Should Shamu return to Twitter?

Is it too soon to bring Shamu's Twitter account back?

That's the question SeaWorld's social media team is struggling with after a trainer was killed during a show by a whale named Tilikum.

Shamu still does shows at the park, but the humorous voice behind the Shamu Twitter account -- which has engaged with fans with jokes, trivia and photos -- hasn't spoken since Feb. 25.

With over 10,000 followers, the Shamu account was a highly successful way for the theme park to get involved with the community and promote the park. Currently, the park is sending all marketing messages from the vanilla-flavored account SeaWorld_Parks.

To SeaWorld's credit, its marketing team worked hard after the tragedy to address the touchy questions and comments thrown upon them on Facebook, Twitter and other sites. Instead of dodging questions about whale captivity, the team would responded to as many people as they could with how they care for the animals and the conservation work they do.

As time passed, the page filled with fans commenting about their love for the park and the whales.

Anne Fischer, the senior manager for lifestyle and digital marketing at SeaWorld, traveled from Orlando to the Florida Atlantic University campus in Davie to discuss this with the audience at last week's Social Media Club South Florida gathering.

She said in hindsight, her team would have done a few things differently. The SeaWorld team had not previously crafted strategy of how to handle a crisis like that.

"We weren't prepared to the degree we should have been,'' Fischer said.

She wished she could have done more, such as being able to understand tools to monitor what was being said on the Web. Or being more on top of deleting the inappropriate photos people were posting on the Facebook page.

She asked the audience if the Shamu Twitter account should be reactivated. After the tragic death of trainer Dawn Brancheau, is it too soon for humor? Or has enough time passed? And if the account reactivates, will it have the same tone?

Audience members had a hard time giving a definite answer. One person said it would be crazy not to use the Shamu account because of how large of a marketing tool it is for the park, but it's too soon to launch it now.

I'm on the side of bringing the account back. It always has been a favorite account of this column; every tweet brought a smile to Niala and I, and the world could use more smiles.

I'd start it back slowly. Give it a calm tone of showcasing cute photos of other animals. And I wouldn't make any cracks about being hungry or trivia about the strength of killer whales.

But that's easy for me to say when I'm not in SeaWorld's shoes.

So what do you think?

Comments

[D V McConnell (@elevenser)]

Shamu should return sooner rather than later.

Rather than any single whale, Shamu is a beloved personality and role. SeaWorld should let the new player filling the Shamu role begin tweeting as any hopeful new staff member would, one who's looking forward to continuing a long tradition. This would require a shift in how the public views Shamu - as a team member rather than a single continuous character, but given the circumstances, the shift seems necessary to moving past the tragic circumstances.

The whale's first tweets can be humble in tone with Twitter serving as a vehicle for expressing the character (and park's) optimism, as well as recounting the long and successful history of Shamu and SeaWorld having entertained thousands of happy vacationers. In this way, the tone is in keeping with the honest and straightforward approach the social media and PR team have taken to date. They've done a terrific job of addressing alll questions and remaining open. It would be a natural transition to let that message also flow through Shamu.

I wish them the best, and am confident that given how they've handled the situation to date, the return will be a respectful and successful one.

[AquaDoll]

Why not just change the name on the account?

I suggest they find an adorable dolphin or a stingray from their petting area to continue their cheeky tweets, and just change the user name on the account. The Stingray tank is one of the most interesting and unique places in their park, too. Shamu is forever tarnished. It would be disrespectful to their dead (and once devoted) employee to continue.

[Des]

Dear Poked Girls,
I happened to oppose completly the return of any Shamu whale to any park of SeaWorld around the world or, any park that exists in the planet. This animals are not meant to be captive. LET SHAMU's FREE!!!. I am amazed this powerful corporation has just shut down all media and nothing happened. The poor animals are still suffering and captive. They do not belong to be in a pool that is like if a human being was for the rest of your life in your bathroon tub. A Shamu in the Miami SeaWorld actualy killed himself bumping repetetively his head (he was a male) against the walls of the pool. This is really SAD. We should protect and RESPECT this endangerous species that are so smart and could possibly be, together with Dolphins, as experts have mentioned the missing link between human beings and the rest of the animal kingdom. Please do not forget we (human beings) are also animals but we seem have lost our connection with the rest of nature. If you want a park you DO NOT need to torture and kill lenghtly but surely the very smart and powerful animals in them. The Zoo's or parks should have a meaningful and purposeful endeavor not just based on profits (money). You can teach childrens to love and respect nature and this wonderful and big SHAMU showning them in movies or going on a boat trip to just observe them. PLEASE REACT PRO_ACTIVELY, open a campaign to FREE the other SHAMUs from the hands of SeaWorld, like "Lolita" in the Miami SeaWorld. Create smart and green jobs instead of mistreating nature, that's what companies like SeaWorld should do. Help the campaign of saving the Dolphins from the masacre in the coast of Japan. There are very many things to do to save the animal planet from destruction by human race.

