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=== Fatalities === === Fatalities ===
While ] in the wild are can happen and very few fatal attacks have been recorded,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.whalefacts.org/killer-whale-attacks/ |title=Killer Whale Attacks |date=April 5, 2013 |website=Whale Facts |access-date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> as of 2022 four humans have died due to interactions with captive orcas.<ref name="TrioKByrne" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dolphinproject.com/blog/trio-of-deaths-the-portrayal-of-daniel-dukes/ |title=Trio of Deaths: The Portrayal of Daniel Dukes |first=Elizabeth |last=Batt |date=March 7, 2017 |website=Dolphin Project |access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dolphinproject.com/blog/five-years-on-revisiting-the-death-of-dawn-brancheau/ |title=Seven Years On: Revisiting the Death of Dawn Brancheau |first=Elizabeth |last=Batt |date=February 20, 2017 |website=Dolphin Project|access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.planetexperts.com/footage-shows-captive-orca-ramming-head-gate/ |title=Footage Shows Captive Orca Ramming Its Head Against Gate |date=April 27, 2016 |website=Planet Experts |access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref> Tilikum was involved in three of those deaths. While ] in the wild are rare, and no fatal attacks have been recorded,<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.whalefacts.org/killer-whale-attacks/ |title=Killer Whale Attacks |date=April 5, 2013 |website=Whale Facts |access-date=August 3, 2019}}</ref> as of 2022 four humans have died due to interactions with captive orcas.<ref name="TrioKByrne" /><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dolphinproject.com/blog/trio-of-deaths-the-portrayal-of-daniel-dukes/ |title=Trio of Deaths: The Portrayal of Daniel Dukes |first=Elizabeth |last=Batt |date=March 7, 2017 |website=Dolphin Project |access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.dolphinproject.com/blog/five-years-on-revisiting-the-death-of-dawn-brancheau/ |title=Seven Years On: Revisiting the Death of Dawn Brancheau |first=Elizabeth |last=Batt |date=February 20, 2017 |website=Dolphin Project|access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.planetexperts.com/footage-shows-captive-orca-ramming-head-gate/ |title=Footage Shows Captive Orca Ramming Its Head Against Gate |date=April 27, 2016 |website=Planet Experts |access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref> Tilikum was involved in three of those deaths.


==== First death ==== ==== First death ====
{{Main|Death of Keltie Byrne}} {{Main|Death of Keltie Byrne}}
On February 20, 1991, Keltie Byrne, a 21-year-old marine biology student and competitive swimmer, slipped and fell into the sea pen containing Tilikum, Haida II, and Nootka IV while working as a part-time trainer at Sealand of the Pacific. The three orcas submerged her, dragging her around the pool and preventing her from surfacing.<ref name="pbs">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/whales/seaworld/tilikum/ |title=Inside Seaworld – The Tilikum Transaction |website=PBS Frontline}}</ref> At one point, she reached the side and tried to climb out, but the orcas pulled her back into the sea pen. Other trainers threw her a life-ring, but the animals kept her away from it, ignoring the trainer's recall commands.<ref name="zimmermann" /> She surfaced three times before ], and it was several hours before her body could be recovered from the sea pen.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/whales/debate/trainers.html |title=The Performing Orcas – why the show must stop |last=Hoyt |first=Eric |website=Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society |year=1992}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter=The Killer in the Pool |first=Tim |last=Zimmerman |title=The Best American Sampler 2011 |page=336 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Trainer dragged to death by whales |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=February 21, 1991}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tilikum incident still haunts Wright |last=Helm |first=Denise |newspaper=Oak Bay News |date=March 4, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sealand opens its doors for first show since drowning |newspaper=The Vancouver Sun |date=March 4, 1991}}</ref> On February 20, 1991, Keltie Byrne, a 21-year-old marine biology student and competitive swimmer, slipped and fell into the pool containing Tilikum, Haida II, and Nootka IV while working as a part-time trainer at Sealand of the Pacific. The three orcas submerged her, dragging her around the pool and preventing her from surfacing.<ref name="pbs">{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/whales/seaworld/tilikum/ |title=Inside Seaworld – The Tilikum Transaction |website=PBS Frontline}}</ref> At one point, she reached the side and tried to climb out, but the orcas pulled her back into the pool. Other trainers threw her a life-ring, but the animals kept her away from it, ignoring the trainer's recall commands.<ref name="zimmermann" /> She surfaced three times before ], and it was several hours before her body could be recovered from the pool.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/whales/debate/trainers.html |title=The Performing Orcas – why the show must stop |last=Hoyt |first=Eric |website=Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society |year=1992}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |chapter=The Killer in the Pool |first=Tim |last=Zimmerman |title=The Best American Sampler 2011 |page=336 |publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt |year=2011}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Trainer dragged to death by whales |newspaper=Toronto Star |date=February 21, 1991}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Tilikum incident still haunts Wright |last=Helm |first=Denise |newspaper=Oak Bay News |date=March 4, 2010}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |title=Sealand opens its doors for first show since drowning |newspaper=The Vancouver Sun |date=March 4, 1991}}</ref>


