American Family Association suggests stoning Tilikum the Killer whale to death

[LittleNemo]

The terrible incident involving Dawn Brancheau and Tilikum the killer whale did happen a few weeks ago now but since it does raise a lot of issues for consideration I thought perhaps this article could be posted in Latest News.

http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/288514

Although interesting for me as I study religion, I think a lot of us would agree that the American Family Association's suggestion is at best ridiculous and comical.

However, it does relate to the question of what will happen to Tilikum now? As pointed out by many, he is unlikely to survive if released into the wild and therefore this would be an extremely irresponsible decision. I imagine that Sea World will continue to use him in shows if only for financial reasons.

Although I have to admit I have been to Sea World and did really enjoy watching the Shamu shows, I'm inclined to agree that keeping orcas in captivity and involving them in shows of this kind is unfair on the whales and probably shouldn't continue - especially in the case of orcas not bred in captivity, such as Tilikum.

A few things this incident has made me think about though are whether or not the whale 'intended' to kill his trainer - as one comment on an article read, "its a whale, not a scientist" who would not have known how quickly his trainer would drown. I'd have thought if he wanted to do some damage then it would have been quite a bloody affair...

Also, although a lot of comments have been quick to point out that orcas eat marine mammals in the wild, this is (as far as I'm aware) only applicable to Tilkum in captivity, since he is a transient (predominantly mammal eating) whale, whereas (again as far as I am aware) all other captive orcas are resident (fish eating) whales. It would seem that these two 'species' of orca do not interact with each other in the wild - and Tilikum did seem to have initial trouble with interactions with orcas at his original captive location.

Does anybody have any thoughts?

 

[Jake10]

:O How would you manage to stone an orca to death?? All wild animals regardless of whether they are bred in captivity or not have the potential to maim or kill. There's an article about a zoo that allows staff to run around a tiger enclosure encouraging the 3 tigers to chase them into the water (I'm surprised they haven't been maimed yet!). I would have thought that since Tilkum is transient he shouldn't have major difficulty being returned to the wild as he should already know the basics (a radio transmitter or GPS unit could be attached to monitor him). I'm doing an animal course and am constantly amazed that there aren't more cases like this. I don't think he should continue to be used in the shows as he's done this 3 times now!?

 

[muffinino]

He is capable of killing on purpose, not in the way that a human commits murder (animals cannot murder) but he is a carnivore with a strong hunting instinct. He may have intended to kill her, he may have been in some way acting out a hunting instinct, he may just have been playing or he may have mis-interpreted her signals. I suppose my point is that yes, he may have killed her on purpose, but even if not he does seem to be a liability.

The less said by me about the AFA in general the better, I should think. Whilst I agree that a dangerous animal should be PTS, I think stoning would not be approriate somehow! Have they suggested that the owners/managers of Sea World are stoned to beath, too? If not, then it's a pretty poor show on their part as that's what the scripture calls for...

Honestly? I think the whale needs to be PTS. He cannot be released into the wild now and to carry on using an animal that has killed 2 people (and possibly a third) in shows is very foolhardy indeed. It is no life for him to be in a tank, getting bored and potentially more dangerous, no matter how much 'breeding potential' he has, and would just be cruelty.

 

[thrillsnspills]

Why would him being a transient make him anymore suitable for release than a resident/offshore animal? I would think that age at capture would be more significant, with the older the animal the more experienced it would be.

IMHO, it would be a mistake to release him. If we hadn't thrown Keiko back into the ocean, but had kept him at the facility in Oregon where he was happy (?) and healthy, he would still be alive.

 

[Young Rider]

I heard that Sea World were going to to opening a new show with Tilli the Orca called: 'Dine with Shamu'.

Get your tickets now!!!

 

[BBH]

I've also seen Shamu and it never ceases to amaze me how people still think wild animals like killer whales can be ' trained' to chase balls, skoot people up on their noses etc. This sort of thing was waiting to happen and I also think the only option for him is PTS, which given his quality of life may be a blessing, but I hope no more wild animals are abused in this way, or taken from the wild for these freak shows.