[tranquil music playing]
[phil demers] when I was initially called a whistleblower,
It was by an investigative journalist who said, "you'll be a whistleblower."
[soft music playing]
Whistleblower, I blew whistles for years at marineland,
But it was, uh... It was to tel the dolphins to come back to the stage and get their fis.
[soft music playing]
[cheering]
I don't do speeches, so I was... I was born a rambling man.
There's a walrus back there.
Her name is smooshi and I gotta get her out of there.
[tranquil music playing]
[bell dings]
[woman 1] ♪ story goes ♪
♪ friendship cove ♪
♪ everyone loves marineland ♪
♪ you'll be spinning, diving and soaring high ♪
♪ our roller coaster ride will fly you to the sky ♪
♪ now you know what you'll say when you leave here today ♪
♪ everyone loves marineland ♪
Yeah, the words have changed except for the tagline at the end.
♪ and the sea lions do this and the whales do that ♪
♪ everyone loves marineland ♪
Even when we were kids that song came on and you were so excited, you know,
"oh, I get to go to marineland."
♪ watching the whales and dolphins play ♪
It's there all the time and I'm still singing the song.
♪ everyone loves marineland ♪
One of the things that made niagara falls more popular
And brought in more families with young children, especially,
Was the opening of marineland in 1961.
[man 1] pick up your free children's passes to marineland and game farm.
The marineland and game farm is open all day, every day
And features a thrilling underwater show starring jeff the seal, trained dolphin,
And an underwater valley.
[water splashes]
[soft music playing]
[phil] I started my job at marineland on, uh, March 11th of the year 2000.
So I was 22-year-old kid.
They had decided that, "hey, let's put phil in the show.
Let's... Let's have him swim with an orca."
And so they called me, they said, "okay, you want to come up front?"
I'm like, "for what?"
They're like, "we'll let... We'll let you know when you get here."
Okay, so I show up, they're like, "put a wetsuit on."
You know, I had no training.
I'd... I'd... I'd all but touched an orca and fed him at this point,
But, yeah, they put me in the water, no experience whatsoever,
I was making 6 dollars and 85 cents an hour
And I was swimming with killer whales, you know, mere months after starting my job.
[tranquil music playing]
[doug draper] I sat down with john in his park one sunny afternoon for an interview.
He looked like a guy that was going around
Just checking to make sure the washroom facilities were working properly.
This is the owner of this tourist empire?
See, he loved walt disney and he would say, "well, disney does it like this."
And john wanted that degree of sophistication and I think he was envious.
[phil] he's an older man, wise, successful,
He felt a bit fatherly and so we had some really powerful interactions.
[doug] he was from slovenia.
He told me that in his younger years while he was still there,
He cut his teeth, uh, training circus animals.
This was his culture.
[upbeat music playing]
[dan long] it was the biggest game in town back then.
On a busy weekend, we would do five-six shows maybe, several thousand people a show.
It's 23.66.
24, 25, 30 and 40 dollars.
[ted salci] marineland was the first of its kind
To hire as many people as it does every year.
I believe about 800 people a year.
Very, very strong commitment to the public in niagara for... For jobs.
And more than half of the hotel rooms are filled in this area because of this attraction.
[man 2] it's been a very special week for us here in marineland,
A week of special thrills and a week of special happiness.
[phil] I got to work with orcas and dolphins and seals and sea lions,
But then there was this low rumbling rumor that we might be getting a walrus
And I'll never forget it because I remember saying, "well, where would we put it?
Like, we don't have a walrus thing."
A couple of days later, we show up to work and there's a baby walrus.
[soft music playing]
"look, she keeps smooshing against me. Look at this.
What do you call this, smooshing?
But she keeps... Look, smooshing."
Uh, her name just became smooshi.
We were undergoing a procedure where we were trying to get blood work done.
So the procedure is that you put the net on the walruses
And then you wrestle them down and then a vet draws the blood.
Smooshi was barking and she's climbing the trainers,
So I sought to move her away from the scene.
All I did was, I'm tapping her... I'm tapping her to get her attention
While she's trying to smash everybody and she looked up at me
And I put my hands in front of her face and she took this big breath
And her nostrils went big and wide and her eyes got big and at that exact moment,
Unbeknownst to me, I don't know this, yet, but I've imprinted on her.
It was this and that was the exact moment, no question,
The window was this big, it happened.
And, in that moment, I became her mom.
Hey, smoosh.
Pretty snow hats. Look at your snow hat, huh?
Look at your snow hat. Look at your snow hat.
That's good.
Hey, walrus, what are you doing? What are you doing, huh?
What are you doing? Okay, that's a good girl.
She was like, uh, just the sweetest and most perfect little...
I guess best described as ball of innocence.
She was... She could just...
And it's not because she's the apple of my eye that she could do no wrong,
It wasn't like that, it was like... She was... She was a brat.
I have more questions and answers about this.
This is really a phenomenon and there is something called imprinting in animals
When baby animals bond to their mothers
And it's conceivable she thinks of phil as her mother.
[inaudible].
[phil] I mean, our hands are full suddenly. We're walrusland.
Look. Look at buttercup.
Sonja, zeus and apollo, smooshi and buttercup.
When it was established that I was the walrus whisperer,
It was because I could physically have four or five walruses in front of me
And I could say, "let's go!"
[cheering]
A woman by the name of elizabeth shearer,
She was looking for any type of cute story she could run on a valentine's day article
In the toronto star.
And so in 2007 that first article ran and thereafter
It just became this ever-growing momentum-building thing.
It progressed to a different live morning radio interviews
And then, eventually, uh, it would be a story in cbc's the national
And then, eventually, it would even get to jimmy kimmel, like late night talk show.
This is a heartwarming tale of...
And it's a kind of bond that cn develop between animals and people.
For three years, this trainer at marineland in ontario
Has been working with a walrus named--
Smooshi is a walrus who lives at niagara falls, marineland.
He is at the center of a love triangle between his girlfriend, and a walrus.
[man 3] a 900-pound female walrus chases a woman away from her handsome, male handle.
You love me, moosh? Do you, yeah? Give me a kiss.
[soft music playing]
Christine was a trainer at marineland for as long as I was.
She started a few months before me.
She was kiska's primary trainer.
One of the first persons that I crossed paths with was christine.
Uh, we were at a doorway in, uh, in the trainer's room and, uh, she had purple hair.
And, you know, she's one of the first people that said hi to me
And if I'm not mistaken, one of the first things she said was like,
"oh, what kind of music do you listen to?"
-I always liked christine. -Yes, it's true.
[phil] I always joked around every time she came around--
You have to tell the stories.
[phil] I would tell people... Like, if anyone come around, like she... She...
I worked at the front in the stadium where you do the show.
She was... Her focus was with the killer whales at the back.
And you always flirted with me.
