SeaWorld's killer whale, Tillikum, dragged one of his trainers under water after a show, killing her. This is reportedly the third death caused by this whale, who has been in captivity for years.
They've made this animal insane. . . they have literally broken an animal that is as intelligent as a human, with an emotional range humans could never even imagine.
tilikum is going to keep being aggressive until he's finally free from the stress of what he's going through.....being confined all of the time isn't healthy for anything living
the floppy dorsal fin, while it's not unheard of, is not exactly normal, either. in the wild, it is extremely rare, less than 1% of orcas have it. in captivity, 100% of male orcas have it.
SeaWorld is just sick.And what's more shocking is the people who visit Seaworld find nothing wrong in seeing these poor animals in a tiny tank.I believe that not only Tilikum should be released into the wild but all orca's and other animals who are suffering mistreatment.
These are beautiful, extreemly intelligent creatures. This life is, in no way, the life a killer whale is supposed to live. Seaworld - this a massive injustice. The animals are truly depressed and yet people are shocked when trainers and other people are injured or killed by these creatures. What on earth did you think would happen when you play with fire?
Tilikum is the innocent victim in all of this. What would you do, if someone forcibly took you from your family? You would never get over that, or forget it either. Poor Tilly, people always want to paint him as the bad guy here. He isn't, he's just a lonely whale, who misses his family terribly.
One of my most incredible memories is of standing on the edge of a rock ledge on Saturna Island, one of the Canadian Gulf Islands, as a multi-pod community of what I conservatively estimate to be forty orcas passed directly in front of me. To see animals with such a sense of community, with the highly developed languages we can't begin to translate, in these kinds of conditions is horrendous. To me, whales are the most magnificent animals in the world.
just boycott seaworld, sign a petition, nobody goes to the show, deplete their funds until they run out of money to pay for food, maintenance, trainers, and employees. no need to keep the facility and the whales.
The Orca whale who had been in captivity for over 40 years is finally going to be released back into the ocean. Thank you all caring activists for your letters and signatures. Orcas need to swim for many miles each day to stay healthy physically and mentally.
I think he belongs in the wild he looks soo unhappy its really sad how these ppl refuse to let him go to rehabilitation n let him go back to the ocean and his pod :( i dont blame him for killing those ppl his so stressed and for them to think nothing is wrong with his mental stability clearly means theres something wrong with theirs!!! I say let Tilikum return home!!!! Not liv in a puny box i wander if they even feed the orcas the full 250 kg of food a day some how im in big dowbt of that! These ppl are the monsters not Tilikum!
a short life in a sea pen experiencing freedom once again, is far better than being confined to a small tack and forced to perform for human 'entertainment'
It's really sad how they keep orcas captive for such long periods of time. Collapsed dorsal fins rarely happen in the wild but in captivity it's much more common. Sea world thinks these animals are fine and they spend several days a week with them. I've only seen orcas on RU-vid videos and I can tell that they're stressed and mentally ill. Sea world trainers need to open their eyes and see the situation that's sitting in front of them,because at the moment,their eyes are closed.
If they can locate their pod they were captured from then there is a chance they can still be returned to the wild, but seriously, they really have ruined his life. He's a huge, beautiful bull orca that I'm sure would have had beautiful calves, and many of them. So sad to see such a beautiful animal kept in a bathtub so he can splash people -.- So damn sad. I'd love to at least see him spend his days in a seapen where he is in the actual ocean and doesn't have to splash people for entertainment.
I Loved Black Fish! What and eye opener, a Must watch if you have not already! Although I can not get the horrible thoughts out of my head! Let this poor creature go to an open bay, let him spend the last years of his life feeling some what free! AND I will NEVER be apart of Sea World or a curious again!!! PROMIS
Blackfish is mostly lies. Go check out seaworld's website and they'll tell you the truth. Over 100 people have full time jobs to take care of SEVEN WHALES. Do your research before you claim to know what you're talking about.
SquattleSquirrel seaworld are cruel bastads so dont try and defend them ok.....'check there website' you for real, thats going to be the most biased thing in their favour
SquattleSquirrel and just how exactly do we know that Sea World is telling the truth, as you say, on their website? Do you not see that these animals are kept in pools? How is that in any way at all ok? Anyone who believes that an Orca belongs in a tank only to make the sick rich, richer seriously has some very upsetting moral and inhumane beliefs! If you want to see a beautiful show, go to the ocean, watch them in their NATURAL environment! Sea World is a prison and these animals are life long families... Until the inhumane human takes them and puts the on display for the sick and twisted! I don't really care how well Sea World thinks they're taking care of any of their animals, they do not belong there! Point blank!
These whales need to be set free there acting out against there trainers in frustration. No trainer needed to die, Tilikum needs to be set free and now there using Tilikum in shows again, think of the killer whale Luna, his love for attention got him killed these whales need to be released and left alone.
The current park managers just don't get it and don't want to get it. After 50 years, it's time for change - not celebration. SeaWorld needs a new team of forward-thinking executives who recognize that what was done to Tilikum (and other animals) was wrong. Don't buy a ticket to SeaWorld. Don't buy a ticket to any whale or dolphin show anywhere in the world. Spread the word.
