On Wednesday February 24, 2010 an Orca Whale named Tilikum killed, Dawn Brancheau, his trainer of 16 years at SeaWorld Orlando. Tilikum is a large adult male. He was captured in the waters of Iceland at the age of two 30 years ago. In 1991 and 1999 he was involved in the death of two other people. In December, Alexis Martinez died during a training session with an orca at the Loro Parque zoo on Tenerife. It was told that Dawn and Tilikum had just finished a very good public session. Tilikum had done spins for her and she had just petted and hugged him. Witnesses said that Tilikum, “looked like he was playing” and then “just took off really fast, came back around, bobbed up in the water and grabbed her. He was thrashing her around pretty good”. SeaWorld Orlando says they are going to keep Tilikum active in their show program. Animal activists are arguing that it is inhumane to keep Orcas in such small enclosures. In the wild they swim all day and night.
I cannot talk to Tilikum without SeaWorld Orlando’s permission, but I can talk to another anonymous captured orca and tell them what happened and ask them what their thoughts are?
Anonymous Male Orca Whale: “I know what that whale did. Everyone has been talking about it and they have been staying farther away from our enclosure than normal. People who did not fear us fear us now. Sometimes we do not get fed enough. We have pains in our stomachs because we do not get the right kind of fish. They don’t feed us the variety that we would get in the wild and so our stomachs are always feeling uncomfortable. Tilikum is like many others. We do tricks for them and we have a sense that they are our guardians and we care for them to some degree, but we dislike their species. Those of us that have lived in the wild know that how we live now is torture. The water burns our skin, the light damages our thoughts and our brains, the food does not nourish, and our muscles feel weak because we cannot work them like we would in the wild. The sounds in the waters here are clanking. They are not natural. We long for the sounds that we heard in the wild waters. The temperature of the water is wrong. It makes us feel abnormal and incautious. I know Tilikum suffers like we all do. Our brains and body do not work as they should. We want to survive. We see people only as our means to nourishment. I can only speculate but I would imagine that they were not feeding Tilikum a well balanced diet. His stomach probably ached and his eyes hurt from the water and the light. His trainer may not have given him the right number of fish for a trick or she may have fed him smaller ones. They don’t understand that they are not feeding us enough of what we would eat in the wild. We are not healthy. This is a miserable life for us. I want to say to you that Tilikum probably feels bad about killing Dawn because he knew she loved him, but we don’t think like that. We think about survival of the fittest. We want to kill off anything that stops us from that. The reason more whales do not kill the humans is because they are scared of the long pole that shocks and pokes. We all remember that. Humans were bad to us from the beginning. They keep us captured for reasons we do not understand. We should not be living in their environment. They should set us free.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Dawn’s family. May they find peace. It is obvious how much Dawn loved the whales and her work. I am sure that she felt like she was educating the public on such beautiful creatures. May she now watch over her loved ones and the whales from Spirit.
This broke my heart
Thank you for sharing this conversation with the whale. I connected with Tillikum on Feb. 25. He said that he doesn’t like living in such a small space. The whistle hurts his ears. He said, “I don’t like this place!” “Please show a little bit of respect for us whales.” He feels overwhelmed. The other whales feel stressed out. He said he wants to be set free. He feels sad, he said, “I killed my trainer?” I told him that it’s not his fault.
I also feel that they are not getting enough food.
I feel his anxiety and anger too. I heard Shamu’s name too, but by this time I was crying so I had to end the conversation.
My thoughts and prayers go out to Dawn’s family.
Why won’t Sea World hire an animal communicator so that they can actually listen to what the animals at Sea World have to say? I was thinking of emailing Sea World and suggesting it, what do you think?
I agree with the whales, they are being tortured.
Meredith
What a powerful message. I hope this tragic incident prompts people to support the organizations that actively oppose orca captivity.
I used to visit my sister in San Diego, but never went o Seaworld–I almost threw up every time I drove past it–I could feel the anger, confusion and loneliness of those magnificent creatures captured and forced to “do tricks” just to survive. yes, they may be alive and beautiful, but they are NOT happy and thriving! Study them in the wild, NOT in captivity–how would YOU feel in captivity?
free the orca
BOYCOTT THESE “PARKS”
SHAME ON US
I had my own connection with Tilikum after Taima passed away. He was sad by the loss of his mate, his best friend. thru my thoughts in my mind, I asked him about the incident. A Moment passed before He replied. He said as he stood by the surface of the water “I didnt mean her no harm, I felt that what I did was not really meant to hurt her at all. But i dont understand why the others felt the need to make so much commotion. No one understands. But i remember they forced me out of the tank into another smaller place, they netted me and took her from me. Seeing what i did- I felt horrible. I wish everyone understood that everything they say I’ve done wasnt on purpose.” Ive had my special connections around these animals including the calves. I’ve been around them long enough to know them.
I went to the Orlando Sea world one year after Dawns death. I’m a fairly intuitive person with more than my share of psychic and uncanny experiences. While watching “Believe” I started crying uncontrollably for nearly an hour post show. All I could say to my husband was “they aren’t happy, they don’t want to be here, this is wrong”. At the time we were seated in the center of the show. I did not detect anything amiss about any of the killer whales’ behavior. But every fiber in my body felt a deep sorrow with an underlying rage. Today I saw the movie ” Blackfish” and it explained my experience. Which as a side note was note was very similar to my reaction to the movie “12 years a slave”. These animals are experiencing slavery. They know it and they told me. And it breaks my heart.
aww. I so agree with you. It is very hard to feel their suffering. Thank you for acknowledging it. We must fight to stop this slavery. Please also think of whales and send them love. They will feel it!
how can we help free these poor orcas? they are being tortured being kept in captivity like that. this is so inhumane it’s sickening!