[phil] I would flirt with christine. So what I would do is anyone would show up--
-Only me. -[phil] in the front, they were coming
To pick up our garbage or something, I'd say, "oh, where's christine?"
They'd be like, "oh, she's at the back." I'd be like, "tell her I said hi."
Yeah, and that's what everyone says to me when they come see me,
"oh, by the way, phil said hi."
-[phil] yeah, I'd do that a lot. -Always.
Do you remember what you used to say?
"oh, hey. Oh, hi crids."
Oh, wait, no you didn't call me crids yet.
"oh, hi christine." and then you would flip your whistle.
[phil] yeah, well, that's my [inaudible].
I'm getting tears in my eyes. It's so funny.
-[phil] we ran the show at marineland. -It's true.
[phil] oh, yeah.
-Are you recording me? -[man 4] yeah, because it says recording at the top.
That's right. Now push it again and see if it stops.
You know, over time you become good at what you do.
You enjoy the company of others and the place becomes like a family-like environment.
You know, I loved them all. We really were a tight-knit group.
It was a... Quite a perfect fit for me, the job.
[whistling]
[orca calls]
Johnny, john holer's son who was a good friend of mine, he had a good heart, good sense.
Johnny liked me because, uh, I was someone he could smoke cigarettes and swear around.
If I needed something it was a waste to go to john. I would just go to johnny.
Johnny would get into trouble a lot of times for me, specifically for me.
[suspenseful music playing]
[doug] the only thing that we're reading in the local media
Were stories about the birth of another baby whale.
They were getting that kind of coverage.
I took a look in our own files of the st. Catharines standard,
There was one story that struck me,
About one particular whale, uh, at marineland.
The headline was
"baby jane upset injures herself."
I mean a picture tells a huge story and that one did for me.
When I... I look back on who was protesting out there and who was doing it first, nafa.
That's niagara action for animals, and it was always catherine ens
Who was the leader of that organization in the late 1980s.
I'm an anti-speciesist. I guess that's the best way to describe it.
I would like to see animals stop being exploited,
Stop being used, um, for anything.
I would like to see no more marine mammals in captivity, period.
That's... That's the bottom line.
[phil] I didn't like the idea that these guys are telling me what I'm doing wrong
And they didn't even know the half of it.
I'm just like, "you guys got nothing." that's the best part.
Like, they were saying, "these animals just shouldn't be in captivity."
It's like okay, well, that's an easy one.
You've got, uh, 20,000 people on this side of the fence paying 50 dollars a head
Saying that they should be in captivity and you got 12 people saying no.
[indistinct chatter]
[man 5] activists fought with police today at marineland
During a demonstration to protest whale and dolphin captivity.
American activist ben white was defiant till the end.
You don't go to marineland, please. Think about what you're doing.
We have the best record of all the parks, marine parks,
In north america as far as keeping these animals alive.
[dan] I was quite a number of years distant from marineland at that time
And, in my mind, I had become anti-captivity.
I spoke to captivity in general. I didn't slam marineland.
I knew guys that worked there still
And... And they were doing the best they could with what they had
And that's when the problem started with john holer.
I had to work at marineland in my capacity with the hydro
Which is what I was doing at that time.
So we had to go on the property and do a job
And I was talking to a couple of guys I used to work with.
And one of the guys said, "oh, well, if john sees you, he's going to go crazy."
And sure enough, john showed up and veins bulging out of his... Of his forehead,
He... He threatened to put a bullet in my brain.
"if I see you on this property again."
One of the very first times we were, uh, leafleting at the, um, entrance gate,
He came out and there were three of us there and he said words to the effect that
He had a gun in the back of his truck and that he would use it.
And he was very angry.
In fact, I thought he might be on the verge of like suffering some kind of heart attack.
Like, his face just went completely beet red.
This is the closest I've ever been to evil in my life, like, literally.
[man 6] come on, he's just doing his job, man.
You're lucky you don't have a knife. I'm lucky you don't have a knife.
-So you would stab me if you had a knife? -That's right.
-Wow. -Yeah, right here.
-Oh, you'd kill me right here? -Oh, I would bury you right here.
You would bury me right here?
-You wouldn't even bother to put me in the mass graves. -No.
[doug] he was so proud of what he had done
And he had received so much positive reinforcement for it in the community--
Sir, you want a leaflet? All right, have a nice day.
See, john, all we're doing is asking. People don't have to take it.
We don't need to take it. You're nothing, but uh, uh, uh--
-A whale. A whale. -An idiot. An idiot.
[doug] he just didn't get why there were now people coming out
And saying, "no, this isn't right."
He's starting to get a little furious here.
[tranquil music playing]
Once upon a time marineland had... Had a lot of power and control.
The city worked in hand with what marineland wanted.
[man 7] john holer has a... A large portion of the land
Between niagara falls and the village of chippawa,
Probably about a thousand acres.
[man 8] you know when you're called the king of niagara,
You start to think you're a king of sorts, of a place.
[naomi rose] there is a breed of person, man... There's a breed of man,
Egomaniacal, narcissistic.
They have a tendency to run safari wildlife parks and dolphinariums.
There's a guy in the canary islands who's like that.
There's a guy in the dominican republic who's like that.
And there was john holer who was the king of all of them
In terms of that hoarding tendency.
[waves crashing]
[phil] normally, you don't know the backstory of how an animal comes into possession.
You don't know that much about them.
Smooshi spent some time at a russian facility.
It's widely accepted that what happens, uh, is these captors will storm a beach
Which will cause a panic.
And in all that, there's a corralling of the calves
And there are several scenarios where the mother is slaughtered and the baby abducted.
[blows]
[soft music playing]
[indistinct chatter]
They're put in these quite small wooden boxes
And they're... They're merely taken off a cargo plane in, uh, at the airport
And then driven to marineland where they're unloaded.
Uh, all of which happens overnight when nobody except for the select few people know.
Every couple of hours, you show up with a warm bottle and hope she eats
And, eventually, you have fish in this hand.
So you're going, bottle, bottle, bottle, fish.
Try it... You want to try it? No. Okay, bottle, bottle, bottle, fish.
You want to try it? Oh, fish. Oh, good. Bottle, bottle.
The next job for the next few months is get them on fish.
Get them off the bottle and on fish.
All training is based on food deprivation, all of it.
If a trainer or anybody in this... In the industry has said to you, "we don't do that.
We reinforce positive behavior. We, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah..."
Whatever which way that they try to define what it is that they do,
They've convinced themselves of they're not lying.
[seal calls]
The animals live behind these bars on this very short,
Maybe six, seven-foot platform
Into these very shallow and small pools.
That's their existence 24/7 unless they're performing.
The only reason an animal would be taken out
Would be either for training, uh, medical purposes, or to perform.
And whether it's born in captivity or not,
It carries the weight and stress of... Of that trauma
Of being out of its element, every single day.