Tilikum was moved to SeaWorld Orlando on January 9, 1992.<ref>{{cite web |title=Troubled Orca's Early History (Video) |url=https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2013/10/23/erin-pkg-savidge-tilikum-early-years.cnn |first=Martin |last=Savidge |date=October 23, 2013 |website=CNN |access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref> Sealand of the Pacific closed soon afterward.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.obmg.com/timeline |title=Timeline |website=Oak Bay Marine Group |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624031247/http://www.obmg.com/timeline/ |archive-date=June 24, 2012}}</ref> Tilikum was moved to SeaWorld Orlando on January 9, 1992.<ref>{{cite web |title=Troubled Orca's Early History (Video) |url=https://www.cnn.com/videos/us/2013/10/23/erin-pkg-savidge-tilikum-early-years.cnn |first=Martin |last=Savidge |date=October 23, 2013 |website=CNN |access-date=August 14, 2019}}</ref> Sealand of the Pacific closed soon afterward.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.obmg.com/timeline |title=Timeline |website=Oak Bay Marine Group |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120624031247/http://www.obmg.com/timeline/ |archive-date=June 24, 2012}}</ref>

Revision as of 03:39, 3 July 2022

Deceased captive killer whale For other uses, see Tillicum.

Tilikum
Tilikum during a 2009 performance at SeaWorld
SpeciesOrca (Orcinus orca)
BreedIcelandic
SexMale
Bornc. December 1981
DiedJanuary 6, 2017(2017-01-06) (aged 35)
Orlando, Florida
Years active1983–2016
Known forInvolvement in the deaths of three people
Offspring21 (9 alive as of July 2021)
Weight12,500 lb (5,700 kg)

Tilikum (c. December 1981 – January 6, 2017), nicknamed Tilly, was a captive male orca who spent most of his life at SeaWorld Orlando in Florida. He was captured in Iceland in 1983; about a year later, he was transferred to Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia. He was subsequently transferred in 1992 to SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida where he sired 21 calves throughout his life.

Tilikum was heavily featured in CNN Films' 2013 documentary Blackfish, which claims that orcas in captivity suffer psychological damage and become unnaturally aggressive. Tilikum was involved in the deaths of three people: Keltie Byrne, a trainer at the now-defunct Sealand of the Pacific; Daniel P. Dukes, a man trespassing in SeaWorld Orlando; and SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau.

Description

Tilikum was the largest orca in captivity. He measured 22.5 feet (6.9 m) long and weighed about 12,500 pounds (5,700 kg). His pectoral fins were 7 feet (2.1 m) long, his fluke curled under, and his 6.5-foot-tall (2.0 m) dorsal fin was collapsed completely to his left side.

His name, in the Chinook Jargon of the Pacific Northwest, means "friends, relations, tribe, nation, common people".

Life

Tilikum at SeaWorld Orlando (2009)

Origin

Tilikum was captured when he was two years old, along with two other young orcas, by a purse-seine net in November 1983, at Berufjörður, Eastern Iceland. After almost a year in a tank at the Hafnarfjördur Marine Zoo, he was transferred to Sealand of the Pacific, in Oak Bay, a suburb of the city of Victoria on Vancouver Island, Canada. At Sealand, he lived with two older female killer whales named Haida II and Nootka IV. As a result of their matriarchal social structure, Tilikum was abused by Haida II and Nootka IV who behaved aggressively towards him, including forcing him into a smaller medical pool where trainers kept him for protection.

Fatalities

While orca attacks on humans in the wild are rare, and no fatal attacks have been recorded, as of 2022 four humans have died due to interactions with captive orcas. Tilikum was involved in three of those deaths.