[dalekal]

yes bring the big guy back twitters a dull place without him,he hasnt got 10,000 followers for nothing

[Des]

When I write SHAMUs a refer to ORCA WHALES

[Samantha]

I think that Shamu should come back--it was a tragic and terrible accident. I think that it will all help us heal--I know that I have MANY pictures of Dawn from the many years that I have been to the park. It was hard to sit in the stadium in March and not see her there. Please bring Shamu back, we can only honor her by moving forward.

[Becka]

YES! Its great to hear about all the things that SeaWorld Parks are doing through the SeaWorld Parks twitter but it doesn't have that fun personality!

[Colleen]

Quote from article---"To SeaWorld's credit, its marketing team worked hard after the tragedy to address the touchy questions and comments thrown upon them on Facebook, Twitter and other sites. Instead of dodging questions about whale captivity, the team would responded to as many people as they could with how they care for the animals and the conservation work they do."

They answered questions about orcas in captivity...really?! Where? Surely not on the SeaWorld Orlando site. When asked direct questions, they side stepped the issues, and deleted people from the site just for asking. How is this in any way being direct, and not dodging the questions.

For one thing, Shamu is a fictional character. Just as fictional as SeaWorld's overall "conservation efforts". Yes, they do rescue some animals, but compared to how much money they earn under the label of "Shamu", it's miniscule. What they really do, is hold intellegent creatures captive, force them to perform and reproduce more million dollar babies. Nothing more.

[Kath]

Shamu shoud return to the ocean... twit....

[Kath]

Should lol

[Michelle Buzas]

I was one of the people booted from Seaworld Orlando's fan page for calling them out on their misrepresentation of Graeme Ellis's study of the Northern Resident Killer Whales. (Ellis himself agreed that his study was misrepresented in an email response to my friend)

Clearly they want to fool the public into believing that killer whales in the wild only live to 30 (for females) and 19 (for males), and when people point out that this is inaccurate and only a small portion of the study (the 8 years during which the orcas primary food source, salmon, was scarce) they simply block them from the fan page.

I didn't break any of their stated rules, I simply pointed out that they were misinforming their fans.

[Samantha K]

To be honest, I cannot believe that the Bridget Carey, the writer of this article compleltey IGNORED the fact that Seaworld mispresented Graeme Ellis's study, then BLOCKED the person on their Facebook Page for stating the true results.

I am very disspointed in Ms. Carey. I actually know her personally and this totally surprised me. I had to re-read her name on it three times, to make sure I was reading her name correctly.

[Angela Salewsky]

They should free the whales. If you love whales and dolphins, don't visit these marine parks, you are only contributing to the continued capture of them from the wild and their continued suffering in captivity. Have none of you seen the film "The Cove"? Capturing wild whales and dolphins and keeping them in captivity is wrong - period.

[Bridget Carey]

Michelle, Samantha --

I was not aware of what comments SeaWorld deleted from it's page. I peeked on the page now and again during the incident and before I wrote the story. As for my comment about them answering questions, I was referring to the posts they made about what they do at the parks (instead of saying nothing), and how they took tough questions at a press conference instead of just issuing some printed statement and hiding. (http://news.discovery.com/animals/killer-whale-show-to-go-on-tilikum-is-an-important-part-of-our-team.html)

I should have written my column more clearly in that case.

But on the topic of deleting comments, a few thoughts:
- SeaWorld (or any owner of a Facebook page) has the right to delete any comment. And I agree with deleting comments if people were using inappropriate Facebook photos, or if they were harassing or spamming the page with angry comments over and over again.

Having a courteous discussion with a non-threatening question is a different issue. In my humble opinion, it's not being social-media friendly for a company to delete well-mannered comments or questions of critique. I don't know which was the case.

Attacking a page over and over again isn't something a company has to tolerate -- if that in fact was what happened. Like I said, I don't know what the case was for the deleted folks.

If SeaWorld happens to check back on this blog's comments, I'll leave it to them to address an issue about deleting the study. Maybe they got trigger happy, or maybe it was appropriate.

