Personally, I would have given him the death penalty.

I wonder if releasing him back into the ocean is the best idea, considering years in captivity and some obvious health problems. And unfortunately, they quoted someone from PETA, which I have begun to just ignore, given some of their outrageous antics.


http://content.usatoday.com/dist/custom/gci/InsidePage.aspx?cId=lsj&sParam=37676952.story&loc=interstitialskip


Orca to be spared in trainer's death
Updated 2/26/2010 10:18 AM ET E-mail | Save | Print



By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY
Trainers at SeaWorld's Orlando park will continue working with Tilikum, the 12,000-pound killer whale that attacked and drowned one of its primary handlers in front of a horrified audience Wednesday.
"We have every intention of continuing to interact with this animal, though the procedures for working with him will change," SeaWorld wrote in its blog Thursday.

SeaWorld, which opened as usual Thursday, did not specify how it would change its killer whale performances and did not return calls for comment. It suspended Dine with Shamu and other killer whale shows at its three parks — in San Antonio, Orlando and San Diego — indefinitely.

Chuck Tompkins, chief of training for all SeaWorld parks, said that Tilikum, a male orca dolphin known commonly as a "killer whale," will remain with the park's seven other orcas where he can still mate, the Associated Press reported Thursday. "We want him to continue to be part of that social group," Tompkins said.


Tilikum, nicknamed "Tilly," is valuable to SeaWorld as a breeder and already has fathered several offspring, says dolphin-trainer-turned-activist Russ Rector of Fort Lauderdale.

"Tilikum is a monster. This is his third killing," Rector says.

Yet SeaWorld won't euthanize Tilikum "because as a breeder, he's worth millions," says Rector, who spent eight years as a trainer at Fort Lauderdale's now-closed Ocean World and runs Dolphin Freedom Foundation, which encourages sea parks to release their animals from captivity.

Trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, was interacting with Tilikum in knee-deep water in a poolside platform behind Shamu Stadium when the animal grabbed her ponytail and pulled her underwater, Orange County, Fla., sheriff's spokesman Jim Solomons said Thursday. Rescuers could not jump in to save her "due to the whale's aggressive nature," he said.

The medical examiner ruled the death accidental Thursday, saying Brancheau died of drowning and traumatic injuries.

"This has happened before, and it'll happen again as long as SeaWorld keeps an angry, frustrated orca in captivity," said Debbie Leahy, director of captive animals for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an animal rights group based in Norfolk, Va. "There's no way you can safely have contact with a killer whale. They are predators."

SeaWorld has not responded to letters from PETA asking the park to release its dolphins into coastal sanctuaries, she said.

"It's a real tragedy. SeaWorld's only concern is profits," she said. "Animal welfare is not their priority."

In the wild, these animals can swim for 100 miles a day, form social groups and communicate among themselves, Leahy said. The conditions in captivity don't allow the animals to behave normally, she said.

"They develop neurotic behaviors and all sorts of health problems," Leahy said. "There are definitely some species that experience extraordinary suffering in captivity, and whales and dolphins are among them."

You'd really want him killed? For being a wild animal?

the name of it is a KILLER whale.its no matter how long its been in captivity it will never be totally tamed.

He's a giant mammal that lives in the water..has his own instincts, and despite what we try to do...the water is still his territory.


Yes we can train them..to an extent...same with the white tigers that attacked sig/roy they are animals.

*high 5ves isaac*

Given it's history, yes.

so its the whale fault it was brought into captivity and remained a wiled animal?

Exactly! And the trainer knew the risks involved. The article I read said they did not want to release him because he wouldn't make it in the wild due to the length of time he's been in captivity. The trainer's sister was even quoted as saying the trainer would not have wanted Tillikum put down.

yep didn't you know we did a few interviews and he was the one who picked the job...in fact we gave him quite the salary

Could have had one hell of a fish fry........

well shoot isaac thanks for correctly informing me!

No, not his fault. I'm not blaming the whale. But this is the third death attributed to this particular whale. I would say the risks have outweighed the rewards, with this one.

Just like a domesticated dog can be put down for being too violent.

And a whale of a good time! I know--that was baaaaaad!

Made me chuckle.....

His history shows that he can be aggressive. He's a wild animal. No matter how much training he gets, he's still a wild animal. I don't see that as a reason to kill him.

I guess when there are dead humans involved, I tend to think of the animal as a little more than just "aggressive."

As far as him being a wild animal, I would say that is where the problem begins, deciding what to do with him. I don't think he could survive in the wild, at this point.

That is why I would put him to sleep.

There you have it.

..FREE WILLY...


..the only thing i see is that the whale got in the tank with dumb people..not the whale's fault..maybe we should learn that there are somethings left better ALONE..

..maybe the whale wants to go home rather than watch a bunch of people gawk at it while it's made to perform circus acts,who could say they wouldn't do everything they could if the circumstances were the same..and that we were taken out of our natural habitat and made to do tricks for the man..

...FREE WILLY..

You are correct. That is the real reason it is still alive.

A whale in a holding tank Vs a pitbull running loose in your neiborhood. The dog goes. The whale I dont care about.