That's abuse. That's an abused animal.
[soft music playing]
There comes a point where suddenly you used to make sense of things you can't no more,
The excuses are gone.
I know that the animals at marineland are medicated
Because I was the one giving them the drugs.
Take a fish, you break the membrane, take your pills and you stuff them in.
Obviously, you get into valium
And we tried various forms of actual like human antidepressants.
[soft music playing]
In September of 2011, there was a, uh, breakdown in the water disinfection unit,
The ozone generator broke, uh, which meant
We now had to rely on the increased use of chlorine.
[soft music playing]
Sea lions had to get taken out of the water, isolated in dry environments for months on end.
Well, their skin was just falling off, their skin was bleeding,
It was dry, it was crusty, they were in their own filth.
We couldn't clean, uh, their little stations adequately enough.
They were writhing in pain. We couldn't get enough meds to them.
Well, smooshi was not immune to the effects of the water.
She had chemical burns. So much of her fur was coming off.
Her rear flippers were really red and inflamed.
You bring the vet down, you're like, "just look at her."
"oh, oh, yeah, ee-uh. That's chemical burn.
Ah, ooh. Okay, better get some antibiotics." you're like, "oh, wait a second.
Shouldn't we be getting the chlorine out of the water?"
What do you mean antibiotics? Shouldn't we be dumping this water?
We lose our mind about it. We call the owner, "get in here and address this."
"okay, I'm going to." the next day you show up it's even worse.
I sat down next to my supervisor at the time and said, "how the hell can we continue like this?"
And he said, "you know what I like about you, phil?
The more shit we throw at you, the more you keep coming back."
I fucking pulled out my phone, I texted the vet. "I just fucking quit."
"no, you did not." "yes, I did."
She e-mails the cfo, says, "no. You cannot let phil quit."
She says smooshi needs him, echo needs him." she lists animals.
"phil is the best. Do not let him go."
On my very last day as I am literally packing everything up,
John decided finally it's time to dump that water.
I don't know that he was doing it otherwise.
Prior to my leaving, I insisted that I have a meeting with cfo, tracy and john
And, uh, I stressed to them, um, that given my relationship with smooshi,
It's in their best interest, of course, and they acknowledged,
Uh, that I remain, uh, available to them.
My understanding was firm, "come back any time."
So in accordance to our agreement,
I showed up to marineland, but they weren't letting me in.
Well, it just so happened as... As a one of those odd,
Perfect scenarios to unfold,
Uh, johnny suddenly appears and he puts his arm around me and says, "so, what's going on?"
I said, "they're not... They're not letting me in the park."
He says, "you're like family here, phil. Of course, you're getting in the park."
[soft music playing]
And I walk right back to smooshi and, ah, she's in rough shape.
[calls]
And so I decided to speak.
That was the choice.
Walk away, move on, get a job doing whatever
And look the other way, or save smooshi.
[gloomy music playing]
That is the incident that changed everything.
[soft music playing]
[woman 2] former staff members are leveling some shocking allegations
Of animal neglect against the popular niagara falls theme park, marineland.
[phil] over the course of my tenure at marineland, I was witness to things
That people would never imagine a place like marineland to be capable of.
I heard what phil was saying and I could back up everything phil was saying was the truth.
I was seeing animals suffering on a daily basis there when I left.
The basic example I always give is the, quote, unquote, "beluga rodeo."
There's like 10-12 belugas in a pool, they drop the water down to knee level
And then all the trainers run in and jump on top of a beluga to restrain it.
[glen owen] one of the beluga whales, peanut, was not taking well to the scenario
And, uh, she started freaking out.
And, um, started thrashing her tail against the ground.
And then the vet will come in and give it an injection.
While it's happening, peanut is, uh, gushing out blood.
The water will turn red.
At which point, chunks are coming off her tail
And through it all we are getting covered in blood.
While all this is happening, the head vet who was looking over the procedure,
Shouted up to john, who was up above to call it off.
We're not doing this anymore. And john said, "no, keep going."
So we did, right?
You find out other things like seaworld has them trained
To just come in and present their tail without any need for restraint or anything
And the vet can just inject them and they swim away,
But at marineland being the wild, wild west that it was that was how we had to do it.
[man 9] now we have asked marineland and its owner to come on today's show
And tell their side of the story.
They replied that there is, "no other side to this story.
There is no story."
[upbeat music playing]
Four or five dolphins passed away when I was there.
A walrus passed away when I was there, lots of belugas passed away when I worked there.
[man 10] where do marineland's animals go when they die?
A published report says, thousands of bodies from deer to whales are buried
In mass graves here, on the park property.
[angel] kandu, nootka, athena and hudson are all killer whales that passed away.
It was shocking, like, you just don't think that they'd die, especially the young ones.
[man 10] in response, marineland's head veterinarian gave global news a tour
Of their facilities insisting the animals there are well taken care of.
That was really the first inside look that the public got
On what someone's perception of the inside was.
[doug] they turned a local story into a national, if not international, news story.
You go from the niagara action for animals people doing their protest,
Where there'd be maybe 50 of them to the whole front of the park being full.
[applauding]
Uh, there's a walrus back there. Her name is smooshi.
She's the one that I think about...
And I gotta get her out of there.
[catherine] at that time there was no fence around the perimeter of the parking lot.
There was a lot of energy that day.
People just got carried away in the moment.
Shut it down! Shut it down! Shut it down!
[woman 3] hundreds of protesters plowed their way through the gates
Chasing down marineland owner john holer who was behind the wheel of that gray truck.
[all] arrest, arrest, arrest john holer!
Arrest, arrest, arrest john holer!
-Arrest, arrest-- -leave the property now please.
[all] shut it down! Shut it down! Shut it down!
-Shut it down! -It's a bit of a shock, but in a way that you think,
"yes, animal liberation is around the corner."
[soft music playing]
If by virtue of perfect timing johnny doesn't see me rejected at the gate
And personally escort me into the park that day,
I don't see smooshi in the condition she's in.
[all] shut it down! Shut it down!
None of this happens.
[soft music playing]
And, uh, I think johnny was made to feel the guilt for that.
[indistinct chatter]
I had the greatest hope for a change with john jr.
Uh, I know he had his issues,
But he was always getting a... A stonewall from his father
And one of the saddest things I ever heard was the day that I heard he had passed away.
It was a... It was a loss for the... For marineland.
[phil] I remember the last message johnny sent me.
He said, "I got in a lot of trouble for letting you into the park.
Come visit me."
And I didn't reply to the message, and so it would prove to be our last words.
[soft music playing]
Eventually, there would be an excess of 15 whistleblowers speaking out
[tranquil music playing]
And that's when marineland had decided they'd had enough
And they were going to start suing people in an effort to try to stop the bleeding.