SeaWorld didn't have a plan on how to deal with a passionate group of protesters. Maybe now they would do things differently. Maybe not.

In either case, thanks for bringing it up. It's a tough issue for a company to deal with an onslaught of anger from a community, yet also be open and engage people with honest questions. We all want to be heard, but they have the right to control their space. And how much censoring should they do?

It's still a time for learning for many companies (like Nestle).

Does a place like SeaWorld have the right to kick out screamers on a page that is designed for their fans to talk about their brand?

[Kat]

The people booted off sw fb page were booted for posting facts...they were also known as anti captivity... if you read the sw fb page there are many "fans" that are very rude to anyone who posts facts.... call them names, swear at them etc... and they are still there.
sw does not want the truth to get out to the "fans" ... they do not care that it has been proven over and over orcas and dolphins should not be in tiny tanks swimming in circles and doing tricks... yet they do not care as long as the masses keep buying tickets and cute little stuffed shamus... they are horrible...
As for Shamu on twitter.. that is just another marketing scam to bring in more and more young people who are easily dazzled by such things.

[Michelle Buzas]

Thank you Bridget. I am sure they will claim that I was harassing but I was not abusive and I did not use inappropriate language. In fact they let me post regularly and I was impressed; However when they made the comment that their orcas Corky and Tilikum have lived beyond the life expectency of the orcas from Ellis's study, we knew this was a misinterpretation and verified that by reading the study, and like I said from Ellis himself. They plucked a piece of data from a specific time frame of the study. (8 years out of a study that spanned 37 years).

The people involved posted the true information from the study to counter Seaworld's claims that their orcas fare better than the wild ones, and those people were blocked from further postings.

I have no choice but to believe it was the fact that we called attention to their misrepresentation. It's a shame that they continue to try to misinform the public while claiming to be a source of education.

[Colleen]

The thing is though, Bridget, they never answered ANY questions about anything prior to the time a few people were deleted. The only thing they do say (now and then) is that they are "still reviewing" whether or when they will have the trainers back in the water. I know, I've been on that site for months now.

As far as deleting a few of my friends there -- they asked a direct question and shockingly, SW replied with misinformation. When she/they called them on it, they deleted her within moments.

My friend(s) were never rude, or attacking in any way. Just asking bold questions. This is in no way being fair by deleting them just because they didn't want to deal with it. It's blocking the truth from getting out to their fans.

Also, the link you provided, will not open. Is this the one where Thad Lacinik, or Jack Hanna made comments? Or was it the others where they completely side-stepped direct questions and were rude to the reporters? I'm just curious because, the truth is, Tilikum didn't grab Dawn by the pony-tail. I've seen several interviews immediately after the incident, and they all said he grabbed her around the upper body. (I live in Florida so it was on the news a lot.) I have also talked with people who were there and said, SeaWorld is blatantly lying about a number of things that happened on that day.

That's really the truth about SeaWorld. They don't tell it like it is, they sugarcoat the truth just to keep ticket sales going.

I mean this in no disrespect to you whatsoever. I'm just trying to shine some light on things that many people are not aware of.

Regards,
Colleen

Also, on another note. I am not sure how much you personally know about orcas in captivity but, it's a really interesting study. They are some of the most intellegent, highly social creatures on Earth. Too bad they have to be cooped up in tiny tanks at marine parks. It's a shame really.

[ian brash]

Marketing Tool? Did I seriously read "Great Marketig Tool" in this article????

I'm so grateful to you for quoting that person who called it what it is and shows EXACTLY what "Shamu" is all about for Seaworld...a tool. Thank you for finally putting it in print.

I wish Seaworld would return their """Shamu""" 'marketing tools' to the ocean....all 28 of them.

...geez is this a joke? it's like a disney character with poor lonely orcas..each replacing the one before them to 'play the part' of this immortal fairytale character Seaworld has going...all to keep rakin' in the bucks under the guise of 'education' and 'animal conservation'.

Stephen Schwarzman should be ashamed of himself.

[Samantha K]

Bridget,

I have read your response several times as well as your article again to be sure I am being fair and not misinterpreting the issue.

I am in no way asking you to join a cause of animal rights activists, or even have empathy for animals. I do expect you, as a fellow media professional, to research and show an unbiased opinion. You quoted Seaworld, stating they were trying to deal with inappropriate pictures people were posting on their website. Did you not even think to interview anyone to see if they were any other posts being posted? Perhaps criticism of what they were doing, or stating facts in a professional and polite manner?

