First, I want to say a few things about Tillikum. 3 young whales named Haida, Knootka, & Tillikum were captured from Iceland and sent to Sealand (in Victoria, British Columbia). They replaced whales from Canadian waters that died. This facility was awful, and the way the whales were treated was even worse. SeaWorld (SW) uses operant conditioning (positive reinforcement) to train ALL of their animals. At SW the animal eats regardless of whether it obeys the trainer. However at Sealand, the Orcas were mistreated, and the fish were withheld if they disobeyed orders. The trainers at Sealand never got in the water with their animals. In 1991 a trainer named Keltie Byrne fell into the water, and she did not have a chance. The second death associated with Tillikum happened in 1999. This individual decided that he wanted to swim with the whales. After the park closed, this individual hid in the bushes, snuck into the stadium and jumped in with Tillikum. I am certain this guy died due to hypothermia, because the water is in the 50's (I have been in with no wet suit). Also I remember reading that this individual had drugs in his system.
Haida and Tillikum at SeaLand where they were mistreated.
The most predictable aspect to all of this, is the fact that every time a whale dies at one of the 3 SeaWorld parks or a trainer suffers as much as a hang nail the animal right activists come out of the woodwork on cue. Anyway these people are so naive that they DEMAND SeaWorld release ALL of their orcas back into the wild. To hell with the animal's well being and the fact that SeaWorld supports and employs many talented people (more on that later).
Releasing Orcas back into the wild is flawed for many reasons. First lets look at the fact that most of SeaWorld's Orcas were born in captivity. The only whales SW has that were born in the wild are: Corky, Kasatka, Ulises, Katina, & Tillikum. The first 3 orcas reside at SWC in San Diego, and the latter 2 reside at SWF in Orlando. In San Antonio, all the orcas were born in captivity, and have never seen the wild. In 1993, I got to see a whale named Keet who was the first Grandbaby Shamu, whose mother is Kalina (first whale born in captivity), and whose grandmother is Katina. In fact, I last saw Keet back in July. It is also worth noting, that an animal who is not comfortable in captivity will not eat, and sure as not reproduce.
If you look at all the orcas that have resided at SeaWorld, you will see that they don't all come from the same place. The first group of whales came from the Southern Pods in the waters of Washington State. Next the whales came from the Northern pods in British Columbia. These two groups of whales only eat fish and are very sociable. However the final group of Pacific Northwest Whales were the Transients who most people associate with Orcas because they eat other marine mammals. Eventually, North America was off limits due to public opposition, and legislation like the Marine Mammal Protection Act in 1972. SeaWorld was a victim of it's own success, because the whales demonstrated to the public that they were not "killers" but were actually quite docile where a human could be in the water with them. Before SeaWorld came along orcas and other whales were viewed as competitors to fish and a nuisance. (The US Navy would even gun down these whales. Up in the Dominion of Canada the Royal Canadian Air Force would be flying up in the air and kill the Beluga whales just for the sake of target practice.)
The final group of whales were Icelandic, and these whales have a reputation for being more aggressive. There are a few documented examples of this aggression; which is like a clash of cultures that speak different languages.
In the 1980's, SW decided to start a captive breeding program. 3 things are needed to succeed in the whales reproducing. (1) You need a mature male orca that has reached adulthood and can breed (2) you need females that are old enough to have a calf, & (3) you need larger facilities that can accommodate a nursing mother, the calf, and the rest of the pod. In the mid 1980's, SWF constructed a new facility for their orcas followed by SWC. (The previous orca facilities now house dolphins) With Orcas, the female matures at an earlier age than the male. This is important, because in the mid 80's when SeaWorld started their captive breeding program, their mature males were from the Pacific Northwest, and the females were Icelandic- Resulting in whales born with ancestry deriving from Orcas who would never come into contact with each other. So, where would we release these miscegenated orcas?
Another issue of releasing these animals back to the wild is their lack of socail skills, and possible health issues. At SeaWorld, these animals bond with their fellow orcas, as well as the trainers. Through operant conditioning trainers build close relationships with these animals, leading to some of the whales having their favorite trainers! (Just like we have favorite teachers)
Some of the whales at SW have teeth that are worn down- left untreated the teeth could become infected. The teeth are treated everyday with hydrogen peroxide.
Remember Keiko aka Free Willy? Keiko lived in Mexico in horrible conditions. Americans donated money to rescue Keiko. Keiko was relocated to the Oregon Coast Aquarium, where a tank was built just for his need. Keiko made tremendous progress immediately! The Free Willy Foundation decided to send him to Iceland, and reintroduce him to the wild in a pen. When the foundation ran out of money in 2002, the "free" Keiko. However, after 2 weeks Keiko is found in the company of humans, and lost weight (does not know how to catch food). The Humane Society takes over, and Keiko eventually dies from an infection. To conclude, Keiko was unable to catch live fish, and socialize- join a pod of wild orcas.
To be continued...............
