Hargrove was an integral part of the 2013 documentary “Blackfish” and in “Beneath the Surface” he expands upon all of the claims made against SeaWorld in that documentary. These relationships, plus his detailed knowledge of their strained lives in captivity, made the decision to leave SeaWorld even more difficult. Hargrove writes about the incredible relationships he formed with the orcas. In this heart-wrenching, harrowing book, Hargrove describes his journey from a loyal trainer of SeaWorld, who wholeheartedly believed in their mission, to an orca advocate and a whistleblower who exposed the dark truth behind SeaWorld. This incident came only a few months after an orca killed Alexis Martinez, who was a trainer at Loro Parque, a park in Spain affiliated with SeaWorld. These doubts came to a head in 2010 when Dawn Brancheau, a trainer at SeaWorld Orlando, was killed by a whale named Tilikum. As Hargrove’s relationships deepened with the whales, especially with two of SeaWorld’s most dominant whales, Takara and Kasatka, his doubts in SeaWorld’s abilities to care for the whales in captivity also deepened. Once that dream came true, however, it didn’t take long for it to turn into a nightmare. It was his dream as a child to become an orca trainer and he did everything in his power to achieve that goal. Over the course of two decades, John Hargrove spent time with 20 different killer whales kept in captivity at SeaWorld. ANNA VAN SEVEREN | ENTERTAINMENT COLUMNIST
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