As you may have heard, yesterday a trainer (Dawn Brancheau) at the Sea World in Orlando, Florida was killed as she was pulled or slipped (there’s still debate) into the whale tank. The reports are a little vague at this point put but what is stated is “she was then fatally injured by the whale”.
The whale in question here is the bull orca Tilikum. Here is some info about craze-eyed beast:
- He’s 29 years old
- Captured near Iceland in November 1983 at two years of age
- Measures 22 feet 6 inches long
- Weighs 12,300 pounds
- His pectoral fins are six and one half feet long
- His 6-foot-tall dorsal fin weighs close to 200 pounds alone
- He is the largest Orca in captivity
- He has sired 13 offspring, 10 of which are still alive (a record)
- His name means “friend” in Chinook
Now you may be saying to yourself…he seems like a good guy from these above points…don’t let his name fool you. What may not be as widely known is that he is a literal cold-blooded killer whale.
In 1999, Tillikum was blamed for the death of a 27-year-old man whose body was found floating on his back in a tank at SeaWorld, the apparent victim of a whale’s “horseplay,” authorities said then. The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said the man apparently hid in the park until after it closed, then climbed into the tank.
Tillikum and two other whales also were involved in the drowning of a trainer at a Victoria, British Columbia, marine park in 1991. The trainer fell into the whale tank at the Sea Land Marine Park Victoria and was dragged underwater as park visitors watched.
So now that puts his kill count at 3 in the span of his 27 years in captivity.I don’t know about you but I’m going to find it a little bit harder to sleep tonight knowing that this lunatic of a whale is still out there murdering people Willy-nilly.
*Must I really state that this makes a point that maybe we shouldn’t be holding animals in captivity and “teaching” them to dive through hoops and splash patrons all for our enjoyment. I’m for one amazed at how these majestic creatures are treated. It’s sad that someone (or in this case multiple) people had to die for this to come to light but these tragedies occurred because of his situation…not naturally.
This is very sad stuff but I am sorry to say this event is 27 years in the making. The two year old Orca was snacthed away from his mother in the wild and brought to an alien world to perform tricks for food. Sooner or later this enormous creature was bound to "wake up on the wrong side of the pool!" and take a bite out of someone.