What did SeaWorld say about Tilikum?

Meanwhile, in the aftermath of his attack upon Brancheau and his increasing isolation, Tilikum grew increasingly listless, spending most of his time floating in a small enclosure, ravaged by infections, until he died in 2017 from what SeaWorld described as “a persistent and complicated bacterial lung infection,” adding ...



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Tilikum was sold to the United States' SeaWorld theme park chain for performance shows and breeding. The whale's semen was collected and used for artificial insemination to breed a number of captive orcas for SeaWorld's shows and also for its sister park, Loro Parque in Spain.

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Tilikum's death Following Brancheau's death, Tilikum stayed at the park until he died in 2017 from a lung infection.

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“Blackfish” looked at the mental state of whales taken from their pods in the wild and raised at marine parks. SeaWorld responded with a public-relations campaign, including a letter to movie critics that said “Blackfish” was misleading and agenda driven.

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The only place killer whales ever kill and injure humans is here, in the confines of tanks like these. Tilikum became so interested in the novelty of Dawn's ponytail, SeaWorld would have us believe, that he scalped and killed her. The autopsy report points to some impulse rougher than curiosity.

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The Shamu Show was canceled today. Tilikum, the whale that yesterday killed a trainer at SeaWorld Orlando, will not be put down, The Orlando Sentinel reports.

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In the year following Blackfish's release, SeaWorld's attendance dropped by one million visitors. In 2014, the company announced an 84% fall in income and saw its share price drop by 33%, although they attributed this to 'the seasonal nature of the business' and not due to the impact of the documentary.

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Tilikum was estimated to be about 36 years old at the time of his death. He was brought to SeaWorld after Canada's Sealand of the Pacific closed in 1992. He had been at the amusement park ever since.

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Even when staff managed to guide him to the medical lift and raise the floor he refused to let Dawn go. Trainers were forced to pry his jaws open and pull their colleague free as her arm came off in his mouth. She had been scalped and dismembered and had almost every bone in her body broken before being drowned.

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Horrified visitors who had stuck around after a noontime show watched the animal charge through the pool with the trainer in its jaws. Workers used nets as an alarm sounded, but it was too late. Dawn Brancheau had drowned. It marked the third time the animal had been involved in a human death.

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“'Blackfish' is billed as a documentary, but instead of a fair and balanced treatment of a complex subject, the film is inaccurate and misleading and, regrettably, exploits a tragedy that remains a source of deep pain for Dawn Brancheau's family, friends and colleagues,” SeaWorld's statement said.

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In 1971, at just 9 years old, Shamu died at SeaWorld from a uterine infection and blood poisoning. In the ocean, she could have lived for up to 80 years. Even in death, SeaWorld continued exploiting Shamu—the company trademarked her name, using it to sell even more tickets to abusive orca shows.

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As of 2021, SeaWorld has ended its use of orcas in its shows and breeding program. In 2016, SeaWorld announced that it would no longer breed orcas in captivity and that its current orcas would be its last.

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