Naomi Rose! My hero! Read the book, 'Death at SeaWorld'. The work she has put into anti-cap work is astounding. Orcas are using extreme restraint, obviously: they are huge animals & there'd be a lot more dead trainers otherwise. In the ocean, when a calf is misbehaving, the mother holds it down at the bottom for a bit. This is the same behavior exhibited in 'attacks'.
Jake Cunningham what would you prefer ? A few years to live but with real freedom and maybe happiness, or many many years to live but in a living hell (meaning, worse than death) ? that's the very question !
@ Jake Cunningham. Dr. Naomi Rose isn't suggesting releasing him independently back into the ocean. Tilikum is too mentally disturbed at this stage. It would be dangerous for him, other whales & any people he might encounter out in the ocean. What she is saying is that the humane option would be to release him to an open water sea pen, where he would still rely on human care but would finally get a taste of the freedom that was stolen from him.
Yes i agree Tilikum has suffered long enough he deserves his freedom back! And i dont beleive he will die in the wild these animals are extremely smart even smarter than humans! They all deserve their freedom..
The best comments I heard in this video are near the very end, where she says that Tilikum should be released to the open ocean. The very best that could be done for him is for Sea World to locate his pod and to foot the bill in the name of Dawn Brancheau and the others and return Tilikum with his pod in the open ocean. Let him be who he wants and deserves to be.
My hope would be that they let this beautiful whale go like they did for free willy, Keiko. Is there anything going on for this whale?? I would like to know and help!!
Something people forget also is that with other animals taken from the wild and put in wildlife parks or reserves - they're never made to do tricks. The fact that Tillikum was probably had some kind of effect on him; you never know what's going on inside a whale's mind when they're being made to do that kind of thing.
Thank you Trayceerae, Get a book titled "Death at Sea World" you're more them welcome to get back to me and give me your feed back on the book.Tilikum was traumatize from the day he was captured.
I am 50/50 on the captivity issue. I think that sea world can learn many things from these orcas and help stranded orcas to have a better chance of living. But at the same time they took him out of his home.
Don't transients eat Seals and other whales?? They aren't really fish eaters, from what I understand. If I were a whale, I wouldn't want Dead Fish thrown in my mouth! How do They know if he's had his fill?? And Boring surroundings!! Just "One Big Sad Story!"
1. the tanks are too small, they need to be in the ocean and seas. 2. They're used to live in community, with family. Here he's alone, trapped, and has to work till he dies. It is simply horrible. We still torture animals like they're nothing. it has to stop
Swim free you say?You can't compare a tank to the ocean...And Tili isn't the only one born in the wild, Katina was too.The person on the video suggests to put Tili in a sea pen,just like they did for Keiko before releasing him to the ocean.Although Keiko never found a pod to live with, he didn't follow boats and people for fish, he managed to live and feed on his own.Tili could do just the same. And I have been to SeaWorld and I'd rather wait decades to see wild orcas than see them like that.
I feel that a lot of people are missing that she suggests retiring him to an "open ocean sea-pen". Not just the open ocean. Might be a good compromise for poor Tillikum.
Dawn B. would have never wanted him isolated! It was an accident! She was on the side ledge..towards end of dine with show Tilikum got possesive of his pool...they owed him more fish..not the sludge at the bottom of the bucket...and his history alerted of his intelligence and possesive nature regarding his pool...he died alone...
i agree they`ve ruined the lives of this whale and other captives. An open sea enclosure and to stop using these animals for entertainment purpose, would in part, reduce some of the injustice of the situation and let them live out as near natural a life as possible in the circumstances we created.
Seaworld your time had come opinions have changed and people don't need or want this greedy money grabbing show anymore... tic toc.. time to.close ! Free those wonderful animals NOW !
I think that would be best for Tillikum. He should be set free. I feel so sorry for both the whale and trainer and hope there can be something positive out of this tragedy.
all of you saying that this whale could not survive is the wild, are you serious? this is the most intelligent dominant predator in existence. it's doesn't need to be taught to hunt fish no more than i bird needs to be taught to fly south. remember he was taken from the ocean! he was three. three years of killing and eating. trust me he hasn't forgotten, clearly. these animals are thought to be smarter than humans so it would stand to reason that they would be fine if they were to be released.
I totally agree with the lady's suggestions to retire Tilikum, yet it's sadly far from SeaWorld's plans. Tilikum is the money maker. He's the star of the show. They're not going to get rid of a source of income, especially a large one. It's sad to see these orcas treated like this; I believe that they're more intelligent than some humans, especially the people who advocate this inhumane practice. It's all for money.
It really breaks my heart that it has to come to this to get people thinking that maybe separating and penning wild animals is not a good idea. I hope they let the whale go, or at least drastically improve it's living situation.
Well whats better, having this whale in captivity for the remainder of his life or set him free to enjoy the rest of his life, you say he can't hunt, uh well hes killed 3 people who's to say he can't catch himself a seal or something, I;m sure if he gets really hungry he'd find a way to survive, this animal needs to be free he was stolen from his mother as a calf, they're highly intelligent mammals and he doesn't deserve this life! SHAME ON YOU SEA WORLD!