They had to make people scared to speak.
[tranquil music playing]
Yeah, heh, it's still insane, every time I see that.
In February of 2013, phil was sued for 1.5 million dollars by marineland.
[tense music playing]
Mr. Demers and others agreed on or about October 7, 2012,
To unlawfully gain entry into marineland in order to steal smooshi the walrus.
[upbeat music playing]
Phil's case is one where he's been sued and accused of,
Essentially trespassing on marineland's property
And interfering with the economic relations
Between marineland and its customers.
And this all seems to be drawn from a particular protest in October of 2012
That they took issue with and they say that... That phil was trespassing on that day.
Phil disagrees with that and denies it,
But, um, it's not a particularly complicated set of facts to get to the bottom of.
[phil] I come from a place called welland, ontario, and I'm frenchman.
I mean, it's probably another thing to stress,
But I don't know any other way to deal with things other than sort of fight it out.
I'm weaponizing marineland's intent to ruin my life.
I took the sword, I put my hands on it as they tried to do this, too... I cut myself, right?
I pulled it from them, turned it around. [zaps]
[joe rogan] what's the correct pronunciation of your last name demers?
-[phil] demers. -[joe] demers.
[phil] demers works.
You're known as the walrus whisperer.
That's you... Your handle on twitter.
[phil] a person like me can launch a crowd-sourcing campaign
And raise monies to fight this lawsuit.
I have a lot of supporters, an army almost.
[upbeat music playing]
[joe rogan] I think you opened up a lot of people's eyes to it.
I got a lot of tweets from people, um, and facebook messages
That said they would never go to marineland again.
[upbeat music playing]
[phil] basically, they want to take away my right to, uh, free expression
-And they have my walrus. -[joe rogan] and they have your walrus.
[phil] that's their bargaining chip. That's what they got.
Marineland will threaten to sue you if you talk to me or if you publish my words.
It's libel chill. It's a strategy.
[dan] what have you gotten me into, phil?
Phil lives just across the river behind me.
[phil] get a lawyer.
[laughs]
He said, "get a lawyer." it's not what I want to hear.
[upbeat music playing]
[carolynn] I think it's very hard to go up against the goliath.
I hate to see somebody ruined over their beliefs.
[water gushing]
[soft music playing]
[phil] I couldn't be convinced that marineland would be without consequence.
[crickets chirping]
[soft music playing]
[tranquil music playing]
It's funny because marineland alleges that I plotted to steal a walrus
Which cannot be further from the truth, of course,
But we did steal this cat, mama, from marineland because she...
Because she was really, really, really old.
Lived exclusively outdoors and we just knew that she would not live another winter out there.
I guess you call it stealing, but I would prefer to say we rescued her.
But now she's a loving kitty who loves the snugglies.
And she... I mean it sounds nuts, but she sort of filled this void that I have now
In being separated from smooshi.
It's okay, mama. There you go, my mama, okay.
[scraping]
The niagara region is a really economically depressed place.
I mean, aside from tourism, um, you know,
It's still trying to figure out its place in the world.
[tapping]
Since leaving marineland, it's been bounce job to job, do whatever you got to do
Just to make sure that you don't go bankrupt because really,
Bankruptcy to me doesn't just mean like financial ruin,
It... It means taking away my voice.
[whirring]
[powers down]
I hate to admit that in a lot of ways but I do like to fight.
I don't go looking for fights but fights have always found a way to find me.
Even as a child, especially, being a very small child.
Forget the fact that I was always bullied or constantly bullied,
But I was also the idiot that would stick up to bullies for others
And I lost teeth because of it.
Part of what I do now is I share videos that people send to me that they take inside the park.
[woman 4] jesus christ!
[phil] in the case of zeus, pictures and videos,
On occasion they go viral and we bring a lot of attention to, uh, the animals.
He's very skinny. He's... He's obviously lethargic.
You see his air sac is protruding from his chest and he's got these wrinkles,
You could see his ribs and behind his shoulder blades.
And, you know, we've been crying foul since 2012 about zeus. This is not new.
This animal needs rescuing or it's going to die.
[soft music playing]
Bibeau, I've known since probably four years old, like maybe four.
-I guess. -Did you go to--
[foreign language]
When you guys came to my school, I was already at vanier and then you guys came.
-Transferred over. -Yeah, I was... I was at vanier, too.
-Yeah. That's right. -I was with you the whole time.
I worked at marineland for one summer as a surveyor and I did that for about three months.
I don't know it was very depressing seeing the... The whales in the tanks and stuff.
That's why I quit.
[phil] shit the fuck out of here. Get this guy out of here, right now.
[laughing]
[grill sizzling]
Three more minutos.
[foreign language]
On account of the fact that I am a voice for animals,
I get, uh, grief on account that I don't... That I'm not a vegan
And that I don't live the vegan lifestyle.
And I hate it. It's the topic that I hate the most
Because, uh, I am guilty of eating and enjoying meat.
Would you become a vegan for like 10,000 more followers or something?
You know, I... I'm the... I'll be the first guy in line to try the synthetic steak
And if it hits the nail...
There's something about eating steak
That makes me feel really, really good.
[man 11] and they say you're a hypocrite, I guess?
[phil] yes. And I am.
There's hypocrisy in it. I'm comfortable in that.
[man 11] see, the truth will set you free.
[men laughing]
[traffic noises]
[woman 5] leaning against that with signs, obviously, they've taped it off.
Yeah, we had it taped last year as well.
-It was a little closer to the fence last year but-- -[woman 6] okay.
[woman 5] it was too close, people were still touching the fence.
Now this is my natural habitat. [laughs]
[woman 7] hey, marineland, what do you say?
How many animals die today?
Walrus, supporting a good cause.
[car horn honks]
[women screaming]
[woman 8] so we're like fourth generations at this protest, which is very sad.
Um, our grandmother used to do it, then my mom, now myself and my son.
[car horn honking]
-That's so cute. He just went and kissed the whale. -Yeah.
[man 12] they're gonna laugh. I'm telling you.
Initially, when he first came on the scene we were all excited about it, but then I went vegan.
Phil still consumes animals.
-Where am I looking? -[woman 9] over there.
And I would really like to see him evolve beyond that.
-Oh, beautiful. -Awesome. Thank you.
-Thank you, my pleasure, guys. -[woman 10] do you want one with them in the back?
[all] there's no excuse for animal abuse!
[girl] animals die here.
You see the old man here? He's around.
Good to see you, man.
Thank you for everything.
-Thanks for exposing everything. -Thanks for coming.
-It's so important. It's amazing. -Thanks so much for being here.
[woman 11] free the [inaudible]!
[woman 12] free! Free the whales!
-[woman 13] [inaudible]. -Hey!
[carolynn] I think the relationship between phil demers and john holer is beyond toxic.
