I F-ing Love Science… Now Science Free
By Danielle Cookish
Popular Facebook page, “I F*@#ing Love Science” or “IFLS,” posted the following article to their 18.7 million followers on Sunday, Nov. 2:
IFLS describes themselves in their bio as “The lighter side of science. If you take yourself seriously, you’re on the wrong page.”
The post directs to an article regarding a video shot at SeaWorld Ohio, in 1995. That’s 18 years ago.
This article discussing the 18-year-old video is littered with citations from Blackfish, mentions of Dawn Brancheau, and Jeffrey Ventre. It is of no surprise that the article’s source is as follows: “This article was provided by our partners at thedodo.com.” It further prompts readers to “check out their website and follow them on Facebook.”
Congratulations! Your new partnership with TheDodo.com has replaced science with malicious propaganda.
The article contains a video and GIFs (which are sped up to make it look super scary!) of Kayla a Killer Whale in 1995 at SeaWorld Ohio. The park closed in 2001.
In the video, it appears that Kayla peeks over the slide out barrier wall slightly, slips back into the pool, and then re-enters the slide out, furthering her rostrum and head to slide over the barrier, into the audience.
Stone cold killer, right?
Wrong! Guests are then seen reaching out and touching her rostrum. She didn’t move, flinch, open her mouth, shudder, or vocalize. While there was a vocal response of surprise from the audience, no guest came close to being harmed.
Jeffrey Ventre is still clinging desperately to his discredited phrase from the film BlackFish, “We had to destroy the tape” story.
Further, this behavior is hardly “disturbing.” There are no animal behaviorists cited by IFLS or TheDodo to support their claim that the behavior is disturbing. Whoops!
After exploring her surroundings, Kayla then slides herself back into the water with great ease, and immediately responded to her trainer’s call to stage. The video shows no signs of aggression.
While this slide out from 1995 is an undesirable behavior for both the animal and the nearby spectators, it was apparently fueled by simple curiosity. This was a far cry from the terrifying act of desperate aggression that the Dodo claimed it to be.
PETA and The Dodo will do what they do best and take this video out of context, filling it up with hashtags, scary music, click bait buzzwords, and other emotionally-charged tricks to turn it into a horror film.
IFLS has lost any scientific credibility by regurgitating information manufactured by The Dodo.
In lieu of the typical mindless followings of people and their hashtags, we’ve seen a different turn on this particular post. Hundreds of people looking for accurate scientific criticism are actively calling out IFLS for their lack of evidence and citations. As people learn the truth about SeaWorld and other Marine Parks, it has become harder for activists to regurgitate misguided click bait to drive their agenda.
We would like to now extend an open invitation to the editorial staff at I F’ing Love Science. If they wish to have a real animal scientist to help them explain the video, we would be happy to put them in contact with a few scientists and animal professionals who could provide true science based information to their readers!
If they decline to actually speak to scientists, they should just rename themselves I F’ing Love Page Views, since that seems to be their priority over providing actual scientific information.
