This past Wednesday, the Orlando County Sheriff’s Office released the investigative report into the tragic death of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau on February 24th 2010. The medical examiner determined she died of drowning and blunt-force trauma, but for those interested in the gory details, and painful timeline of events, this report gives a play by play retelling of that tragic half hour.
It includes many eyewitness accounts, and descriptions of video surveillance footage that bring a whole other dimension to what went on between Tilikum the whale and Dawn the trainer. It all began when she was lying on her stomach, on a piece of cement in just three inches of water. They were nose to nose, but when her long hair floated into Tilikum’s mouth, the tragedy began. On second thought, I think the tragedy really began 30 years ago.
His life has been spent just existing, confined to a cement tank and unable to echolocate or communicate via interpreting sound vibrations, and away from all natural exposure to his own kind. Living like a prisoner has been his reality. Wait, not like a prisoner at all, he is one. And having committed no crime. And even if you believe he has now, that would have been long after his incarceration started nearly 30 years ago, with no end in sight.
We will never know for sure what he was thinking. Did he snap? It would certainly appear plausible given the other trainer deaths he’s been involved in over the last 20 years, and the completely unnatural conditions he’s been forced to live under for almost all of his life. Or was he just playing? That idea has been dismissed by some, but part of me does wonder if that was part of it. I say that upon hearing SeaWorld employees describe Tilikum’s possessive nature.
SeaWorld trainer Lynne Schaber told investigators that he “normally keeps things that he has and will not release them.” SeaWorld assistant curator of animal training Laura Surovik, reported that it seemed to her that Tilikum was holding Brancheau “as if she was his possession.” While SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment’s corporate curator of zoological operations Chuck Tompkins has said, “[Tilikum] never showed any indication that he looked at you as a play toy that he wanted to own,” he does think that is how Tilikum came to see Dawn after he pulled her into the water.
Being possessive of whatever he has makes sense to me. Wouldn’t a prisoner be understandably possessive of whatever he still has, be it a book or pack of cigarettes? Perhaps Tilikum too clings to what he has left, or what he perceives he still has. Once he had her, his toy, his something, he just couldn’t let go. Tragically this ‘possessing’ proved fatal.
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Whether he snapped and became intentionally violent, or snapped and wouldn’t give up his ‘toy’, his fate was sealed years ago. His psyche has got to be irreparably damaged, if not destroyed. I hope his pain and the pain of those that have died because others chose to incarcerate him, and all those who loved them, will not be in vain. How the so-called educational value of keeping whales in cement tubs can still be debated is beyond me.
But after the release of the 43 page report, that is exactly what happened in a congressional subcommittee hearing in the US this week. It looked at the oversight of businesses that feature wildlife acts. Interesting choice of words isn’t it? We say animal ‘acts.’ Of course that’s what they are, acts, not real actions.. How could they be, they are performed as contained little tricks designed by and for humans. Left in the wild, methinks they don’t jump for too many red balls suspended overhead to the roar of cheering fans and loud show music.
And yet that one day debate between theme park operators and animal rights activists in Washington, D.C., centered on the educational value of parks like SeaWorld. I so hope the powers that be really listened, and act for real.
Previous posts about Tilikum and whale captivity:
http://elizabethely.com/2010/03/03/tilikum-and-his-life-in-a-tub/
http://elizabethely.com/2010/03/04/whales-au-naturel/
http://elizabethely.com/2010/03/07/toto-watch-out-for-dr-oz/
