Sea World & That Black Fish.

Tilikum is now a household name, a name which interestingly translates as ‘friend’ in Chinook. The households that I know do not know Tilikum as a friend – but is that his fault?

Tilikum is a bull Orca who was captured in 1983, just off the coast of Iceland where he was kept in a small pen whilst awaiting transport to the first of his many ‘forever’-homes. Tilikum currently resides in Sea World, Orlando, FL but he has also lived in Sea Land of British Columbia (which has since closed, but we’ll come to that).

(I do not own anything. Image owned by Blackfish/Gabriela Cowperthwaite, All Rightful Owners)

Whilst in captivity, in his various locations, Tilikum has fathered 21 calves, only 11 of which are known to be alive today – to give you an idea of his size, Tilikum weighs 12,000 pounds which equals 5,400kg. As well as the many whale-calves, Tilikum is also responsible for three deaths; one trainer in Sea Land BC, one trainer in Sea World Orlando FL and one man who trespassed into his pool. Over 50% of Sea Worlds ownership of Orca share genes with father Tilikum – because apparently, breeding an animal known for specifically violent tendancies and then putting those offspring in a pool with humans is a good idea.

Were the deaths Tilikum’s fault? It’s not actually that easy a question to answer.

Technically, yes. Yes, Tilikum killed three people.

In 1991, Tilikum’s first victim was a marine biology student, and part time trainer at Sea Land in British Columbia; Keltie Byrne. Keltie was twenty when she slipped into the pool, working as Tilikum’s trainer. All  three orcas in the pool pulled Keltie to the bottom and held her submerged. Some people say that the whales were experimenting – playing- unbeknownst to a human’s breath hold capacity and that Keltie Byrne’s death was purely an accident. The whales to blame for Keltie’s death were; Haida, Nootka and Tilikum. Haida and Nootka are both female, and were pregnant at the time of the attack which no one knew.

After Sea Land suffered massive financial problems due to Keltie’s death, they closed and put Tilikum up for sale like they were having a car boot sale of all their old junk. Sea World Orlando bought Tilikum, as they knew the biggest male whale in captivity would be worth their money.

When Sea World bought Tilikum, they chose not to inform their staff and their trainers to the full extent of Tilikum’s involvement in Keltie’s death – does this explain why they were all so willing to climb into the water with him? Did Sea World purposefully ignore Tilikum’s violent history, endangering the safety of their staff, to continue to put on a show and draw customers in?
It looks like it.

Tilikum killed again in 2009. Daniel P. Dukes was found dead, draped across Tilikum’s back as Tilikum swam up and down the pool – parading the body. Dukes had visited Sea World during the day of the attack, but then he proceeded to take it upon himself to stay after closing time and invade the Orca pools by trespassing, having evaded security. Although Dukes’ official cause of death is drowning, according to the autopsy numerous wounds, contusions and abrasions were found on the body. There were also parts of Dukes’ body found at the bottom of the Orca pool.
Despite what some people may say, the autopsy also reports that Daniel P. Dukes was not intoxicated in any way at the time of his death.

Just one year later, tragedy struck Sea World within their family.

Veteran trainer, Dawn Brancheau who had trained with Tilikum for many years was killed. After a scheduled ‘Dine With Shamu’ show at the Sea World Orlando Orca Pool, Dawn was massaging Tilikum as part of the normal post-show routine. Tilikum then grabbed Dawn from the platform where she laid next to him, and dragged her into the pool.
Sea World says that Dawn Brancheau was dragged into the water by her pony tail – which apparently was deemed inappropriate whale-wear for trainers.
Many witnesses however, and video evidence suggests that Dawn was dragged into the water by her arm. There’s talk over whether there was fish involved as Tilikum was rewarded for a good show with food, maybe he mistook her pony tail for a fish, maybe something else happened. Dawn Brancheau’s official cause of death was drowning and blunt force trauma.
Tilikum tore Brancheau’s scalp off and macerated before swallowing her arm.

