Respect The Dead & Protect The Living: Kill Tilikum The Killer Whale

For Advertising Info, Write.
rwnews@blogads.com

Premium Left blogad

Left Blog Ad

Permalinks

Respect The Dead & Protect The Living: Kill Tilikum The Killer Whale

Written By : John Hawkins

Unless you’re a nut, like the people at PETA, people come before animals. And when we’re talking about an ORCA that has turned into a serial killer, it needs to be put down or at least released in the wild:

A SeaWorld Orlando animal trainer died Wednesday from “multiple traumatic injuries and drowning” after a killer whale pulled her underwater by her long ponytail near the theme park’s Shamu Stadium, authorities said Thursday.

Dawn Brancheau, 40, was “interacting” with the killer whale in knee-deep water “when the animal grabbed her by the hair, said to be in a long ponytail, and pulled her underwater,” according to a statement from the Orange County Sheriff’s Office.

“Rescuers were not able to immediately jump in and render assistance” to Brancheau because of the orca’s “aggressive nature.”

Meanwhile, an official at SeaWorld Orlando said that the killer whale, named Tilikum, is being evaluated, but that the theme park will keep the 12,000-pound dominant male.

Tilikum pulled Brancheau into his tank about 2 p.m. Wednesday. The attack — the third human death linked to the killer whale since 1991 — made international news.

…In 1999, park officials found the naked body of Daniel Dukes lying across Tilikum’s back at SeaWorld Orlando. Dukes apparently had sneaked into SeaWorld after hours to swim with the animals.

SeaWorld acquired Tilikum after another fatal incident. In 1991, Tilikum and two female killer whales dragged trainer Keltie Byrne underwater, drowning her in front of spectators at Sealand of the Pacific, a now-defunct aquarium in British Columbia, Canada.

I love my dog, but if it actually killed someone, I wouldn’t think twice about having it put down. In this case, there are now 3 dead human beings associated with this Orca. The first two were a little iffy, but in the last case, the animal just snuffed her out — which makes you really wonder about the previous two cases.

I know, “It’s an animal, John. It just doesn’t understand what it’s doing.” That may be, but we’re humans, and we can understand that this thing is killing people and it needs to be stopped. Ideally, they would terminate the thing. If they don’t have the heart to do that, they should at least release it in the wild where it can’t hurt anyone else and if it can’t survive because of its years in captivity, well — good.

The bottom line is that there are human beings that are dead because of this creature and out of respect for them and to insure the safety of other people, this killer whale should be put down.

NorthernCanuck

“there are human beings that are dead because of this creature ‘

I disagree. There are human beings that are dead because they put this creature in a tank then “interacted” (played) with it. It’s not the creature’s fault; it’s a killer whale for cripes sake!
I think it’s a Chinese saying about riding a smiling tiger and ending up in the tiger’s belly. Can’t blame the tiger as it’s just being a tiger.

They took this animal on so they should have to care for it and stop playing with it. Anything else is like bringing a dog home and when you no longer feel like playing you shoot it.
D-Vega

Right on, Canuck. This type of magnificant creature shouldn’t be in a tank.

The woman made a mistake. The whale didn’t know any better.

Respect the Dead & Protect the Living. Stop keeping large wild animals in capitivity for the sake of performances.
karensp9

I have to agree let it free where it belongs people should have some common sense anyway I mean it’s name is a “killer Whale” hello!!!
StanInTexas

The animal was behaving… like an animal.

It is a wild creature. Return it to the wild and let nature take it’s course.
carol4alan

I feel you can never be sure what mother nature holds in store for us. You cannot take the wild out of certain creatures. I feel it is the risk people take when they ‘mess’ with wild creatures. For god’s sake, it is NOT the whale’s fault.Let him go back to the ocean and fend for himself. How many predators are out for killer whales? I think he may have a better life free.
Smithwick

If only there was some warning that interacting with these whales make end in killing. Hmm . . .
Mike_M

They should put a shark into its tank and let them fight to the death. Chuck Norris could guest-referee.
NorthernCanuck

They should put a shark into its tank and let them fight to the death. Chuck Norris could guest-referee.
Posted by Mike_M
2010-02-26 14:16:33

Or an octopus. Octopii are bad ass, I know because I’ve seen them in action on Family Guy.
Jack Schite

Whales will be whales.
rjschwarz

Letting it free into the wild will send a terrible message to the Killer Whales still in captivity. That’s like giving a kill a trainer get out of jail free card. Better to be internationalists and let the Japanese decide what to do with the Killer Whales since they have so much experience in handling whales.

I think part of the problem might be that they name every Killer Whale Shamu. For all we know Shamu was the Uncle Tom of the Killer Whale world and we’re insulting them everytime we call them that.

Okay, snark time is over. When a zoo animal tastes human blood it is common to put them down for the safety of the trainers and staff. It’s tough to be a killer whale but them’s the rules and they made those rules for a reason.
NorthernCanuck

Posted by rjschwarz
2010-02-26 15:11:58

If they harm the whale it’ll just be a propaganda tool for recruiting more whales and next thing you know there’s “killer” whales in all the oceans!
julesi

Com’on, all you meanies who want to free the whale are just secretly hoping that it will find the nearest Greenpeace vessel and have at it!

