Killer whales don’t belong inside aquariums

Ed Zieralski, Union-Tribune, Sign On San Diego 27 Feb 10;

La Jolla Kayak Fishing’s Jim Sammons has paddled within casting distance of a pod of killer whales, and that was close enough to the orcas for a man who has had some incredible close encounters at sea with fish and mammals.

In 2008, Sammons and his TV production crew got between two pods of killer whales off Alaska while filming the kayak-fishing movie “Game On,” now a hit TV series on the World Fishing Network.

“We saw a pod of killer whales approaching from about a mile away, and we had another pod of killer whales between us and the shoreline,” Sammons said. “We decided to let the ones coming in get close. Then two big males in each of the pods breached, one about 100 yards from us. They breached three times, just to let us know they were bigger than us. I was paddling, but what you don’t see is I was paddling backwards. It was the most incredible sight I’ve ever seen in nature.”

I mention Sammons’ encounter today in the wake of the tragic death of SeaWorld orca trainer Dawn Brancheau. The 40-year-old veteran trainer was pulled by her braided hair into the Orlando SeaWorld mammal tank, dragged and thrashed to death by Sea World’s superstar orca and breeding machine, Tilikum. Brancheau’s is the third human death linked to Tilikum. I guess SeaWorld doesn’t have a three-strike rule for its big-water inmates.

And then there’s the unfortunate name of the program in which Brancheau was killed: “Lunch with Shamu.”

Sammons and I, and many others, agree that these killer whales do not belong in oversized aquariums, shown off by SeaWorld for fun and big profit. I authored a blog Thursday for the U-T Web site and linked it to Facebook. The comments on Facebook remain 100 percent against keeping orcas captive.

“Would you make a goldfish live in a shot glass?” waterwoman Michelle Woo-Bowman commented. “Why keep an orca in a tiny tank?”

Woo-Bowman, an avid surfboard angler, posted information about a YouTube video that depicts another SeaWorld orca going airborne in a tank for an unsuspecting pelican during a Shamu show. The video is amazing. Music plays in the background, and although some members of the crowd clearly are horrified, there’s also laughter as killer whales take turns ripping the poor pelican apart in a feeding frenzy. It’s a long video and even shows one of the trainers swimming out to gather the bird’s remains — wings, carcass, entrails and such.

To me, keeping a killer whale in a super-sized fish tank is no different from what these other warped nature lovers do by keeping mountain lions in so-called “sanctuaries.” In the case of killer whales and killer mountain lions, you’re taking apex predators, killing machines, and taking away the things they need most, freedom to roam and freedom to hunt and kill.

One of the witnesses of an earlier Orlando SeaWorld show starring Tilikum on Wednesday said it appeared the big mammal wasn’t taking commands and appeared upset, agitated. Geez, hard to figure why a 21-foot, 12,000-pound sea creature would be upset about being kept on land in a tank and ordered to perform for food.

There aren’t many common ground issues for me and animal rights activists, but ripping SeaWorld for keeping orcas in fish bowls is one of them.

There are other issues, such as SeaWorld’s practice of rescuing sea lions and seals and then placing them back out near shore, where they cause huge problems for recreational and commercial fishermen. SeaWorld has always had its head in its stern on this one.

I remember another incident with San Diego SeaWorld in 1981, when it attempted to keep alive a great white shark in captivity. The shark lasted 11 days before SeaWorld officials realized it didn’t like being in a glass bowl. That has been tried at other aquariums, but great whites never last long.

Finally, Sammons told me of a focus group he was part of that was asked to explore future attractions at San Diego SeaWorld. Just when I thought this group couldn’t be any more obtuse, it showed it can.

“One of the ideas they had was to do a whale shark lagoon,” Sammons said. “There would be rides and the whole deal to see the whale shark. I was the only dissenting one in the room who thought it was a very bad idea. That’s just wrong. It’s bad enough they have the huge mammals in tanks. Imagine a whale shark, the largest living fish species, in a tank.”

If SeaWorld can make a buck on it, count on that group to do it, even if it means sacrificing dedicated trainers in the process, even if it means taking Tiger-sized public relations hits.