First death

Main article: Death of Keltie Byrne

On February 20, 1991, Keltie Byrne, a 21-year-old marine biology student and competitive swimmer, slipped and fell into the pool containing Tilikum, Haida II, and Nootka IV while working as a part-time trainer at Sealand of the Pacific. The three orcas submerged her, dragging her around the pool and preventing her from surfacing. At one point, she reached the side and tried to climb out, but the orcas pulled her back into the pool. Other trainers threw her a life-ring, but the animals kept her away from it, ignoring the trainer's recall commands. She surfaced three times before drowning, and it was several hours before her body could be recovered from the pool.

Tilikum was moved to SeaWorld Orlando on January 9, 1992. Sealand of the Pacific closed soon afterward.

Second death

Main article: Daniel P. Dukes

On July 6, 1999, a 27-year-old man, Daniel P. Dukes, was found dead over Tilikum's back in his sleeping pool. Dukes had visited SeaWorld the previous day, stayed after the park closed, and evaded security to enter the tank unclothed. An autopsy found numerous wounds, contusions, and abrasions covering his body, and his genitals had been bitten off, all allegedly caused by Tilikum. Despite numerous cameras around and inside the pool that are supposed to monitor the well-being of the orcas, SeaWorld claims the event was not captured. The autopsy concluded that Dukes' cause of death was drowning. The medical examiner reports that no drugs or alcohol were found in Dukes' system.

Third death

Main article: Dawn Brancheau

On February 24, 2010, Tilikum killed Dawn Brancheau, a 40-year-old SeaWorld trainer. Brancheau was killed following a Dine with Shamu show. The veteran trainer was rubbing Tilikum as part of a post-show routine when the orca grabbed her by her ponytail and pulled her into the water. Some witnesses reported seeing Tilikum grab Brancheau by the arm or shoulder. He reportedly scalped her then bit off her arm and swallowed it during the attack. Brancheau's autopsy indicated death by drowning and blunt force trauma.

Return to performing

Tilikum returned to performing on March 30, 2011. High-pressure water hoses were used to massage him, rather than hands, and removable guardrails were used on the platforms, as OSHA has restricted close contact between orcas and trainers and reinforced safety precautions on the workplace after Brancheau's death. He was paired with his grandson Trua and was often seen performing alongside him during the finale of the new One Ocean show. He had on occasion been kept with his daughter Malia, or both Trua and Malia at the same time. In December 2011, he was put on hiatus from the shows following an undisclosed illness. He resumed performing in April 2012.

Declining health and death

SeaWorld announced in March 2016 Tilikum's health was deteriorating, and it was thought he had a lung infection due to bacterial pneumonia. In May 2016, it was reported Tilikum's health was improving. On January 6, 2017, SeaWorld announced that Tilikum had died early in the morning. The cause of death was reported as a bacterial infection.

Offspring

See also: List of captive orcas

Tilikum sired 21 offspring in captivity, 9 of which were alive as of July 2021.

While at Sealand of the Pacific, Tilikum sired his first calf when he was about eight or nine years old. His first son, Kyuquot, was born to Haida II on December 24, 1991. Just a few months prior to the birth of Kyuquot, Tilikum was involved in the first incident involving a death. Seaworld requested an emergency transfer of Tilikum to their facility.

Following his arrival at SeaWorld, Tilikum sired many calves with many different females. His first calf born in Orlando was to Katina. Katina gave birth to Taku on September 9, 1993. Taku died on October 17, 2007.

Among Tilikum's other offspring are: Nyar (born 1993, died 1996), Unna (1996–2015), Sumar (1998–2010), Tuar (1999), Tekoa (2000), Nakai (2001), Kohana (2002), Ikaika (2002), Skyla (2004-2021), Malia (2007), Sakari (2010) and Makaio (2010).

In 1999, Tilikum began training for artificial insemination. In early 2000, Kasatka who resided at SeaWorld San Diego was artificially inseminated using his sperm. She gave birth to Tilikum's son, Nakai, on September 1, 2001. On May 3, 2002, another female in San Diego, named Takara, bore Tilikum's calf through artificial insemination. Tilikum was also the first successful, surviving grandfather orca in captivity with the births of Trua (2005), Nalani (2006), Adán (2010) and Victoria (2012–2013).