What really surprised me is that you admitted that you "peaked on the page now and again." Do you consider this proper research? I am sorry, but isn't our goal as media professionals to research before writing? I don't want to make an assupmtion here, but perhaps you feel that since this is an "online" article, it does not require the normal amount of reseach as say a piece for printed matter or broadcast?

I don't want to berate this issue Bridget, but I should hope, in the future, the next time you do research, you do more than just "peak on a page every now and then" if you are going to make it the topic of an entire article.

Thank you,
Samantha

[Patricia Komoroski]

Bridget,

I just wanted to note, (having been very active in the Fan page of Sea World on Face Book). That the only individuals that were banned were those that MANY other fans begged them to remove. Many of the true fans of Face Book had long detailed back and forth email conversations with those that administrated the page. We are the ones to blame for those that got banned and we are not ashamed of that fact. Those that are responding here are doing so in a calm friendly manner, I can not say the same for their behavior on Sea Worlds fan page. They showed very little interest in hearing the opinions and thoughts of the fans, in fact they appeared to want nothing more than to belittle those that would not agree to turn their back on Sea World. They were each given the opportunity to have a direct conversation about their supposed facts with Sea World directly, and they refused, instead they did nothing more than continue to harass the fans! Many of us received nasty emails in our personal in-box, including younger members who dreamed of becoming trainers one day. In fact one in particular received a note that said they wished to be present when he began his training career so that they could see him get eaten the way that Dawn did. I got out of hand, and none of those defending it here are representing the complete facts. Of course it is easier to say that Sea World banned them unfairly, but I and others have kept running logs of exactly what took place, and the bottom line is, they got banned because we FANS asked Sea World to give us our page back! Feel free to contact me if you would like to see some of what took place on the page and behind the scenes, it will truly give you a much clearer view than what you are being told here.

[Michelle Buzas]

Oh, so one person who is a fan will claim to give you the true story. The fact is, I never participated in nasty emails, and I was not abusive to the fans at all. In fact, I got along with many of them and was able to joke around and carry on civil conversations. Your page that you created for conversation was ultimately taken down by YOU, Trish. I was participating there and regardless of what was happening behind the scenes with personal issues you were having with certain members, I was participating and agreed that the page could provide a place for productive discussion. You blocked people such as Colleen and made false accusations that she was threatening, and we all know this is untrue and she simply disagreed with you. I never agreed that the page should be taken down. However it turned out it was not a place for "open" discussion. It was a place where you allowed people who agreed with you to participate. You are about as trustworthy as Seaworld.

Regardless of your claims, Trish, none of that applies to me, and I was banned anyway. So clearly it's due to the fact that I oppose captivity and have the facts to dispute many of Seaworld's claims.

[Samantha K]

If Ms. Carey reported that many fans were crossing the line and being abusive on the Seaworld Fan page, she absolutley has every right to report that in her article. Especially if people were harassing minors.

My point is, she also had a right to report that other people were politley presenting facts and cleary pointed out that Seaworld is misprepresenting Graeme Ellis's study of the Northern Resident Killer Whales. And when it was posted that Mr. Ellis himself said that Seaworld was mispresenting his study, the posters were blocked.

Seaworld mispresentating the Ellis study is a huge deal and will be dealt with. Seaworld will be held accountable for what they are doing with regard to this study.

Thank you

[Michelle W]

OHHHHH Trish! I knew it was only a matter of time before YOU showed up. Old mother hen herself! You trish have done nothing on that page but try to tell people what to do and if no one agreed with your ways you belittled alot of people including ME and i never even made a single comment towards you. Start showing your facts trish. I should of kept log of the comments and remarks left by you and the FANS. But i did contact seaworld at one point to tell them to get someone on that page because the fans were being horrible to others. And i also told them that its very unfortunate that they have people like you representing them! Trish YOU have NEVER posted anything factual on that page. I remember you having a full blown out conversation for days about Johnny Depp on a SEAWORLD page and little do you know Johnny Depp is HIGHLY against marine parks!!! This proves you have no facts! do your research before pointing fingers at others!

[George Weinstein]

Johnny Depp is currently filming a Public Service Annoucment agaisnt Marine Mammals in captivity in Los Angeles.

Whoever said Johnny Depp is going to promote Seaworld is mistaken. Perhaps they confused him with another celebrity.

[Bridget Carey]

Folks, I do appreciate the comments. Many good points are being shared to give broader perspective to the issue of a company deleting comments on a Facebook page. Please keep them coming.