The stupid thing has killed three times. I can’t wait to see the lawsuit on this one. Did this trainer know about this particular beast’s past killings? Was there full disclosure? I’d take that case on a retainer basis!
WSOwen02

If they harm the whale it’ll just be a propaganda tool for recruiting more whales and next thing you know there’s “killer” whales in all the oceans!
Posted by NorthernCanuck
2010-02-26 15:14:44

I’m sure we’ve all seen The Simpsons Halloween episode where the dolphins come back to retake the land. One of the best episodes.
http://www.superdickery.com mightysamurai

All snark aside, the animal has clearly become unmanageable. Killing one trainer could be reasonably considered an accident. Dragging a second trainer by her hair from the shallow end to the deep end of the pool and killing her is not an accident. John’s point stands. The whale needs to either be put down or released into the wild.
NorthernCanuck

Posted by mightysamurai
2010-02-26 15:34:16

I’d agree that’s one whale who isn’t enjoying his captivity and is quite likely waiting (however consciously or instinctively it can) to kill again.
The whale probably doesn’t have much chance at a free life, I believe that’s been tried before, but they should give it a shot.

After a few elephant attacks the whole process of tending to them changed and it’s now standard to always have a gate between the handler and the animal. These folks may want to stop interacting so closely.

I feel a little bad about being snarky but no more so than when I’m reading the Darwin awards. I’ve had the pool side dinner at San Diego Seaworld where you’re only yards away from the water and was offered to to get closer and do a bit of whale feeding. I declined, just as I would decline holding out meat to a lion. I’ve also been swimming off the Gulf Islands and ended that activity when a pod was spotted. Again; common sense. These folks want to be on an intimate level with killer whales then there should be no surprise nor malice when they get dinged (I’m not saying you or anyone has malice, just general statement).

Free Willy!
Hookset

Why not just get the captain from Whale Wars to dress as an orca, he already has the body for it, and let him swim around sea world.
tblrk2006

Release it.
Whitehorse

Whatever happens, I think it would be stupid to have this whale in a position to grab another human. I think if it were let go, it would do just fine in the wild.

I would also imagine this was not the very first time the whale saw the trainer’s ponytail. Seals have no ponytails, & from the description he treated her like a seal.

If he was put down, he could definitely feed a lot of people in Haiti…
democratsarefascists

“Killer Whale?”

Don’t you mean “Disadvantaged Whale-American?”
SGT_Jones

I dunno if releasing an apex predator that has killed three people already into the wild is a great idea. What happens when Tilly decides to “play” with a diver?

Maybe they could put him in a research facility where he wouldn’t be interacting with trainers?
Toastrider

Funny you should mention Darwin Awards, NorthernCanuck.

Daniel Dukes (the 1999 death) earned a Darwin Award for climbing into the tank to swim with Tilikum.

There’s a reason they’re called /wild/ animals, folks. I think lions and bears are cool too, but I sure as hell wouldn’t stand too close to one. And when you’re dealing with a top-tier marine predator bigger than your Ford F-150…

So yeah. I like my wildlife small and manageable.
http://www.superdickery.com mightysamurai

I dunno if releasing an apex predator that has killed three people already into the wild is a great idea. What happens when Tilly decides to “play” with a diver?

Same thing that happens when any other killer whale meets a human diver. The diver (if he’s smart) will swim away and leave it alone.
http://TheNixonTape.Blogspot.Com Dick_Nixon

Think of it as evolution in action.

God, Nixon wishes he had come up with that statement. Niven, he is the best for a reason.
Rjschwarz

At Sea World in San Diego they have a number of Orcas with messed up teeth or who grew up in captivity that would have trouble if released in the wild. May not be relevent, who knows.
D-Vega

The animal would die if released. It wouldn’t know how to survive. I believe it’s been in capitivity for 30 yrs.

Seaworld now has both a responsibility to care for this animal, while keeping people safe around it.
http://www.superdickery.com mightysamurai

The animal would die if released.

Then it needs to be put down, for its own good as much as everyone else’s.

You said it yourself, animals such as these should not be kept in a tank for entertainment purposes. If it can’t be released either, then it needs to be put out of its misery.
D-Vega

Now that it is in capitivity, they have a responsibility to care for it.

No, it shouldn’t be put down. It never should have been there in the first place.
http://fiverr.com/users/magicmooster/gigs/create-70-edu-backlinks-to-your-website cheap quality backlinks

Super site! I will defently bookmark it!!!

If I Was Your President (Boyfriend Spoof)

Premium Right Ads

Blogads Right

Previous Features

40 Of The Most Bad-Ass, Masculine, Manly, Alpha Male Quotes Of All Time

Why Men Are Becoming Wimpy, Video Game Playing Slackers Who Don’t Want To Get Married

Horror You Will Never Get Out Of Your Brain Again: Bronies

The 10 Best Obama Ate A Dog Images From Around The Web

User Info

Features

Archives Best of RWN Humor John Hawkins Interviews Quotes Special to RWN