Yesterday marks the death of the 5th Killer Whale trainer and the 6th death of a human by a captive killer whale.
Comparatively, as there are only roughly 42 Orcas in captivity; the risk of injury or death to a human is far greater with far more risk of fatality than the number of dog related injuries or fatalities verses the number of dogs in human homes.
Both numbers represent tragedy for the victims, however, one number is in direct correlation to the flawed model of ‘training’ that occurs with agonizing regularity in the dog training community.
After being captured off the coast of Iceland in 1983, Tilikum was “housed in small tanks from the beginning” according to a Discovery News report.
There was an opportunity to repatriate Tilikum back in 1992 after his first kill of handler Keltie Byrne in Canada. Instead he was sold to SeaWorld as a breeding animal where he was implicated in the death of a homeless man in 1999.
It is speculated that “his captivity, frequent breeding and the fact that Tilikum was caught in the wild could all have contributed to Wednesday’s fatality”.
Gee, ya think?
More rending of garments and angst over this is better left to a less fuzzled mind than my own right now, but be assured that we will be reviewing this subject at a later time.
Psst…date fix! Tillikum is one old geezer if he was really caught that long ago 😛
I’ve never had an encounter with anyone who insisted that whale training or [any other animal] training transferred perfectly to dogs, but I still maintain that what is on the end of my leash is a DOG.
I questioned the date he was acquired also until I uncovered several items that confirmed his capture in 1983.
I was curious about his age and further brief research revealed that it is not uncommon for Orcas to live well into their 50’s and 60’s. There is speculation that in the wild they actually live longer, with some documentation indicating as old as 90, give or take.
What I found interesting, if not a bit unsettling is that they live shorter lives in captivity than in the wild.
I suspect being ripped from a home as vast as the ocean and being stuck in the equivalent of a coffee cup would make me lose a little heart.
As for dog trainers; there are many, some of whom enjoy a pretty high degree of name recognition, who use marine mammal training as the epitome of the argument they use to bludgeon people with in their “humane, no pain training” argument.
Of course you can’t correct a whale. But you can rip him from the ocean, his pod of contemporaries, isolate him from companionship from amongst his own kind and make his meals contingent on his performance of cutesy tricks.
It’s a little like calling the kettle black.
I meant the 1883 reference.
Oops! Damn spell check!
Done, Thanks!
I live to annoy people by nitpicking about little things like that. 🙂
As for putting a whale in a tank, if the drooping dorsal fin is not a sign that something is wrong, I don’t know how much plainer it has to be. The boys completely lose their grand sail, while even the girls get a little floppy.
I notice that is almost never seen in the wild.
Co-inky-dink?
Annoy away!
You are right, it is usually the result of injury in the wild, but is pretty commonly seen in captivity.
Nothing about this is natural, nothing about this is “humane”.
Free all the Willies.