Chapter 2 of 8 · 4'12"
On the surface this is a capture story: planes, speedboats, bombs, and a seine net so crews could pick out the young. Underneath, the adults stay when they could leave, and one line names the harm: "Just like kidnapping a little kid away from their mother." Three dead whales are later cut open and sunk.
Bombs and Boats Herd the Whales
❝ Monologue · 8 lines The Pod That Would Not Leave
From a Court Order to Iceland
Someone on the capture tells how teams used aircraft, spotters, speedboats, and bombs to herd orcas. Mothers with calves went north, but the whales had to surface, and speedboats drove them into a net. Crews wanted only the young. The others could have left and stayed. The speaker cries as the calf is stretchered, then says three dead whales were sunk with rocks.
"A really exciting thing to do" opens on aircraft, spotters, speedboats, and bombs thrown "as fast as they could." Adults without calves lead the boats east into a dead end while mothers and babies head north, but aircraft spot them when they surface. Seine nets close the way out so crews can pick out the young. Shipping costs are why they take only the little ones. After the calves are in the corrals, the nets drop, and "all the others could have left, but they stayed," while one calf is put on a stretcher. Someone says "I lost it" and likens the job to kidnapping a child from a mother. Three whales are dead in the net, then are cut open, filled with rocks, and sunk. "I thought it was a PR thing" follows. A 1976 court order bars SeaWorld from Washington captures. "Without missing a beat, they went from Washington to Iceland."
A1–C2 is the CEFR scale. Cards above the level you pick fade, and playback will not auto-pause on them.
“It was a really exciting thing to do and so everybody wanted to do it.”
It sells the hunt as a thrill the whole crew wanted before the story turns grim.
Informal
“They had aircraft, they had spotters, they had speedboats, they had bombs they were throwing in the water.”
The repeated they had stacks the gear until bombs sound like just another item.
Neutral
“And all the others could have left, but they stayed.”
Could have left opens a door, and stayed shuts it without raising its voice.
Neutral
“Just like kidnapping a little kid away from their mother.”
It drops the job description and puts a child and a mother in the same frame.
Informal
“I thought it was a PR thing.”
The line files a cover-up under publicity, and that mistake is the whole point.
Informal
“Without missing a beat, they went from Washington to Iceland and began capturing there.”
The idiom makes a court ban sound like a pause that never happened.
Neutral
I-- I lost it. I mean, I just started crying. I didn't stop working, but I... you know, I just couldn't handle it. Just like kidnapping a little kid away from their mother. Everybody's watching. What can you do? It's the worst thing I can think of, you know? I can't think of anything worse than that.
Up next · 03on a hair triggerThe scene: Starving Whales Into a Steel BoxA person on the capture says, "We were only after the little ones," and adds that a little one is still a big animal. The reason they report being told is shipping costs.
The young ones the crews wanted were already in the corrals, so the seine nets came down and the rest could have left. They stayed, in a long line about 25 yards out, calling back and forth while a calf was moved onto a stretcher.
The speaker says that when the hunt was over, three whales were dead in the net, and describes cutting them open, filling them with rocks, anchoring the tails, and sinking them. The speaker adds that they did not even think about it being illegal, and "I thought it was a PR thing."
A court order ejected them from the state of Washington. SeaWorld was named and told, "Do not come back to Washington to capture whales." The following line says they went to Iceland and started capturing there without missing a beat.
While a young orca is being put on a stretcher, the account places the family about 25 yards away in a line, communicating back and forth. The line that follows is "Just like kidnapping a little kid away from their mother," and the speaker calls it the worst thing they can think of.