I do NOT agree with captivity and I think it's wrong to take a whale from an ocean for entertainment purposes so don't think with what I am about to say that I agree the whales should be kept. However, I disagree with some comments I see below with people saying they should take all the whales and release them into the wild. I would like nothing more then to see that happen, but in reality when you think about it these animals were captured since they were babies and kept for many years adapting to being fed humans, having humans contact, amongst other things like not holding their breaths for longer periods at a time like you do in the ocean, and learning how to dive deeper. You must not forget most captive whales forget what the wild life is. So in saying that, to release the animals just like that in the wild again they would die not knowing how to fend for themselves or feed themselves etc. THey would literally have to be trained to be able to survive into the wild again and not be dependant on humans and most importantly learn how to hunt for their food instead of it being fed to them.
Yea, watching this is VERY sad. Though I have angry feelings of what happened to DAWN, his main trainer, who loved him and spent ALL that time with him, that he DID that, yet, watching THIS shows how sad for this animal to be trapped in this isolation. I feel mixed. Whale is smart enough not to do that. Yet, every intelligent thing breaks at some point!
that is just sad. I have been to sea world, AND am a scuba diver and I can tell you this, these tanks are probably at most 30 feet deep these whales can dive deeper than that and they live in the real deal, if anything these are terrible places for whales. they cant echo locate, its a way to find things they cant normally see, and on top of that, their mortality rate is reduced to their teens, TEENS!! in the wild they can live as long as 80! I dont know how you havent learned all that by now...
If seaworld wanted to make conditions better they would have to stop replacing the whales that died. And they would have to use a cove as a large enough "tank" to keep them. They still would have to keep Tillikum seperate, but at least he would have enough space to swim. Returning them to the wild is almost impossible because most of them were born there or caught as very young whales...
How old would Tilikum be then? If he's getting old, they need to at least set him free for the last few years of his life. Because that's where he BELONGS! He's heartbroken and depressed! :'(
When will people learn how absolutely cruel it is to keep these beautiful animals confined like this. It is a wonder that the poor thing has not gone insane by now. One day when the world is civilised this will no longer happen. When every animal in the world has a good life, then we can say that we are civilised.
The death of all the trainers over the years are truly sad. But as most can agree the treatment of the whales is sad also. I wonder how these trainers who in a lot if not all have a marine biology degree or some sort of schooling can go to their jobs each day knowing that these awesome creatures are put thru hell each day. I also wonder why people continue to pay to watch this cruelty go on. Also it doesn't take a genius to see if you release more than one animal after they are used to each oth
The poor thing. He doesn't belong in a tank like that. Yeah, he may be treated well and all, but that's no way for any animal to live, in a glass prison. Gods I hope they don't put him down :-(
trainers know what they killerwhales can do, they get in the water at there own risk so no one should get angry at the whales, expecting them not to attack is like expecting us not to shit. its not controllable
@rawtalklive In captivity they often develop pathologies, such as the dorsal fin collapse seen in 60-90% of captive males. Captives have vastly reduced life expectancies, on average only living into their 20s. In the wild, females who survive infancy live 50 years on average, and up to 70-80 years in rare cases. Wild males who survive infancy live 30 years on average, and up to 50-60 years. Anti-whaling governments and groups have strongly opposed Japan's whaling program. Need I continue?
Not true, Luna was a male killer whale who lived in Pugent sound by himself for years, because he had gotten lost from his pod one day. There is record of some killer whales leaving their current pods, in order to live by themselves and find other pods, and mates, so Tillikum would be perfectly fine if he was released. That is, if he still has the knowledge of how to hunt and survive in the wild..But killer whales, or any dolphin species for that matter, are incredibly smart, so I'm sure he does
i completely agree with you that these trainers are playing with fire getting in the water with wild and frustrated (with a right to be so) animals but don't disregard human life. It was a terrible thing that happened to those trainers. However these beautiful orca whales need to be in the ocean where they can lead a normal healthy life- away from the greed and cruelty of our species.
Sea World is a conservation park. These animals are meant to educate and entertain. In the overall picture of things, this is for the good of the species. By keeping a handfull or so of animals like this in captivity, people are able to see the close up and alive which gives a much greater depth to their importance. Also, if you're going to complain about keeping animals in captivity, get rid of all zoos and stop breeding domestic pets because its the same damn thing.
Okay look, SeaWorld is TERRIBLE! No living animal should be in captivity and has to be sad all the time. All the animals in SeaWorld are sad no matter how happy they seem. If the Killer Whales were in the wild, I am sure that they would not mind you swimming with them. They eat fish and seals, they will not hurt you, but when kept in a tank, they want to take revenge. They have feelings and the reason they don't attack often is either because they are scared or they know they will never be home.
I completely agree with her. It is wrong, it is stupid for people to say that the animal is fine when he really is not. It just shows how stupid we humans can be because when ANY animal is trying to tell us something we simply sit there and ignore it. It is morally wrong, and Sea World should definitely let him out in the wild where he belongs.