It must be hard to have your whole life in one business
To see people shift their attitude on something they loved
To something now that makes them so angry they protest.
[car horn honking]
[soft music playing]
[naomi] any public display facility like marineland,
They didn't try to adapt to the new reality.
They didn't even know there was a new reality.
They lost control of the narrative.
[all] your ticket, you're a cause!
Your money, you're a cause!
Your ticket, you're a cause!
[tranquil music playing]
[wilfred moore] we have to move with the times.
Public opinion has shifted and with this bill,
We have the opportunity to get on the right side of the issue
At the earliest stage.
It is not a local issue, honorable senators, it is a moral issue.
In canada, two facilities keep whales and dolphins in captivity,
Marineland, an amusement park in niagara falls, ontario,
And the vancouver aquarium.
[holly lake] bill s-203 aims to ban the captivity of whales and dolphins and porpoises in canada
And also to ban the import and export and breeding.
[man 13] we have with us this evening here at the table mr. Andrew burns,
Legal counsel to marineland.
[andrew burns] there is no apparent need for this bill.
This bill is about advancing an agenda.
In the early years of this debate, the arguments were largely ethical,
But now we know so much more about them
That we can formulate science-based arguments.
The science is not unanimous. There are differing opinions.
[naomi] they have certain biological and ecological characteristics
That make it very difficult for them to thrive in captivity.
[john nightingale] laws like this one can impact our ability to engage the public
To learn through science and to help nature.
There is no compelling evidence to support the educational value
Of marine mammal displays claimed by aquariums and marine parks.
These are extremely acoustic animals. That is how they sense their world and communicate.
Concrete tanks are debilitating echo chambers.
Here in canada I've observed cetaceans with self-mutilation behavior, wounds, scars
And damage to their teeth.
Kiska has birthed five calves at marineland and all five are now dead.
It's perceived harm.
There is no inherent harm to this animal, no matter what you've heard,
An animal is not suffering and I can tell you our animals are happy.
Uh, mr. Burns, marineland has been the subject of a toronto star exposé
And multiple investigations.
Can you tell us what happened and what the outcome were of those investigations?
When those allegations were made, uh, marineland was subject immediately
To a thorough investigation that no agency
Under the criminal code or the ospca act
Believed it had reasonable or probable grounds that a marine mammal at marineland
Was or is being abused.
-Mr. Demers. -[phil] [foreign language]
Since speaking of my experiences at marineland,
I myself have become the target of relentless attacks.
In an effort to stifle public debate, marineland launched nearly a dozen slapp lawsuits
Of which I am the recipient of a most peculiar one,
As they allege I plotted to steal smooshi the walrus.
This guy was doing it day to day.
He lived it, so he was like our leading main witness
In terms of having been there and validated what we were putting into words
In terms of legislation and the need for it.
You, sir, admitted under oath, to personally consuming controlled drugs
Meant for marine mammals at marineland.
You, sir, wished marineland well when you, uh, in your letter of resignation,
After pitching to them the walrus... Walrus whisperer reality show
That they didn't want to be part of.
Uh, senator plett, again... Once again you're great at... At... At... Uh, at quoting
Marineland's baseless lawsuits verbatim.
-Uh, again-- -[donald] answer the questions please, sir.
-This is not about-- -oh, I'd like to. You gave me a comment...
You're the one that's muddying the waters--
[fabian manning] answer. If the questions are opposed,
We'll just ask and answer them and send--
Well, you made a comment... You made comment to me,
So the idea that marineland is, uh, is and... And, again,
They're utilizing you to attack me personally, as a means to muddy the water
-Just as their playbook with the illegal lawsuits. -[man 14] chair... Order please.
Nobody is utilizing me. Nobody is utilizing me.
We are independent. Senator, we are independent senators.
He's saying... He's saying somebody is utilizing me.
[fabian manning] order! Okay. Order, order!
I understand this is an emotional issue on our sides,
Uh, but we need to get to the point.
Uh, my name is john holer.
I've been starting my business way back in 1961
With 2,000 dollars in my pocket with the big idea
And I am hoping that I would be able to
Complete the part
And that was going to make it, uh, a definitely an outstanding...
Outstanding facility in anywhere in the world.
[donald] mr. Holer, uh, pleasure to see you again,
You're looking well and the last time we talked,
You said you wanted to be in this business till you were 90 years old,
And, uh, so, certainly looking forward to visiting you on your 90th birthday at marineland.
I mean, for me one of the really big issues here
Is how did marineland get the conservative senators in captivity?
[woman 14] senator don plett, to name one,
Who has been consistently, in his twitter and facebook feeds,
Talking about how great marineland is and how much he loves marineland.
Uh, I also filed a complaint with the lobbying commissioner,
Because it's pretty clear that marineland that hasn't registered itself as a lobbyist
Has been lobbying pretty effectively.
[tranquil music playing]
[man 15] here comes john holer.
[phil] I mean, he even sought to intimidate us by driving by our house and stalking us on.
John holer's most effective at silencing those without a voice.
Let's see. Oh, there's a siren on here, too.
[phil] don't push it.
[man 16] did you find out you got sued in the newspapers
Or did you actually physically get served?
[phil] oh, no. We found out in the newspapers
-Because I had to call you and tell you-- -you told me... At work...
-I was at work. -[phil] yeah, so the intention of marineland
In... In suing all of us, really, was to try to hijack the headlines.
Ultimately, christine's lawsuit had to be settled.
She had to be silenced.
Oh, they've just, uh... They just... Marineland just issued a blog.
"what's really happening at marineland?" it's entitled.
They just released it.
"radical animal rights activists have relentlessly and viciously
Attacked marineland on social media year after year, bullying and lying about us,
Falsely accusing us of abusing our marine and land animals,
While pocketing donations for their own personal use." really?
"a self-proclaimed activist who relentlessly trolls marineland on the internet
With false allegations of abuse says he will stop...
Says he will stop and go away if he is paid.
We think the public should know what is happening. This is what phil demers has to say."
"I should mention, I do have a price. Marineland should know this.
If they'd like, I'm all ears. Maybe something can be done."
Do they want to know what I mean by that? I don't want money.
I want the fucking walrus.
"a former animal care worker made false allegations of animal abuse related to kiska,
The killer whale, in the toronto star. This is what she admits now.
I'm not a veterinarian and, therefore,
I do not have any personal or expert knowledge of the conditions at marineland
Or in relation to any animals.
-Yours truly, christine santos." -oh, they said my name.
This is the type of thing that really aggravates, gets my blood boiling
Is that they... That they're continuously using an abusive system to further abuse people.
Christine's silence because she couldn't afford to... To continue
To be in this litigation, not because she retracts anything.
She was forced to retract.
I sound like an asshole. I look like an asshole.
I know the vein in my forehead is bulging.
There are people on the right side of history.
There are people in marineland's parking lot. It's as simple as that.
