| tilikum was captured of iceland in nov.1983. He was sent to sealand of the pacific, there he lived with nootka4 and haida2. when tilikum lived at sealand, he and the 2 other orcas were not allowed to swim with the trainers. one day a trainer fell into the tank with the orcas. tilikum, nootka, and haida wanted to play with the trainer but by accsident they drown her. there are many theories bout why this happened. one was since the 2 females were pregnent by tilikum, they were greatly aggressive and the 2 females did it couse they felt herassed. another is tilikum is playful and was being herassed by the cows couse of their moodiness and was tring to play with the trainer. who knows maybe in a way tilikum was tring to protect her from nootka and haida. with the cows aggression rising, sealand closed and the orcas were up for sell.seaworld wanted to buy all the orcas. but sealand wanted to set tilikum free. instead sealand sold tilikum to seaworld. on jan-9-92tilikum and nootka was sent to S.W.F. and haida and kay were sent to S.W.T. At S.W.F. tilikum has fathered : taku, unna, sumar, tuar,tekoa and ikaika, and he has now fathered nakai and kohana by artifichal insemenation. tilikum has hardy ever shown any real aggression towards his trainers or tankmates but, he doesnt know how powerful he is. with being nearly 22 feet long and 12,000lbs he could really hurt someone with out even trying. in 99 a man snuck into the park to swim with the orcas. he slipped in to tilikum's tank and was found dead the next morning on tilikum's back. there was no trama done to the man or wounds. infact it was found that the man died from hypothermia because of the cold water. tilikum possibly tried to play with him and possibly helped his death by maybe not allowing him out of is pool. tilikum still isnt allowed to do water works with his trainers and isnt allowed around the young calves very often couse he plays a little to rough with them. though with his history one might think that tilikum is aggressive or a bully of an orca but infact he isnt. hes known for being very sweet but his size is a disadvantage. he doesnt know his own strength and because of this his trainers dont risk getting into the water with him and also do not risk him with his calves incase he would get overly excited and accidently harm them. |