Controversy

On December 7, 2010, TMZ reported that SeaWorld's president, Terry Prather, received a letter from PETA and Mötley Crüe member Tommy Lee referencing SeaWorld's announcement regarding limiting human contact with Tilikum. In the letter, Lee refers to Tilikum as SeaWorld's "Chief Sperm Bank" and asserts that the relevant process constitutes continued human contact. The letter implores SeaWorld to release Tilikum from his tank, stating, "I hope it doesn't take another tragic death for SeaWorld to realize it shouldn't frustrate these smart animals by keeping them in tanks." On December 8, 2010, the SeaWorld VP of Communications responded to Lee's letter via E! News, stating that PETA's facts were not only inaccurate, but that SeaWorld trainers also "do not now, nor have they ever entered the water with Tilikum for this purpose".

Tilikum and the captivity of orcas is the main subject of the documentary film Blackfish, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2013 and caused a drop in SeaWorld attendance and revenue. The film and a subsequent online petition led to several popular musical groups cancelling performances at SeaWorld and Busch Gardens' "Bands, Brew & BBQ" event in 2014.

See also

References

  1. Document shown in documentary Blackfish states "born 12/1981".
  2. Cave, Damien (February 26, 2010). "Intentions of Whale in Killing Are Debated". The New York Times.
  3. ^ Zimmermann, Tim (July 30, 2010). "The Killer in the Pool". Outside Online. Retrieved December 4, 2012.
  4. "Tilikum, the orca featured in Blackfish doc and blamed for deaths of 3 people, has died". CBC. January 6, 2017.
  5. ^ "The Trio of Deaths – Keltie Byrne". Dolphin Project. February 21, 2017. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  6. Savino, Lenny (July 8, 1999). "Man In Whale Tank Was Drifter". Orlando Sentinel. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  7. Howard, Brian Clark (January 6, 2017). "Why Tilikum, SeaWorld's Killer Orca, Was Infamous". National Geographic News. Retrieved August 2, 2019.
  8. Zimmermann, Tim (March 10, 2016). "Tilikum, SeaWorld's Killer Orca, is Dying". National Geographic News.
  9. "Tilikum". Cetacean Cousins. Archived from the original on August 13, 2012. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  10. "Dorsal Fin Collapse". SeaWorld Fact Check. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
  11. Watson, Kenneth (Greg) (July 2002). "Chinook Jargon". White River Journal. White River Valley Museum. Archived from the original on November 20, 2012. Retrieved August 4, 2012.
  12. ^ "Inside Seaworld – The Tilikum Transaction". PBS Frontline.
  13. "Killer Whale Attacks". Whale Facts. April 5, 2013. Retrieved August 3, 2019.
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  15. Batt, Elizabeth (February 20, 2017). "Seven Years On: Revisiting the Death of Dawn Brancheau". Dolphin Project. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  16. "Footage Shows Captive Orca Ramming Its Head Against Gate". Planet Experts. April 27, 2016. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  17. Hoyt, Eric (1992). "The Performing Orcas – why the show must stop". Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.
  18. Zimmerman, Tim (2011). "The Killer in the Pool". The Best American Sampler 2011. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. p. 336.
  19. "Trainer dragged to death by whales". Toronto Star. February 21, 1991.
  20. Helm, Denise (March 4, 2010). "Tilikum incident still haunts Wright". Oak Bay News.
  21. "Sealand opens its doors for first show since drowning". The Vancouver Sun. March 4, 1991.
  22. Savidge, Martin (October 23, 2013). "Troubled Orca's Early History (Video)". CNN. Retrieved August 14, 2019.
  23. "Timeline". Oak Bay Marine Group. Archived from the original on June 24, 2012.
  24. "Corpse Is Found on Whale". The New York Times. July 6, 1999. Retrieved September 11, 2011.
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  27. ^ Bonner, Stayton (July 7, 1999). "Daniel Dukes' Medical Examiners Report". Scribd. Retrieved July 9, 2013.
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  33. "Seaworld trainer 'dragged to death by her long hair'". The Week UK. Retrieved October 18, 2017.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
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  36. Schiavo, Amanda (November 13, 2013). "SeaWorld Killer Whale: 4 Things To Know About Tilikum And The Captive Cetacean Controversy [VIDEO]". Latin Times. Retrieved April 18, 2021.
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  39. "Autopsy report for Dawn Brancheau" (PDF). Office of the Medical examiner, district nine, FL. Retrieved February 9, 2014.
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