Although the initial topic of my column was centered around the reactivation of the Shamu Twitter account, the comments here about the SeaWorld Fan page are also a topic that needs to be discussed. Corporations managing/censoring comments on a page is a hot issue and I want people to continue to chime in about it.

I can see things are starting to get passionate, so I ask to please keep the comments focused on topic of social media. I don't want to see passion turn into commenters personally attacking each other.

And as an update, the poll results on the Shamu Twitter account are based on 117 votes as I write this comment, and 86.3% say they want to see @Shamu return.

[Michelle W]

Hi Bridget

I hope Trish does share with you the so called log. You will see that facts were posted. Especially by Michelle Buzas and Colleen. Neither one of them were ever evil or rude and they never attacked anyone. Your right..this is about a twitter deal but maybe sometime you can do an article on "captivity" based on facts provided by Michelle that Trish will be showing you (if she does). You will see how they never got out of hand. You will also see how educated Michelle is about the Orcas. In my opinion they got kicked out because of the facts and those facts (yes facts) were beginning to sway people in a different direction. They never once harassed anyone to change their minds. It was all done by the individual whether or not they chose to read the facts or stick with the fans. Their love for seaworld is their opinions. The issues brought up against captivity are laid out by facts. Its different when one says "oh i dont like captivity" NOW thats an opinion but when you have all this evidence backed up by facts and research on what captivity is doing to the animals...thats different. Is the conservation seaworld is doing great? its very little from what i read but YES it is good! but there are many biologists that do research from a boat while leaving the animal to remain in its home.

[Kat]

Trish,
Just wanted to share with you a message that was sent to me directly from one of the sw "fans" ....
" Danielle Greinwald April 22 at 12:18am Report
I would like to say that you are a pathetic excuse for a human being. Wishing that type of stuff upon people who work at Seaworld and who support Seaworld. Your sick. They are just stupid worthless whales and here you are wishing horror upon certain people. Wow. Just wow. If thats who you want to be, then have fun living your life like that. Sick. "
These are the types of people you have on the sw page.... and I happen to know this person is on the sw page a lot .... the only part of the message that is disturbing to me .. is the fact that... the orcas are refered to as worthless stupid whales... that is a true sw fan?... not caring about the life these beautiful creatures have to endure just to entertain the public .... I hope not all sw fans think of them as worthless stupid whales... very very sad!!!
Oh and by the way the video I wss posting about was an orca roundup where one got caught in a net and the people involved said it did not matter and indeed it drown. The one they did take alive only lived ( I think) it said a month. And yes I do think those folks need to pay a price...

[Account Deleted]

Please don't allow Danielle Greinwald to reperesent SW fans. SW we called her out straight away as a fake and have continued to do so. She is there purely to rile up hatred and incite anti captivity fans against SW fans. Anyone notice she's only appeared properly since people got banned and she's the only SW 'fan' allowed to have posts remain on opposing sites (you know where I mean). The SW fans were opposed to one thing mainly, that was that anti captivity fans were hijacking a fans site and not allowing anything to be posted without hijacking it. Why shouldn't people be allowed to share their holiday memories? Why should they get away with harassing young people (some as young as 14) and bullying, belitting and insulting them for wanting to be trainers? Opposing views were ignored and several fans were sent death threats by anti captivity people. By no means does this include everyone, I agree a lot of us got on quite well after inital arguments however it started again with every new poster who came along thinking they were saying things for the very first time, the nastiness etc happened all over again. The solution? Perhaps agree to disagree and take it elsewhere?

[Trish Komoroski]

One last question to ponder, if it were a case of Sea World not wanting any Anti Captivity people posting on their Fan page, why would they not ban all of them. There are still other posting the anti captives message and supposed facts on the page, why are they still there. Could it be that the ones removed were inappropriate enough with others, that it was requested they be removed. Just a thought to ponder, for even the comments here show something.

[Colleen]

Oh come on Trish.

First of all, the article above was about whether Shamu should Twitter. The intention behind Bridget writing this article wasn't about SeaWorld fan page and your hurt feelings. Again, this started about whether Shamu should Twitter but instead you went right in and wanted to get people (her) on your pro-captivity, SeaWorld side.

Why didn't you listen to Bridget when after your comments, she said, please keep this to the social media question she posed? No, immediately you went in to start defending yourself or trying to be a tattle-tail about people on the SW wall. LOL. Going to the SW site....it's called free speech, Trish. Do you think that Obama's fan page doesn't get bombarded with Republicans' that don't agree with him? Or vice versa with George W and the people that despise him? It's normal to air your differences on topics in places where it touches people and exposed their lies. That's a democracy. We live in America where we can speak freely, as long as it is in no way, threatening or vulgar.

