I've been reading up on this since it happened, thanks to Josh for sending me a link about it otherwise I would have probably missed it last night. The Orlando Sentinel has written up an interesting article about it all, which you can view here
It's an interesting story, perhaps overplayed slightly with hysterical headlines and exaggerated eye-witness reports (because of course, the whale is going to JUMP out the tank, grab her and drag her in!), but I think it highlights some major points with regards to keeping Orcas in captivity and human interaction with them.
The fact Orcas are kept in captivity is a debate, in itself, far too large for me to even attempt to cover in a few paragraphs. But I'm going to try it anyway, even if it's far too complex. There are definate Pros and Cons to each side of the argument, but I will openly admit I don't take either side, sitting on the fence inbetween. Having been to SeaWorld a few times, I can see they do the damn well best they can for their Orcas. The Orcas have a lot of stimulation and interaction, and a much larger tank than you would perhaps expect, and appear in good health. Compared to somewhere like Miami Seaquarium, where Lolita is kept in a tank roughly 1.5 times her size and spends all day circling, vocalising for her pod, SeaWorld is effectively captive Orca heaven.
However, there are questions with regards to SeaWorld that this incident has raised, some of which have always been in my mind since the last time I visited (I was 16 at the time), a few coming from spending a good 45 minutes walking up and down alongside the window on the tank and having Tilikum follow me back and forth, before then just sitting and watching him for a while.
Something I've always wondered is why SeaWorld continue to house Tilikum and use him in shows.
Captured off the coast of Iceland in 1983, he is roughly 30 years old now and has been in captivity for most of his life. He literally dwarfs the other Orcas, coming in at over 22ft long and 5.5 tonnes, and is the largest Orca in captivity. His history includes no human interaction at the first park he was kept at, resulting in him accidentally drowning a trainer when she fell in his tank. You cannot condemn him for this, as he had no knowledge that humans don't survive underwater for prolonged periods of time and that they also don't particuarly take well to being held on to by an Orca. It's not because he is violent or a killer, as if he had been attacking it would have been a much more violent event, it is most likely because of his lack of interaction and his brief early life in the wild.
It is also not the reason he was moved to SeaWorld, this was due to the fact that the 2 females he was kept with began acting aggressively towards him.
So, when a non-SeaWorld employee decided to sneak into his tank one night, the same thing occured, Tilikum wanted to play. Whether this happened again or this was infact some kind of territorial/aggressive thing cannot really be said at this stage, however the fact he pulled on the trainer's hair and again wasn't particuarly violent suggests that it was more playing. Or at least I hope it was, but the fact SeaWorld now keep him separate from other Orcas due to his "aggressive nature" towards them is troubling. He appears to be allowed frequent but short interaction with the pod, rather than being totally banned from them.
Perhaps this could be seen as cruel, unfair and perhaps inhumane. However, the fact is, (in my opinion) he is better off being kept on his own in captivity. If kept in the pod, he could cause serious injuries to the others, and any attempt to release him into the wild would probably be seriously flawed and detrimental. This is an animal that has been kept in captivity for most of it's life and more than likely lacks the skills, both socially and as a hunter, to survive in the wild. The case to look at here would be that of Keiko, the Orca who was used in the Free Willy films. After much rehabilitation and teaching, he was lost on a supervised swim in the open ocean, preparing him for a return to a pod. But he still had no real skills to hunt or look after himself, resulting in pneumonia and eventually death, and perhaps this shows that even after years of extensive work to rehabilitate Orcas to the wild, it may simply not be possible for it to ever work.
The fact Tilikum is also aggressive towards other Orcas could also potentially be a bad thing, but (throwing ideas around here), perhaps this is a dominance or territorial thing, it may change in a pod in the open ocean. I really have no idea, hence why I generally end up with no real conclusions on the situation (and in which case, if you're hoping for one, you really ought to stop reading now).
However, the fact he was taken from the wild again raises more questions - should this have ever been done in the first place, was it really necessary, and what does it say about us?
I have no real problem with SeaWorld housing Orcas born in captivity, because they don't have any notion of the wild and have constant human interaction. With Orcas like Tilikum, taking them from the wild and dumping them in a tank will surely have psychological effects, and incidents are bound to occur due to a lack of understanding from both the Orca and the trainers.
It can be argued that without taking them from the wild, there would be no Orcas born into captivity, and therefore maybe it was necessary. But then is it necessary to keep them in a tank and entertain people? Necessary to make a profit, perhaps, but not necessary for the animal or, indeed, the customers. There is also a slight argument about research into the species and behaviour, but surely this is flawed as studying them in the wild would provide much better and realistic results?
The 45 minutes of him following me threw up various questions with regards to why he was doing it. I would suspect boredom would be part of it, being kept on your own in a tank can't be much fun. Was he playing? Part of me thinks so. The fact he constantly tracked me along the windows was enjoyable, but made me wonder, was this also enjoyable for him? Surely it must have been for him to continue to do so. I will always look back on that moment in time with awe and amazement, as I only found the viewing area by going "what's down this path?" and dragging my parents and brother down it. For 30 minutes or so, we were the only people there and it was simply amazing to have this Orca follow me back and forth along a giant pane of glass
I'm not sure where I'm going with this any more, as I'm simply trying to show the two sides to the story and the ideas behind them. I've probably asked more questions than I have answered. Maybe I ought to tie this up.
I will admit, I find Orcas fucking awesome, they are brilliant, intelligent, majestic creatures. If I ever had the opportunity to work or interact with them, I would do it instantly. But, these things are killing machines, and as such there is an inherent risk. The staff at SeaWorld understand this, and perhaps that is the most important point: The trainer knew there was a risk, but she did the job because she loved it. And as such, it is neither her fault, that of SeaWorld, or, realistically, that of the Orca. It was simply an accident. If you think badly of SeaWorld or their staff, I highly suggest you do some research into their conservation efforts and compare the care of their Orcas with those kept in other parks.
On a side note, there is also an interesting quote in the Guardian from the head of Animal Training at SeaWorld, about Tilikum's training and the general actions of staff, which you can read here
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