What Is The Cause Of 12 Minke Whale's Death?

In 1983 a male killer whale was captured in the North Atlantic. Already at 2 years of age he was 11.5 feet long and was named Tilikum. Once he was shipped to Sealand of the Pacific, Tilikum was put in a pool with a trained Orca and both were given the same orders. If both didn't follow through with it both were punished by food deprivation. Since Tilikum couldn't follow these orders because he had no training before, they were not given food. Due to this, the bigger female Orcas out of frustration would gang up on him and leave rake marks. Also would be attacked when left in their pool enclosure at night.

    The dates of events and occupations of the witnesses addresses the credibility of the sources and the logical sense of the incidents. In 1983, a male killer whale was captured in the North Atlantic Sea. Already 2 years of age, he was 11.5 feet long. This was Tilikum who later injured two trainers and killed one, Dawn Brancheau. Dave Duffas, an OSHA expert witness whale researcher, commented that killer whales are unpredictable animals and trainers should stay out of their proximity to avoid death. This evidence persuades the audience that killer whales can be dangerous and violent to people.

When the film started with a suspenseful 911 call, that drew the audience in. On the phone the unidentified male said, “We need SOA to respond for a death in the SeaWorld. There’s a whale who ate one of the trainers.” The quote was referring to Dawn Brancheau’s accident with the 12,500 lb, 34 year old, 22 feet long Orca whale. The Brancheau accident happened on February 24, 2010.

In the documentary “Blackfish”, directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite, she discussed the harmful events that have occurred when keeping killer whales contained for show and entertainment purposes. Cowperthwaite argued the fact that the killer whales become aggressive when held captive in an area too small for them and separated from their families. Throughout the documentary there were many horrifying stories about the attacks told by people who had saw the tragedies first-hand.

All of the deaths were said to have been either “trainer error” or “trespassing, supporting that the whales are not aggressive. SeaWorld and Sealand want these whales to come off as cuddly and safe, like teddy bears. SeaWorld would not release the correct information

The orca or “killer whale” is a highly intelligent and self aware creature. In the wild, they are regarded as gentle and friendly, only in captivity do they live up to their nickname “killer whale”. No reported deaths have been documented in the wild, but 4 deaths have occurred while in captivity. Tilikum the orca is arguably the most infamous of captive orcas. He was captured in 1983 when he was 2 years old. Because of the stress of being deprived of everything natural and important to him, Tilikum has been involved in 3 deaths during his time in captivity. Conditions for orcas in captivity such as, small tanks, horrible health conditions and inadequate social interaction, breeds aggression. Seaworld likes to make believe they care about their orcas when, in reality, they view these intelligent creatures as nothing more than underwater cash cows. Orcas do not belong in captivity, they are going to continue to be a danger to both themselves and humans as long as they are being held prisoner.

Through a collection of research, commercials, and interviews, the documentary, Blackfish, reveals the possible reasons for the number of recent killer whale attacks. Blackfish argues that killer whales experience frustration and abuse when held in captivity. In addition, many theme parks, like Sea World, withhold information about the treatment and natural history from both employees and tourists.

“Blackfish” the documentary film was created to reveal how confinement of killer whales can lead to dangerous behavior toward human trainers. The main claim this film displayed is how the captivity of Killer Whales triggers aggression and is unsafe for humans and other marine mammals. Blackfish uses the story of Tilikum (most aggressive killer whale who killed the most amount of Sea World trainers), interviews of previous trainers, and court hearings regarding OSHA and Sea World to support their claim.

The black fish or killer whale, is a very dangerous apex predator with a diet that consist of many animals in its environment. These animals are very unique with its sharp and long array of teeth, one very famous orca whale was Tilikum, who was captured in Iceland as a baby and taken away from its parents and sent to an aquarium/amusement park called sea land, sea land was relatively new and with all of its orcas it became very popular in the general area. Yet Tilikum showed much distress its first years living at the park after being attacked by many of the older female orcas who were upset with Tilikum after not performing a trick properly, which left all the orcas with no food for a period of time. As the park seemed to deem it necessary so Tilikum

“… building a tank the size of Rhode Island wouldn’t be large enough for a six-ton male killer whale such as Tilikum, an animal capable of swimming 100 miles a day,” states an anonymous whale expert. Whales have been in captivity since 1861 when P.T. Barnum displayed the first live whale that was captured in Canada. However, Barnum had no idea how to care for the mammal and it died after only a week in captivity. (Animal Legal and Historical Center, 2014) Being up close with killer whales could give us some clues about how they interact with each other, including physical behavior, their dialect, and how their pods work together as a family unit. However, what we are finding is that whales who belong in the wild are suffering in

For example, this happens because killer whales hurt themselves by getting scratched to the metals such as bars in the cages, having broken teeth or jaws by chewing on those metal bars, and much more. Also, according to the article called Animals are not ours to eat, wear, experiment on, use for entertainment, or abuse in any other way, “Marineland’s lone orca, Kiska, was trailing blood from cuts in her tail as she swam.” In most killer whale cages, adult male killer whales have collapsed dorsal fins that most trainers say that is a condition that happens often to them. But, adult male having collapsed dorsal fins are a condition that rarely occurs in wild killer whales. They also die faster by getting too much stress from captivity and many other things.

Whales kept at marine mammal parks, have been known to bite along the steel gates that separate the whales in order to help relieve their stress, however; this results in broken teeth and other oral problems.

Killer whales were not considered a threat to humans until one day in February 1991. Keltie Byrne, a marine biology and former killer whale trainer was killed by Tilikum. According to the reports, she slipped from the tank, where Tilikum was located, prevented her from surfacing and killed her. Sadly, another tragedy of a trainer who was killed by someone she knows

The origin of modern day whales, a mystery that has puzzled paleontologists for years, may have just been solved with the discovery of an ankle bone. This discovery might sound simple and unimportant, but the bones of these ancient animals hold many unanswered questions and provide solid proof of origin and behavior. The relationship between whales and other animals has proven to be difficult because whales are warm-blooded, like humans, yet they live in the sea. The fact that they are warm-blooded suggests that they are related to some type of land animal. However, the questions of exactly which animal, and how whales evolved from land to water, have remained unanswered until now.

R.L. Brownell, Jr., D.P. DeMaster, D.F. Doak and T.M. Williams (eds.). Whales, Whaling and Ocean