These people have names. I've got a pen.
Marineland's veterinarians, former employees, uh, marineland's owner,
Albeit, this is not a personal vendetta,
I'm not going after him in any capacity that is illegal,
I'm just merely reminding him that he gets away with nothing, nobody does.
You don't endure what I've done for as long as I've done for as many years as I have
With people hiding behind money to try to crush me.
Why is it that only john holer has the opportunity to impose hardships on people?
I'm free to do that as well.
And if definition of imposing hardships on others means defending the vulnerable,
I'll never stop.
Remember I was thinking of putting a picture of the bullhorn?
That's gonna piss them off.
[ren] one of the first things that people will compromise in some lawsuits is, uh, you know,
Their ability to speak freely and it's sort of, you know,
Easy to imagine why because it's cheap.
It doesn't cost you anything to, essentially, to agree to a gag order
But that's something not as attractive to phil.
[phil] I know that marineland's lawyer made promises to insulate john holer.
He wants to launch lawsuits. He wants to impose his will on people.
We've been in litigation now for years and we haven't even gotten to discoveries yet.
I'm countersuing them for defamation and abusive process.
[dramatic music playing]
You... You get a sense of feeling powerless in it really.
From the... The... The piece of this that I'm involved in which is the legal piece,
Like I say, we've got a path forward and I think that the important thing is
To not get distracted by too much of the other elements of the history.
And I know it's hard to do that because it's what you've lived over the last, uh, six years.
We sort of war game out how we think things are going to go and we do a lot of reading,
We do a lot of writing, things we forget about is that the practical difficulty
Of getting through 15 volumes of material.
That's just substantial and so... But it's exciting.
The reality in our system is that 97% of cases settle
Before you ever get to an adjudication of the merits
And, usually, parties can come to some sort of resolution
That may not make everybody happy,
In fact, it probably shouldn't if it's going to be a fair resolution,
But somebody has to give, uh, a little bit in order to have the thing, uh, go away.
My lawyer, in fact, and this is where it gets kind of weird because,
Listen, I don't understand. He's supposed to be representing me.
The answer is no to everything. Fight, fight, fight. I want a trial.
He instead is coming with, "listen, this is not how litigation ends, phil.
Like you don't seem to understand how this ends.
You don't have a grip of how litigation works."
And I'm just, like, I'm glad that I don't because my guess is
I'm representative of about 90% of the population that don't know.
And it's important that we find out.
I was promised a trial because they said I was this, this, this, this, this, this.
Well, let's get to that fucking trial. This is what I've been doing.
This doesn't end with negotiations. I want the trial.
-[man 17] yeah. -I don't understand. Like, what... Why would you sue me
Unless you want the trial?
Oh, because it's a bullshit lawsuit.
Well, then I want the trial because I need to show that.
It's a dirty secret about the legal business, right?
-[phil] that's a-- -that this is a loophole,
This is something people can do to people to silence them
Just to drag them through hell for six years.
[tranquil music playing]
[phone dings]
[tranquil music playing]
[phil] smooshi.
Smooshi.
I'm in here, my moosh. Good girl, moosh. Right here.
What do you want?
[soft music playing]
I would love to get her. It would be insane.
Not get her. I mean, you know, and I'm not going to strap her to my back
And, you know, go over the falls and... And... And, you know,
Hope to land in some arctic, uh, estuary somewhere or whatever.
Okay, mama, here's your shower.
Oh, my goodness! Look at this.
Oh, raindrops, raindrops for mama. Oh, that's a happy mama.
[soft music playing]
-[woman 15] didn't one or two walruses pass? -[phil] sonja passed away.
[woman 16] yeah. Was there a buttercup ever?
-[phil] buttercup's dead? -[woman 16] there's no buttercup.
-[phil] serious? -[woman 16] yeah, was buttercup a walrus?
-[phil] yes. -[woman 16] no, she's not there.
-[phil] she's dead? -[woman 16] yeah, there's three.
There's smooshi, apollo and zeus.
-Oh, my god! -[woman 16] that's it.
There's five sea lions, five dolphins, the two belugas.
[phil] that was smooshi's best friend.
[phil] fuck them!
[woman 16] yeah, she's... Yeah, just the three. Apollo, smooshi, and zeus.
[phil] every single time I leave my home, I have one of two choices...
To pass by marineland or not.
That's how close I live to marineland.
I guess, if I'm going back in time or back to where I grew up,
It's this way or any other way I have to physically face marineland.
It's hardest when I drive by the facility and I can point to exactly where she is staying,
You know, she's 30 meters inside that wall.
[soft music playing]
It's a very small town.
On occasion, I will drive by john holer's home to see,
You know, whether or not he's, uh, out and about.
Someone had to keep him accountable.
You know, he was... He was avoiding my lawsuit.
There's a reason he hid, so I would go look for him.
I don't believe it and I'm stil waiting to find out that it's not true.
And if it is true, not processing.
The light is on but I've been in that bedroom, top right of the house, that's his bedroom.
He's in there. He's dead. He's in a bed dead right now.
[tranquil music playing]
Like I saw his park today, he won't... I saw...
Like the flags are at half-mast.
Like, I saw it, but he won't. It's strange.
[sniffles] that's fucked up.
I don't know a lot of people that mourn their abuser, but I do feel loss.
Like I pursued a... Like I pursued a dying man.
Okay, I'm imagining his par... Uh, his family. [sniffles]
I don't think anyone believed he could die.
[sniffles]
[soft music playing]
[church bells ringing]
I don't remember myself without him.
His stubbornness is only matched by the stubbornness of one individual, me.
[chuckles]
Neither my or john being the two assholes in the story,
I guess neither one of us will get...
Will get our just, uh... Our just due.
[woman 17] john holer founded marineland in 1961.
Then called marine wonderland, it was an amusement park and zo
Featuring both land and marine animals.
It's a hobby.
[laughs]
I enjoy it.
[phil] the last time I saw him was at the... Was at the demo.
He was, uh, driving by licking ice cream or something.
He leaves behind his wife, um, his adopted son,
Uh, two grandkids,
And as well a... Already, uh, deceased son.
I don't doubt for a second that john blames me for johnny's death, not for a second.
I guess, if I was challenged as to whether or not
I would take back that moment to... To spare johnny's life,
Like, I don't know that it would have.
I can't say that it would have, but I can with a surety say that it saved smooshi's,
So, no, I don't feel no guilt.
When john holer passed, we all joked about...
John was trying to figure out how he was going to take marineland with him.
And uh, of course, his wife now is left as a survivor
And as the ceo, she's continuing on the legacy.
[phil] I've known john now for the better part of 20 years.
For the last six years, I've been looking over my shoulder
With a great deal of anxiety
And now I'm finding an entirely new sort of perspective to, uh... To absorb.
