merry ignorant ways.

  • http://s181454115.onlinehome.us Erik

    in closing remarks to one of my “purported” species in a post above…

    I just want to see how long it takes for them to protest my “nauga” hides on the seat of one of my older cars…

    ohhh…the humanity……

  • http://www.ecorazzi.com/2010/04/30/flipper-committed-suicide-says-ric-obarry/comment-page-1/#comment-567254 anonymous

    I suppose it is easy to say ‘free the dolphins,’ but to actually act and help prevent dolphin captivity is a completely different thing. So if any of you are truly passionate about this topic then I highly suggest emailing or signing a petition, because after all actions truly do speak louder than words.

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