Good Morning: ‘Free Willy’ serves as valuable advice in light of attack
Have you heard about Sea World’s latest attraction? It’s bringing people to the Orlando, Fla., park in record numbers and what do you know, just in time for Spring Break. It’s their world famous Orca whales. Watch them leap out of the water, splash cute little kids, play with a beach ball and then maul one of their trainers to death. Yes, it happened again. A killer whale killed its trainer in front of a stunned audience last week. Let me reiterate. A killer whale killed its trainer. Not a cordial, polite, happy whale. A killer whale. And we are surprised? Tilikum, the alpha male, is responsible for the death of veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau. This is the third death attributed to this whale. Experts say that Tilikum didn’t drag his trainer into the water and thrash her apart by accident; the attack was intentionally violent, though its provocation may never be known. I believe I know. Experts say killer whales are much more likely to be violent toward humans while in captivity and I’m not surprised. When the show ends and the crowds leave the stadium, Tilikum and his fellow performers are kept in tanks barely large enough for the whales to turn around. If they were in the wild, they’d be swimming more than a hundred miles a day. Tilikum has been in captivity for 27 years now. That’s 27 years of bobbing in a Tupperware container, flipping a beach ball into the air, and dealing with screaming children (if you’ve ever been trapped on an airplane with one, you know that’s enough to make anyone homicidal). It’s a tragedy that the trainers are the targets of the whales’ pent up aggression, but it certainly shouldn’t be a surprise. These people swim with the whales on a daily basis and are the only living things the whales come in contact with besides each other. If Tilikum decides it is time to reestablish his alpha dominance or file a complaint with facilities that his cage is too small, it’s just not a good day to be in that pool with him. An online pole on USAToday.com found that 79 percent of respondents believe it’s not fair to keep the whales in captivity and I have to agree with them. It’s time to free these animals so they can fulfill the lives nature intended them to have. It’s time to Free Willy. And unless we do, no one should be surprised to see another attack. I certainly hope Sea World is better prepared for it. In the mean time, I’m sure they’ll be adding bleachers to the stadium and measuring their free publicity in dollar bills.