And, yet, here I am feeling a strange sense of loss
And really more than anything, sympathy for the family
Who, uh, obviously, have some difficult decisions to make moving forward.
[woman 18] for sure. Well, thank you, phillip, for your time. I appreciate it.
Thank you, my pleasure.
[soft music playing]
I wish that marie holer and I could have a meeting of sorts
Because I think all these hostilities are unnecessary
And she's getting a misrepresented version of what I want and what I've been doing.
[splashing]
[indistinct chatter]
What this bill would do... If this bill passed what it would do to marineland--
In our view, it would, uh, essentially destroy marineland's future.
[phil] we've been chasing this bill now for three years.
It's been hurdle after hurdle after hurdle after hurdle after hurdle.
This may be the finish line.
[woman 19] other business. [foreign language].
Senate public bill's third reading. [foreign language].
Number one, s-203.
[claps]
[man 18] s-203.
[woman 20] senators, it is time for a vote
For this bill's many thousands and thousands of supporters
In canada and around the world and, most importantly, for the whales and dolphins.
I now call for a vote on s-203. Thank you.
[clapping]
[man 18] on debate.
Our senators ready for the question on debate? Senator plett.
[senator plett] I met with people on both sides of this issue
And it became very clear to me that this was a battle between activists and scientists.
Colleagues, these are radical activists,
An activist who testified at committee calling himself the marineland whistleblower
Has admitted in court to taking drugs intended for marine mammals
For his own personal consumption.
The credibility of these star witnesses certainly needs to be considered
When we weigh the evidence.
If this flawed legislation is o move forward, I believe it would be irresponsible
And simply wrong to proceed without an exemption for marineland.
[man 18] senators ready for the question. Senator martin.
[woman 21] chairman to the debate.
[man 18] senator smith that further debate be adjourned
Till the next sitting of the senate.
The vote will take place at 8:25. Call in the senators.
What the fuck just happened?
Is this a process where you can still amend the bill?
I thought that we went through this process.
The senate is a bit of... I kind of call it the wild west
Because you can never really tell when things are going to happen,
Um, if they're going to happen, or how they're going to happen.
Uh, I'm still kind of getting my head around how things operate there.
There are rules that have been put in place in the senate
That allow the combined forces of members of the opposition
To be able to delay and use delay tactics to keep a bill from coming to a vote
And to that I... I say that makes no sense.
We could debate this endlessly.
And we end up debating until there's nothing to vote on.
I can't hear shit.
[man 18] all those in favor of the motion, will please say, yay.
-[all] yay! -[man 18] all those oppose, nay.
-[man 19] on division. -[man 20] on division.
[man 18] accordingly, the motion is adopted.
The senate now... Is now adjourned.
Return to the order of the honorable house.
It's utter chaos.
It's absolutely... It's an absolute shit show in there.
It's so surreal and so now just another delay.
They're taking longer to study the bill and fight the bill, uh,
To... To prohibit keeping whales in captivity
Than they did to look at medical assistance in dying.
[birds chirping]
[holly lake] there's been a lot of moving parts as this bill has progressed.
The vancouver aquarium has been involved in its own battles with the park board.
We have a 50-year history of rescuing animals and we don't want it to stop tonight.
[crowd cheering]
[man 21] it's not every day that people turn out to support keeping whales in captivity,
But that's exactly what's happening here.
Science first. Science--
The park board has said, "no, you're not going to be allowed to keep cetaceans there."
The vancouver aquarium was going to challenge that,
But has since, just a short while ago,
Announced that they're no longer going to keep cetaceans in captivity.
So, all of this time and money has now been spent dealing with an issue
That pertains to one facility in canada and that's marineland.
[tranquil music playing]
♪ twelve steps in to your backyard ♪
♪ through tall green grass and into the world ♪
♪ ain't it feel right ♪
♪ ain't it feel nice ♪
♪ in your own backyard ♪
[phil] come on, smooshi.
Come on, my moosh.
[wind gusting]
It's too slick. Yeah.
[tranquil music playing]
What are you doing? What are you doing, my mooshky?
[tranquil music playing]
[christine] okay, I'll try that now.
[grunts]
[phil] she wants to pee.
Come on, ma.
-Is she squatting? -[christine] no, she's--
-[phil] she's complaining. -[christine] she knows something's rushed like, uh...
[phil] poor mama.
-You saw blood in mama's pee? -In the litter box,
Then I saw it in the litter box in the urine.
-Yeah, it was bad. -So we should bring her--
[phil] to the vet, yeah.
I'm waiting for my lawyer to call this morning.
-Hello. -[ren] hello, phil.
Hey, ren. How you doing?
It's such an absurd thing that this corporation was able to buy their way
To be able to put me in this situation. It's insane.
[ren] all right, look, phil, it's the legal system.
So, then our best course of action would be, I guess, to continue.
[ren] you know that's... That's sort of door number one
Because that's sort of what's.. What was the path that we're o.
-[phil] yeah. -[ren] door number two is to continue to
See if there's anything reasonable here to say,
"look, you're not moving out of this for less than a hundred thousand dollars."
And I realize that that's a premium on the costs.
[phil] I'm less inclined to accept, really, any monetary resolution.
Sounds crazy, they know what the fuck I want.
Just move the fucking walrus to another facility
And this thing ends all together.
[ren] would you accept a resolution where there was no money changing hands at all?
-[phil] yes. -[ren] but they move the walrus?
[phil] yes.
[ren] um...
From a financial basis this is going to be very difficult to resolve,
But if they just want to send the walrus over, I'm done. I'm done.
[ren] yeah, okay. Let me... Let me raise that.
Um, all right, phil, I'll... I'll let you know if I have any updates later today
-And we'll talk to you soon, okay? -Okay, thanks, ren.
-[ren] all right, take care. Bye-bye. -Bye. Bye, ren.
When I say I want a walrus, they say, "well, that's crazy talk."
I don't know. I'm excited for the first time in a long time.
The time is now to focus on trying to get smooshi.
This is the window, this is the time. That's it.
[phone rings]
[christine] hello. Hi.
Hundred and eighty dollars for the culture? That's fine.
-It was already 200 bucks? -[christine] basically.
So we're at 400 bucks. We'll be at 400 bucks?
They've already got it on their mind. They're like--
-It's for mama. -[phil] I know, I get it, like--
[wind blowing]
[soft music playing]
[soft, dramatic music playing]
[phil] you go and you give this animal a name like zeus
Because he is meant to be this big majestic powerhouse.
There's two walruses left.
Before this became this big, massive, crazy, like story with lots of eyes on it,
This was me curled up in that room on a bedroom floor
Trying to figure out how it is that I can get the walrus back.
So, suddenly when the proposition of that comes around,
You know, you can't not give it a lot of consideration.
Marineland wants to silence me at any cost
And at this point they're considering silencing me with the walrus
And it's, obviously, very conflicting.
