A first-hand account of the lives of captive killer whales by one of the most experienced orca trainers to emerge from SeaWorld. For over two decades, he worked with 20 different whales on two continents, building intense relationships with them. As his understanding of the whales deepened, Hargrove came to doubt that their needs could ever be met in captivity. And after the deaths of two trainers, he was certain that SeaWorld's wildly popular programs were both detrimental to the whales and increasingly dangerous for trainers. Since leaving SeaWorld, Hargrove starred in the award-winning documentary Blackfish. The enormous success of the film, and the advocacy movement in which Hargrove is involved, has caused an outcry. His book explores the dark corners of orca captivity, giving a heartbreaking account of the psychological and physical damage caused by captivity--and contrasting it with orcas' lives in the wild. His 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. --Adapted from dust jacket.