A whale of a tale

So by now everyone has heard about the unfortunate circumstances that led to the death of a trainer at Seaworld in Orlando. If you are living under a rock or at the bottom of the ocean you can read about it here or watch the news story here. To make a long story short; On Wednesday a killer whale grabbed a trainer (Dawn Brancheau, 40) with its mouth and thrashed her around a bit and drowned her. Her official cause of death will likely be listed as multiple traumatic injuries and drowning. The whale known as Tilicum or Telly is a nearly 30-year-old male and weighs 12,300 pounds. A number of park visitors witnessed the incident. Now people are saying the whale should be euthanized. I mean are they serious?

This is a wild animal and I am almost certain it wasn't aware that it was killing the trainer. While I can appreciate places like zoos and theme parks wanting to educate the general public and give them access to animals they may not normally see, we have to recognize that at the end of the day these are business. All businesses have one thing in common - the bottom line. I am very sorry for Dawn Brancheau's family and it's unfortunate that she's dead but this was not some vicious attack on a person by another person. A wild animal was being held in captivity and that's the reason this happened. When was the last time you heard about something like this happening at sea? And now people are saying the animal should be put down. Last I checked whales and humans do not have the same mental capabilities, if that were the case Shamu would be Governor of California and not Arnold Schwarzenegger. Come to think of it California might have been better off if Shamu were elected governor. Seriously though you cannot hold an animal accountable for attacks on humans the same you would hold a human accountable. Similarly, the story involving Travis the Chimp early last year is another sad case of folks making wild creatures part of the family. People need to stop trying to domesticate & train wild animals.

Bottom line, leave these animals be - in their natural habitat - and these incidents wouldn't occur. Common sense should tell you that someone 150 pounds shouldn't be playing with an animal that almost 10 times their size. We tell older children not to be so rough when playing with younger children because they can easily hurt them because the younger children are so much smaller. Why wouldn't we apply these same principles to everyday life and interaction between animals and humans? I am well aware that there had been previous incidents involving this whale and those are unfortunate cases too but people need to leave these animals alone, the only time I can see animals being held in captivity is if they are endangered and attempts are being made to repopulate the species. This was not the case with Telly, he was an attraction being used to make money for Seaworld.

I remember watching Free Willy back in the day and thought the whale was adorable but I didn't make any plans to see it up close or decide to train orcas. Even if the animal doesn't intend to kill someone, it's massive size alone is enough crush someone or drown them. In Seaworld's defense they do take very good care of the animals and their employees but no one can gauge how or when a wild animal is going to react in a situation.

My point is simply this: wild animals should remain in the wild!

Arrivederci