Tilikum is not the only badly behaved orca in captivity – the documentary Blackfish also mentioned the Ken Peters incident in 2006. Katsaka is another captive whale at Sea World, she weighs 5,000 pounds, and she stunned audiences by dragging trainer Ken Peters down to the bottom of the pool and back again, by one foot. Katsaka mauls and breaks both of Ken’s feet submerging him over and over again before letting him surface for a few minutes only to be taken down again. Ken Peters was luckily a trained Scuba Diver, so he knew how to hold his breath and how to breathe once he’d returned to the surface – maybe it was this training that let him get away with his life. Trainers Dawn and Keltie were not so lucky.

In Sea World of San Diego, an incident put down to ‘trainer error’ and ‘timing issue’ involved an Orca launching up and slamming its full body weight down onto a trainer called John. Training staff featured in Blackfish tell audiences that nothing held that trainers body together aside from his wetsuit. Amazingly, John survived but lives with a body full of metal hardware to remind him of the risks he took and the injuries he sustained.

Another trainer tells a story of an Orca called Orchid who dragged a trainer off the side of the pool arena. The female trainer got away with just a compound fracture in her arm.

After Dawn’s death in February of 2010, that August saw Sea World fined with $75,000 by OSHA for three safety violations – two of which directly related to Dawn Brancheau’s death. A year later; a year of isolation for Tilikum, he was reintroduced to the Sea World regime and from 2012 he has performed in shows full-time, as if nothing ever happened. 

Sea World has their own records of over 100 ‘unanticipated’ incidents where killer whales (including Tilikum) have bitten, rammed, lunged at, pulled, pinned and swam aggressively with Sea World trainers.
And yet, Sea World still want OSHA to overturn the law that now says there must be a barrier between whales and trainers.

Still, we return to the question of blame – is it Tilikum’s fault?

When Tilikum arrived at Sea World in 1992, he was bullied profusely and attacked viciously by Katina and other whales. This was not new for Tilikum. In the pool he was kept in, in Sea Land British Columbia, Tilikum was the bottom of the Orca hierarchy under the two dominant females; Haida and Nootka. They behaved aggressively toward him and forced him to live in a separate, smaller pool in isolation.

The constant attacking and bullying that Tilikum was subject to was because in the wild, Orca live in a very matriarchal society, being the only male in the tank with two females he was always going to suffer the full brunt of the shunning. In British Columbia, Tilikum had learned that if he did not perform a trick correctly, there would be a withholding of food from not only him but also the two female whales. Haida and Nootka would bite and rake Tilikum down the whole length of his body – there is footage in Blackfish of Tilikum perched on the platform that Dawn Brancheau would later lay on before being killed, with a giant laceration on his side – the blood gushed and the trainers let him go back into the tank with the attackers. 

Then, of course, there is the Dorsal Fin issue.
Sea World states that a large percentage of all Orca have a bent Dorsal Fin. In actuality, Tilikum had a collapsed fin due to stress. Bent Dorsal Fins are the sign of an unhealthy Orca which is why a large percentage of captive Orcas have bent fins – very few in the wild.

Further research after watching Blackfish a number of times poses many questions – why doesn’t EVERY pool in Sea World have the ability to raise the floors, which could have saved all of the victims mentioned above? Why did it take more than one death for people to realise that you can’t play with Whales like you can a puppy or a kitten? Why are people so hell bent on fishing animals out of the wild and forcing them to live concurrently with humans?  Why do people think this is okay, or that’s it’s done and dealt with because Blackfish came out?

Sea World are still fighting the new rules about barriers between whales and trainers – they want their trainers back in the water. How have they not learned it’s not safe to go back in the water?

I can’t cover everything every mentioned about Tilikum/Blackfish, but in my opinion, if you want an eye opening expose on what happens to captive whales – watch Blackfish, do a little of your own research and read the rebuttals of Blackfish claims on the Sea World website
 I was living with my head in the sand.