They want to take my twitter account.
I mean, my twitter account is the most valuable asset I have.
One of the concessions marineland would like to impose upon me is that I, uh,
No longer participate in the filming of this documentary.
You know I have to really carefully think about this, but I have to...
I have to look at what life would look like for me
If I couldn't speak of the injustices, and this isn't just about animals anymore.
There's a great deal of injustice going on all around this whole thing.
John holer's in the ground.
We could change this narrative.
[gavel bangs]
[indistinct chatter]
Mr., uh,chair, we offer that s-203 and clause 2 be amended
By replacing line 18 on page 2 with the following:
"everyone commits an offense who knowingly promotes,
Arranges, conducts, assists in."
So we are inserting one word, "knowingly."
[mr. Chair] all those in favor of the proposed amendment. Countermanded.
Amendment is defeated.
Shall the bill carry?
[man 22] on division.
[mr. Chair] okay. And shall the chair report the bill to the house?
[man 23] yes. Yes.
[mr. Chair] all right, thank you.
[phil] holy shit! We won.
[applause]
The bill passed.
[camille] good afternoon, it's camille labchuk here with animal justice.
I'm coming to you live to give you the really good news
That the committee just passed bill s-203 through committee with making zero amendments.
-May I now introduce you-- -oh, what's happening? Is there something going on here?
-Oh, hello. -This is phil demers.
[phil] what does it feel like to win something against all odds?
[woman 22] okay, right here. One, two, three.
-Yay! -Cetaceans, cetaceans.
[all laughing]
[indistinct chatter]
I am very grateful. It's kind of a combination of relief and joy here
Because it's been four and a half years since I started in on this project.
Hats off to everybody. I am still in disbelief, almost speechless, but, uh, thank you.
[serene music playing]
I guess, you know, you're supposed to pack up and go home and be, like, done.
It's just strange. It's strange to have like been involved so heavily in something
And have invested so much in it, to have it be finished like that.
I... So I watched the vote. It happened like this. [snaps fingers]
And I looked around like, "that's it, we're done?" "yeah. We win."
[phone whistles]
No, no, the bill does nothing for smooshi.
It's funny because as soon as the bill passed people are just like, "oh, what, no walruses?"
[chuckles]
When marineland opened this season, unbeknownst to us,
They opened with only one walrus
Because apollo, uh, had passed away.
That makes the fourth walrus to die in... In 24 months, leaving only smooshi now.
She's alone.
[crowd clapping]
[woman 23] ladies and gentlemen, phil demers.
[applause]
I don't have a phd. I'm not a scientist.
I'm not a public speaker, but I'm a fighter.
We're gonna free whales, we gotta free walruses, and seals, and sea lions as well.
[crowd cheering]
[ren over phone] the pressure, the "pressure" that they're trying to apply.
So, it's not like... It's like they're treating it like they have leverage when they don't.
I almost want to tell them just fucking tell these guys, "save the fucking headache.
Give me the fucking walrus and that's it."
No one else is gonna save smooshi, not without me.
This relationship is necessary for the world to see.
It will provide for people greater perspective on the emotional capacity
Of these animals and the... And the hell that they go through.
I'm smooshi's mom.
Everyone talks about reuniting animals to nature
And bringing them back to their natural environment.
What's more natural than reuniting a baby with its mother?
[ominous music playing]
I feel like everything's around the corner from disaster,
Like everything.
I can't smoke enough weed; it's not helping me.
I don't even want to tweet.
Everything feels weirdly done
And then I'll be left to face myself with that.
[gloomy music playing]
I don't... I don't, uh... Given how... How long it's taken to change
What we have changed,
When you start to win on an issue, uh, if it's an important issue to the "government,"
Or to people that make money from it, they'll change the goal posts.
And so you have to fight harder and differently.
[woman 24] one, two, three.
[all] no walls for walruses!
No walls for walruses!
For years, nobody thought about the compassion and empathy of the animals
Until it became an issue of compassion and empathy,
And now that's what kids are being taught.
It doesn't make you a radical,
It just makes you someone who loves animals
And think that they should be able to live their lives under their rules,
Not forced under somebody else's.
[soft music playing]
We just mauled her. We just squished the hell out of her.
[phil] the vet was checking her and stuff.
She was up and then she wanted to lay down
And then they gave her the needle, you know,
There had to be kidney failure into congenital heart failure into...
-I mean, that's what happens when you live forever, right? -[christine] yeah.
The only thing I have left connected to marineland is kiska
Because now that mama's gone, she was a connection.
Mama. Well, we were very lucky to have her.
[serene music playing]
-[christine] sexy! -[phil] yeah.
[laughing]
[serene music playing]
[announcer] smooshi is a female weighing typically between 1,300 and 1,900 pounds
And grew up to 8 feet long.
[phil] I would put my hands on her face. I would let her know it's me.
Like I want to make it subtle that she finds me.
I don't want to find her. I want her to find me.
I want to just be there and I want her to do what she does.
So, she'll check the environment out and I want her to sort of stumble upon me
And I want to just see naturally what that reaction is.
I don't want to solicit a reaction. I want to see what happens.
I just want to blow into her nose because that's how we would communicate.
And if I can do that, if I can just have that face right here and then blow into that nose
And, you know, just to see those eyes glow again.
Oh, my god! Oh, it's impossible.
It's like, uh... It's the impossible.
[serene music playing]
♪ would you rather be more than he things that you say ♪
♪ or just be the words ♪
♪ that you sing to yourself in your head ♪
♪ when nobody's around ♪
♪ or would you rather be a part of the crowd ♪
♪ or just a single sound ♪
♪ waiting to be heard ♪
♪ do you know what I mean? ♪
♪ well, you could be one of the lovers or liars ♪
♪ hiding all the things they do on the back of their hands ♪
♪ well, it's just you and me ♪
[policeman] okay, so the reason I'm here is because, uh, police got a call from marineland,
Uh, expressing some concern.
So there was a twitter message saying, "life is short. Steal a walrus."
[phil] [chuckles] I'm sorry.
["quiet crowd" playing]
[bicycle bell rings]
♪ dear, mr. Quiet who's got so much to say ♪
♪ so much more than all of the sleeping parade ♪
♪ if I could tie up a string ♪
♪ to your mouths and make you scream ♪
♪ all of the things that you keep to your self ♪
♪ I'd love to get to know you better ♪
♪ dear, mr. Quiet ♪
♪ I'd love to get to know you better ♪
♪ when nobody's around ♪
♪ while we're all staring at the end of the world ♪
♪ will everybody have their hands on their head♪
♪ while they say ♪
♪ well, I told you so oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ while everybody's walking their own way ♪
♪ through the quiet crowd ♪
♪ all thinking the same old things ♪
♪ if they only knew ♪