Tilikum
This topic is very close to my heart and will be the first of, hopefully, many to grace your screen.
This is the story of an infamous orca, killer whale, that caught my attention many years ago and which I was compelled to follow closely.
I have always admired orcas in general. I find them to be absolutely magnificent beings, beautiful and extremely intelligent. The full package really.
When I went to the States in 2007 to complete my acupuncture course, I made a point of ticking off one entry of my bucket list.....seeing orcas in the wild. I went to the San Juan Islands, up north in the state of Washington. I was there for 3 days and was super lucky to see a small pod out of season. Mission accomplished.
6 months later the course took me to Florida where I visited SeaWorld. I have always been against the captivity of wild animals in general but couldn't pass the opportunity to view some, many, species unfamiliar to me. I also attended the 'Believe" show. The main attraction, at the time, featuring Tilikum.
He was the star performing alongside his trainer of many years Dawn Brancheau. The show was extraordinary, with an unfortunate, constant, undercurrent of....slavery, for the lack of a better word.
So, when tragedy struck in 2010, and Tilikum killed his trainer Dawn, in front of a bewildered audience, I started doing some reading into his life history.
Tilikum was the largest orca ever recorded in captivity. He was captured in November 1983 off the coast of Iceland. His date of birth is recorded as December 1981.
His first indiscretion, was when he killed a student trainer in February 1991 at Sealand of the Pacific. Keltie Lee Byrne fell into the bull's tank after slipping on the wet floor. What ensued was her tragically attempting to stay afloat and Tilikum, who had gotten hold of her foot, pulling her under the water. Needles to say the 6,9m, 5,7 ton animal won that contest. The park then went defunct and Tilikum was sold to SeaWorld in 1992.
He became a stud in the SeaWorld breeding program and sired 21 calves throughout his career. He also became part of the show and soon the star attraction.
In July 1991 the second death occurred. Daniel Dukas remained illegally in the park after closure and was found dead the next morning. His body was severely mutilated after drowning and was discovered draped over Tilikum's back. Can this really be blamed on Tilikum? After all, if a person decides to walk around the Kruger National Park after dark and gets mauled by lions....?!? You get where I am going with this.....
The third death, and the one that sealed his reputation, and his fate, occurred in 2010. During one of the normal shows Tilikum suddenly turned on his trainer, Dawn Brancheau (seen in the picture above) and pulled her into the depths of his tank by the hair. This incident made world news and caught my attention.
From here on, no one was allowed in the tank with Tilikum or within a certain distance to the edge of the tank, to protect the humans. However, the contact with humans was the only social activity in his life, and bearing in mind, that orcas live in a highly social society, this must have had a profound effect on him.
On Friday 6 January 2017, Tilikum died of a bacterial lung infection; a condition seemingly quite common in captive orcas. He was surrounded by trainers, staff and treating veterinarians. Mammals in tanks' immune system is compromised due to stress, trauma and dirty water, which makes them very prone to pneumonia.
In the aftermath of Dawn Brancheau's death there was a worldwide outcry against marine mammals held in captivity. There were factions of people calling for his euthanasia, much like it happens when there is a shark attack in the ocean. There were many demanding his immediate release back into the wild. This was logistically almost impossible, his size would have been a real challenge for any pilot to negotiate a moving passenger like that Furthermore he would have had to be released in Iceland where his chances of finding his family after all the years was minimal. Some tried to downplay the action as an unfortunate accident of playful behaviour. I read and listened to numerous experts excluding this as a possibility. The key point was that with the levels of intelligence of these beings, it could not have been an accident but very likely a fully conscious and intentional act.
And the reason?....Stress, trauma, frustration, pain, depression, to name a few.
He was violently severed from his family ties at the age of 2. Confined to various small tanks not nearly large enough for his needs. Because he was a bull and used for breeding he had shown aggressive behaviour towards the other whales, thus had to be kept solitarily. The little interaction with other whales that he was exposed to would have been with whales from other family groups. For 34 years! Frankly, that he killed only 3 humans in his years in captivity, shows great restrained.
Let it be noted here, that there has never been a recorded human fatality in the wild by an orca.
Tilikum was the main inspiration for the docufilm Blackfish (2013). A very informative, heart breaking movie about the plight of these captive marine mammals. This film was an eye opener for many, and certainly brought a new level of awareness. This sparked a global movement to put an end to the practice, and slowly but surely the laws have been adjusted and in time, places like SeaWorld have been forced to change.
As the industry faces changes, albeit positive, it is a little too late for the victims, human and animal alike. However, there is hope that humanity will learn from mistakes of the past, and shape the future in a more respectful manner toward the beings that inhabit the planet with us.