What....are you going to tell Bridget? About death threats you claimed to receive via FB fans via email? How about you tell her of the slander of other people you did in my name several weeks ago? If you can't post who you claimed wrote you to threaten your life (one of us anti-captivity) people, you ought to keep quiet. You're not a spring chicken so, the adolescent type comments are not becoming of a grown woman. Typical from you, but not becoming at all.

Haven't read the rest of your rants because it's the same broken record to your Pro-captivity, Pro-marine parks keeping animals cooped up and performing tricks for treats, stance.

Sorry Bridget, but since you did bring up this link was about the social media issue of Shamu and Twitter, just wanted to point that out. Again, Shamu is a fictional character, just as fictional as SeaWorld being a leader in conservation. This is in no way to demean your efforts of Shamu on Twitter but, it's all a farce.

PS. Considering this article was posted by SeaWorld on the SeaWorld fan site, what other results can we expect? Of course they want to see Shamu Twitter. However, if Shamu was speaking on behalf of all captive orcas would probably say things like, "Build me a canal, and let me swim the heck out of here, and out of this concrete tank. Or...Why do these humans keep me cooped up, crank music and stare at me all day long then put me in a tank where I'm left alone for hours and hours on end? Why can't I go back to waters where I came from, be with my true family? Why can't I eat live fish, and only dead ones? Why do they keep forcing us to have babies, then take them away from us when, in the wild...we stay together for life? And....Why is it these humans took away my God given right to freedom? Why....why, why do humans do this to me?" Those are probably just some of the questions Shamu would tweet.

Kind regards, Colleen

[Trish Komoroski]

I rest my case, and all I wanted to do was speak on behalf of some of the Fans and add information that was missing, I did not move the conversation away from whether or not Shamu should return to twitter, others did, I was adding my two cents as invited! But of course I forgot that we should not be permitted to do that.

Thanks for the help in this demonstration. And for making it personal, notice in my post I used no names!

[Fred]

Seaworld should only bring back @shamu if it has a clear strategy on what it will do after the next accident. Although fatalities are rare, there is a long documented history of incidents with trainers. Having 2 fatalities at marine parks this year, each incident in the future (if reported) will keep the captivity issue burning.

From this perspective, from a corporate strategy, is @shamu worth it?

As someone who develops social media strategies for corporations, I always advise my clients to have their ducks in a row before putting up a facebook page or starting a twitter account. And if your ducks are not in a row, plan your response strategy ahead of time in case. Because in the world of social media, in case always happens. Ask Nestle, ask Walmart, ask Seaworld.

Sometimes for a company involved in controversial issues and choosing profit over ethics, being behind the times and staying off the grid is the better business descision.

[Kim Priest-Greene]

I completely agree with everything Des posted on April 20th!

[Michelle Buzas]

I think the author should be aware of the web she may become entangled in when dealing with Mrs. Komoroski and I'm shocked that this person even has the nerve to post here from a perspective of higher moral ground.

This person made false accusations against my friend, claiming she used a fake Facebook account to send her death threats, claiming the FBI had been contacted and was involved, and other ridiculous statements. My friend, who has never been contacted by the FBI, and whose Facebook account is still active, and STILL able to post on the Seaworld fan page. When reminded that this is slander, Mrs. Komoroski denied all claims, deleted posts, deleted her discussion page on Facebook, and blocked people from her account.

The attempt to rally support from other Seaworld fans with lies that she received death threats from my friend in order to get us all banned from the page was clearly a failed attempt to manipulate. However, like I said, my friend is still there, because the entire thing was a hoax.

[Tina Lynch]

trish has never done anything apart from support seaworld 100% she tried to start a discussion page for people to debate about captivity to remove some of the inappropriate posts on the fan page. She has posted lots of facts and information and has debated politely and all that happens is she gets accused of all sorts of things has her name mentioned on other pages and we have all read demeaning comments about her, on the free tilly page the stuff you post about us and naming people on there is not right, we do not do that on the fan page, we share are memories and stories and should not have to be told how we are mindless robots or that we should burn in hell, yes we did see that comment and the one how you said we were to blame for dawns death!!! bang out of order. how do you all think this making her feel it is bang out of order to come on a page like this and start naming names..not once has she mentioned any of you by name but once again you have all shown you true colours by accusing her of lying and trying to belittle her.

