Free The Whales From Seaword
Animal Captivity
SeaWorld Locations
When SeaWorld heard that a 12,000-lb. bull, the largest orca in captivity, was on the market, it quickly purchased him for its breeding program apparently giving little thought to his reputation for killing and aggression. Tilikum's sperm was used to build up a collection of orcas, and now, 54 percent of SeaWorld's orcas have his genes.Over the course of 21 years at SeaWorld, where he is confined to a tank containing 0.0001 percent of the quantity of water that he would traverse in a single day in nature, Tilikum has been involved in multiple incidents of aggression. The stress of captivity drives Tilikum to exhibit abnormal repetitive behavior, including chewing on metal gates and the concrete sides of his tank—so much so that the most of his teeth are completely worn down.
The stress of captivity also causes Tilikum to exhibit aggression toward humans, which has cost two more lives—those of Daniel P. Dukes in 1999 and Dawn Brancheau in 2010. Tilikum scalped and dismembered Dawn as well as breaking bones throughout her body before drowning her.Following Dawn's tragic death, Tilikum was kept in a tiny enclosure that limited his ability to swim, communicate with other orcas, and interact with humans even further. He was reported to have been floating listlessly in the water for hours at a time, a behavior never seen in wild orcas.
SeaWorld San Diego, California
SeaWorld Orlando, Florida
SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas
Tilikum is not the only orca who has become aggressive as a result of all the stress that the whales are forced to endure in the small tanks at SeaWorld. The park's own records contain 600 pages of incident reports documenting dangerous and unanticipated orca behavior with trainers, consisting of more than 100 incidents in which killer whales bit, rammed, lunged at, pulled, pinned, and swam aggressively with SeaWorld trainers, many of which led to human injuries, including a near-death encounter experienced by trainer Ken Peters.
Tilikum's Story
Tilikum
Dawn's Death​
Its not just tilly.
