When Killer Whales Attack

The death of a trainer by a captive orca brings up a larger issue

Yesterday, Sea World trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed by an orca named Tilikum.

This tragic event underlines another tragedy: the capturing and confining of these majestic animals for our entertainment.

This is senseless and stupid.

Orcas, or killer whales (Orcinus orca ), are the largest species of the dolphin family.

"They are highly social animals, that tend to live in cohesive groups, so it's quite an artificial environment to capture them and put them in a small area," said wild orca expert Dr. Andrew Foote, from the University of Aberdeen, UK, in a BBC article.

"Tilikum, like other orcas that have been in captivity for decades, was captured from the wild," according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

"Now 30 years old, he was taken from the waters of Iceland at the approximate age of two. Other orcas, such as Corky, who resides at SeaWorld San Diego, and Lolita, residing at the Miami Seaquarium, have been confined for nearly four decades after being captured from their native waters in the Pacific Northwest."

If these captive animals possess some rage against humans, who could blame them?

GET INVOLVED

• Sign a petition urging Arthur Hertz, the owner of Miami Seaquarium, to free Lolita, an orca who has been held in captivity since 1976, currently held in a tiny tank, where she has lived in solitary confinement for 18 years
• Join the Orca Network's "Free Lolita" list and read their proposal to free Lolita the orca
  

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• Hold That Thought About Thought (September 21, 2009)
• First Case of Dolphin Tool Use Documented (December 22, 2008)
• New Film Exposes Japan's Dolphin Slaughter (January 18, 2009)
• Singapore's Dolphin Deal with the Solomons (December 8, 2008)
• Bloody Waters in the Faroe Islands (February 19, 2009)
• Massive Dolphin Slaughter in Japan (June 23, 2008)
• From Dirty Hands to Dolphin Blood (July 28, 2009)
• World Protests Planned for Japan Dolphin Day (August 29, 2008)
• SPECIAL FEATURE: Capt. Philip G. Renaud, If You Could... (March 21, 2009)
• Dolphins Get Much Needed Help (July 30, 2008)
• South Africa's Shark Tale (June 24, 2009)
• Species Feeling the Heat (December 29, 2009)
• Oil and Water Don't Mix (October 7, 2009)
• Denmark: Humpback Whales Are Tasty (June 23, 2009)

image: whale trainer, Dawn Brancheau, with male orca, Tillikum, at SeaWorld Orlando