Michael Usher: Killer Whales

Some of you may have seen the “Shamu” show if you’ve ever visited SeaWorld Orlando. You can’t help but be impressed, and I know my young kids would love every minute of it. It’s an amazing performance.

But this sort of Orca entertainment has very vocal, passionate critics. And SeaWorld has been defending its Killer Whales program after the death of a trainer in February this year.

Dawn Brancheau was one of SeaWorld’s star trainers. She worked closely with the marine park’s largest Killer Whale, Tilikum. He’s 27 year old and weighs more than five-and-a-half tonnes.

Tilikum is a show-stopper – he makes the biggest leaps and splashes – and he’s also a very successful breeder, supplying SeaWorld and other parks with at least 13 calves and there’s one more due any day.

But, on February 24th this year, he grabbed Dawn Brancheau by her ponytail and maybe part of her arm, and pulled her into one of SeaWorld’s pools. Dawn tried to wrestle free of Tilikum’s bite but he wouldn’t let her free. As you’ll hear in the story, Dawn’s death was horrific. And, tragically, spectators in the park witnessed it.

But the thing is, Tilikum’s actions came as no surprise because he’d been involved in two prior deaths prior. SeaWorld says it had a policy of not letting its trainers in the water with Tilikum, but, on this occasion, Dawn was lying next to his nose and mouth on a shallow ledge in the pool. There’s photographic proof she’d done this many times with Tilikum, but SeaWorld indicates this might have been against protocol.

Either way, Dawn is dead and SeaWorld has a Killer Whale on its hands that it’s not sure what to do with. Can they return him to the showbiz side of the business and have him perform again with the audience knowing he killed a human? Can they keep breeding him and benefit from the calves he produces. Keep in mind, the three SeaWorld parks across America sold recently for $2.5 billion dollars. This is big business, based largely on performing Killer Whales.

It’s a problem. But, I must say, the park was generous in giving us access and answering our questions. They say they do good research and through their shows more than 2 million people every year come and see the Killer Whales, get entertained and learn a lot about them.

It’s true that those millions of people couldn’t afford to see Orcas in the wild and SeaWorld’s a great place to be exposed and maybe learn about them. But let me tell you, as awesome as they are jumping and leaping and splashing, nothing compares to spotting them in the wild.

We cruised the waters off Victoria in British Columbia on a perfect day and watched a pod of about 25 Killer Whales hunting the shoreline for salmon.

I know a lot of people gush over these sorts of experiences but it was pretty special. We followed the pod for about five hours. Our whale guide told us the matriarch of the pod, who we saw leading her family, is documented to be about 99 years old. Just amazing.

The contrast between this sighting in the wild and seeing them in captivity couldn’t have been starker. At SeaWorld, I have no doubt they’re loved and cared for and well fed but they’re still confined. Yes, their pools are relatively generous, but when you realise these animals swim hundreds of kilometres in a short few days, and live as a tight family and hunt as extreme predators, it doesn’t seem to make sense that they could be content in a collection of pools being thrown fish and taught tricks.

There’s a lot of comment about what captivity does to their personalities and their life span, but watch and see what you think. Does it explain why Tilikum killed Dawn Brancheau? Perhaps. And, are we foolish to think we can coach and train an animal like this out of its natural instinct to hunt and kill?

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