Trish is a good person with a good heart and just because she and the rest of us continue to support seaworld she shouldn't have to put up with this. This has been going on for weeks none of us are going to change each others minds about any of this so its time to stop all this as it is getting really childish. let us all agree to disagree and let it go now.

I'm sorry if i have waffled a bit but i am really angry with the comments made here when it has nothing to do with what the original article is about!!

and yes bring back shamu on twitter

[Andrea Johnson]

I can't believe this has gone from Facebook over here and the same arguments are continuing now. Trish and indeed several other SeaWorld fans did receive death threats from those against captivity, only the other day Trish received another message doubting her faith because of her belief in SeaWorld.

SeaWorld only began banning people after being contacted by large numbers of fans, believe me I for one had been asking for weeks why they hadn't removed posts that were doing nothing but attacking their fans. Those with the most to say became most vocal after being banned from the page for accusing SW of being liars (a very long discussion, and a very civilised one took place for several hours betwen SW fans and anti captivity fans on the SW page).

If SW were banning everyone from the page with an opposing viewpoint, why are there still anticaptivity posters there now? Some of us actually talk and get on OK, if there was a ban on people disagreeing with them, everyone would be gone but they aren't. Certainly in recent days I know people have been banned for being abusive to SW fans, quite rightly so in my opinion. In my opinion, these posts, and the continued online comments aimed at Trish amount to cyberbullying.

If SW

[Andrea Johnson]

As another comment, most of the people on this page are the same people that repeatedly posted to the SW page. There is a highly organised slander campaign out there against SW. SW posted this to their page askin fans what they thought, this was immediately posted to a Free the whales page to say please contact the reporter. They are using any tool possible to bad mouth the park and indeed the fans. You only have to look at some of the anti SW pages on Facebook to see what is being said about SW fans, insults about intelligence are regular. If people don't agree then they are stupid obviously. This is a case of we will shout the loudest and the most often Bridget, please don't be swayed. And please don't allow people to be bullied on your page as reading even further back that is what I'm seeing even more.

[Michelle Buzas]

Oh give me a break guys. I posted on here initially to explain that Seaworld's fan page was not exactly welcoming to those of use who could counter their claims. I never mentioned anyone, and in response Trish posted this.

"Those that are responding here are doing so in a calm friendly manner, I can not say the same for their behavior on Sea Worlds fan page. They showed very little interest in hearing the opinions and thoughts of the fans, in fact they appeared to want nothing more than to belittle those that would not agree to turn their back on Sea World."

and went further to invite the author to speak with her personally to give her a "clearer view" about what went on on the FB fan page.

Why did she post at all? Why didn't she just comment on the Shamu twitter account? Then it is my fault for defending myself against a person who has clearly followed me here to incite another argument with me and others?

Give me a break! She could have dropped it but she is here to respond to our posts about what happened on the page. If she chooses to act as the Seaworld fan page spokesperson then she should be prepared to have a "clearer view" exposed about herself as well.

Why did she come here and start this?

[Michelle Buzas]

In regards to the definition of slander, the statements must be false. I have never made any claims about Seaworld that are untrue.

[Tina Lynch]

the difference is trish never mentioned anyones name on this thread..you on the other hand did!!
and again get in your head sw FAN page is for fans who do not need to be called small minded and told they have no lives just because they support sw ..so it is not us that is doing anything wrong ..we have the right to defend the page we are fans of..

[Kathy]

As someone who has not tweeted in the past, I may start when Shamu returns. Tweets are short and to the point....along with being clever.As far as some comments made in reference to SW's fan page, I was getting tired of weeding through lengthy threads, posts, and comments bashing SW just to read someone's post regarding their SW experience (where to eat, shows to see, etc)Some do not understand the concept of what a fan page is; feel compelled to use the page to sling whatever at the fans who support SW. Why these people can't email or call the park, I don't know and understand why some have been blocked. Anyone can google; do the same research and post. Someone had to use this post to comment about SeaWorld's conservation efforts being fictional???? Looking forward to Shamu's tweets.....who was real year's ago and a generic name now.

[Andrea Johnson]

Michelle, I never mentioned names and I'm sorry if you felt I was attacking you. However on this thread there are comments that seem rather aggressive towards Trish and as for some of the stuff posted about her on anti captivity sites on Facebook which is in the public domain it's pretty disgraceful. Again, this isn't aimed at you personally but I'm sure you know exactly where I'm referring to.

