WDCS says that it is horrified to learn of the death of a trainer at Sea World’s park in Orlando, Florida this week.
She appears to have drowned after falling or being pulled into the tank with a 30-year-old male orca, Tilikum.
Unfortunately, this was not an isolated incident. Tilikum, who was captured from the wild in Iceland, was, with two other orcas involved in the death of a trainer in Canada in 1991 and in 1999, a man who had reportedly snuck into the park during the night was found dead, draped over the back of Tilikum, also at Sea World’s Florida facility. The incident also follows the death of another trainer at Loro Parque in Tenerife at the end of 2009, during in-water training with an orca who was imported from Sea World in 2007.
WDCS believes orcas are unsuitable for captivity. It places them under considerable stress and where they live short lives and are liable to aggressive behaviour towards humans and other orcas that is never seen in the wild. The tragic events are a reminder that orcas are wild, strong and often unpredictable animals.
