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The Captivity of Whales in SeaWorld

The Story of Tilikum

By IzzyPublished 6 years ago 3 min read
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When you think of SeaWorld, what do you think of? Possibly a family friendly marine park that everybody loved. A place full of dreams and happiness. What if I were to tell you that SeaWorld is none of those things. What if I were to say that SeaWorld is a wolf in a sheep’s clothing.

Back in 2009, I was at the Shamu stadium myself waiting with anticipation for the big finale at the end. The entire show was mesmerizing and I left hoping that one day I could come back to relive the prodigious experience. Not only did I enjoy it, but I left feeling educated. I would always ask if animals were happy during displays like this, however with this one I didn’t feel the need to do so. Why would I? There was waving, smiling from the trainers and young children buzzing with euphoria.

The façade started to unravel in April 2010, when Dawn Brancheau, a highly qualified trainer, was brutally killed by an Orca named Tilikum. People were dismayed by this horrific news but SeaWorld’s public relations team put an alternative spin on the situation. Deflecting the blame from SeaWorld by saying Dawn’s ponytail initiated the attack, essentially blaming Dawn. But if this were true then why hadn’t this happened for the past 15 years she had been working at SeaWorld?

Three years later when the documentary Blackfish was released, everything changed for SeaWorld. This was when Tilikum’s heart-breaking story was told. Not the false one, or the one told by Seaworld but the true story. At just two years old Tilikum watched his mother being slaughtered by hunters. The young whale was then taken to SeaLand where he spent two-thirds of his time in what was described as a ‘floating steal box.’ His hardship continued as he was abused by the other whales kept in the pool or what I would call a prison. Tilikum was then taken to SeaWorld, where the cruelty continued.

Not only did this documentary show Tilikums life story but it also showed Tilikum had previously killed 2 people, which no one knew about other than SeaWorld—not even some of the trainers who were told to go in the water with these animals. So I pose this question, why let a trainer in the water with an animal that weighs six tonnes, and has clearly proved themselves dangerous. Personally, I think that it is to protect SeaWorld’s reputation and share value. But what was it exactly that made Tillikum so angry? The number of injuries or fatalities in the wild compared to in captivity is 0:70. So surely this it is obvious that captivity is the main cause of the anger found in these whales. That is why something needs to change, not only for Tilikum but for the other whales, because the suffering continues. To outline one, a whale named Kasak had her baby taken away from her. Kasak responded by staying in the corner of the tank and screeching. Scientists said it was Kasak’s way of searching for her calf, hoping that if she stayed in the same place her baby might come back to her—which of course she didn’t.

So what is happening with SeaWorld now? They have recently stopped the breeding of whales. But is this too little too late? Tilikum had already suffered an unimaginable amount of pain throughout his life, three human lives have been lost, along with 70 other reported incidents and mother whales being torn away from their calves. In May 2018, it was seen that the whale Katina had a split dorsal fin, which SeaWorld claimed to be normal but a doctor from PETA said that this is not okay and would not be seen in the wild. This was just 2 months ago, so has anything really changed? It may have improved, but it is nowhere near up to the standards we expect in the 21st century. SeaWorld’s shares have increased by 17 percent recently, implying that people have forgotten about the Blackfish documentary.

Tilikum was the whale that killed three people. But he was also the one who endured and inexplicable amount of hardship and pain throughout a life that could have been so much better. These whales would have to swim around the circumference of the main pool more than 1400 times at SeaWorld just to make a daily distance travelled in the wild. So imagine being keep in a box for two-thirds of your life. Imagine searching for your child then realising they have gone. It’s almost impossible—because what has happened to whales at SeaWorld is unimaginable.

References

Blackfish Documentary, Netflix, 2013

wild animals
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