As for why she came here, well why shouldn't she? It seems like there is an attempt to make this writer believe that SW banned anyone who posted anything against them, that is simply and utterly not true. An article claiming that may do wonders for certain people but there would be no truth behind it.

Only very recently did they begin banning people from that page after a lot of fan pressure and some anti captivity people are still there now and posting without being removed. I have seen comments stating that they hope the SW representative's plane crashes, that hopefully the video of the trainer's death becomes public to hopefully damage the park (that person has only just been banned after posted abuse to someone else, a month later) etc, etc. Why should that kind of stuff bn the fan page for fans/family to be forced to see?

My main complaint with SeaWorld is that they didn't act quickly enough. I and other fans had emails, tweets etc stating that they wouldn't do anything as they wanted to leave the page open for discussion to the point I for one was getting sick to death of feeling like I was supporting them but they weren't doing anything to stop the abuse of the fans that was happening on a daily basis, and that this was being solely left for fans to do. Again Michelle, I'm not accusing you of this.

As for @Shamu, why not @Clyde&Seymour if not Shamu?

[Max]

I think the fans need to know that SeaWorld is not telling the truth about the animals they have captive.
It is sad to think that the fans care more about a wonderful happy park experience more then they do about the very animals forced to entertain them.
If people insist on going to these parks they should know the truth about how the animals do not live as long as in the wild, they are medicated some daily, they are forced to perform (lots say they are not but face it they have no way to get away from it) plus many other unnatural things they are forced to live with.
SeaWorld has continued to tell lie after lie, and they should no longer be able to get away with it.
It is like eating a candy bar, you want to eat it you are most likley to eat it but the facts about that candy bar are printed in the wrapper so you know just what you are getting. And some will choose not to eat it once they have those facts.
Having a Shamu or any other animal voice on Twitter continues the sham that SeaWorld has become. My vote is no do not continue the lie.

[Michelle Buzas]

Thank you Andrea, and I don't know if any of the fans specifically asked for me to be removed, but I had many civil discussions with you and some others which I think speaks to the fact that I was not there to harass fans. I was there to post as much truth as I could find, because as long as fans believe whatever Seaworld tells them, they will continue to believe the animals are just fine and dandy there and continue to purchase their tickets supporting captivity.
Anyway, my intent was never to bring the FB argument here but I think that some who followed our posts here were trying to do just that. Regardless I've said what I want to say here and won't be posting anymore.

[Danielle Nugget]

The idea of having an orca tweet is about as logical as keeping them in captivity in the first place. It's all about the . It's not about making money. Sure, they'll throw a few bucks at conservation because the feds make them and they can look good. But let's stop dancing here. It's all about the profit.

[Danielle Nugget]

Oh I don't know what happens to my post but my point is, it is all about the money and the animals ate suffering. You either get that or you're in denial. And if your in denial, it's your money they are scamming. My conscience is clear. My money goes for good, not to pay some flake tweeting as shamu.

[rw]

I agree with Danielle and "BELIEVE" that Money is what pushes Seaworld and their "Shamu" everything...including twitter. ...It's all designed by marketing companies to get you to come in and SPEND MONEY!!!
Did Shamu ever tweet that plastic water bottles are overtaking our planet? no. Did Shamu ever tweet that his cousins are dying from humans overfishing and polluting, so please eat 'sustainable' foods? no.

So, I ask...where is the "education" in all of this? Ask Stephen Schwarzman, the CEO of Blackstone Group which owns Seaworld
...perhaps he's hiding all the "education" in his 35-ROOM PENTHOUSE.
hmmmm.....how many streams would THAT puchase have cleaned up????
BOTTOM LINE - MONEY MAKES THE WORLD AND SW CIRCUS SCHEDULE GO ROUND ...AND ROUND ...AND ROUND.

[Annie B]

During the hearings yesterday there was a question about a false killer whale not listed on SeaWorlds inventory report.. however it is living at the park in Fl... When I looked up False Killer Whales.. this is what SeaWorld has listed under FUN FACTS:

FUN FACTS

1. False killer whales are highly social and live in groups called pods, which are cohesive long-term social units. False killer whale pods can reach numbers of more than 100 individuals. Occasionally these animals have been known to mass-strand along beaches. In 1946, for example, a record-setting 835 individuals stranded at Mar del Plata, Argentina.

My point is ... If this is the type of "FUN FACT" Shamu will be sharing on Twitter NO THANK YOU!!
How can a business that has these animals in their care think it is fun that 835 stranded... SeaWorlds FUN FACTS are appalling!!!