30 allanimals JULY
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AUGUST 2012
ven Katina had her bad moments.
She had once mouthed a trainer’s
waist and on other occasions
bumped her head into a hip, a torso,
or a hand. Once, she pushed a trainer around the
pool inappropriately.
Katina had other issues. She was highly protective
of new calves, especially while doing water work, and
would often try to separate a youngster from a trainer
by swimming between them. Katina at times also
“displaced” other orcas to demonstrate her domi-
nance, ramming from the side like a pushing foul in
basketball. She routinely displaced Tilikum when she
was left with him for extended periods.
Sometimes Katina showed outright chutzpah,
especially around newcomers, engaging in “f— you”
moments of her own. Instead of working with
someone, she might refuse to make eye contact, slink
beneath the surface, play with her food, or refuse to
open her mouth for fish. Katina was so bossy that,
when she decided she didn’t want to cooperate, she
could actually force the other killer whales into dis-
obedience as well. Those who still followed their
trainers’ signals, despite her lead, received a harsh
displacement from the queen.
But even Katina had to defend her status at
times. In 1994, her daughter Kalina, the original
Baby Shamu, returned to the pools of Orlando
after spending four and a half years on tour at
SeaWorld locations in Ohio, San Diego, and Texas.
Kalina was 9 years old. She had left one calf behind
in Texas and was pregnant for a second time.
When Kalina returned to Florida, she began fighting with her own mother for
dominance. Katina put down the rebellion, but the insubordination was unheard
of in killer whale society—at least in the wild. Jeff located a copy of Kalina’s official
animal profile and discovered that Baby Shamu had developed an entire repertoire
of behavioral issues while on tour across the country.
Among the things that might upset the young star, according to her profile,
were “major environmental and social changes, unclear/confusing situations,
divided attention,” and (rather ironically given her travels and many truncated
relationships) “long term separation.”
Kalina had several “aggressive tendencies” as well. “When excited or confused,
she may slide over, push or bow over her trainer in the water,” the document
warned. “[She] will aggressively and physically displace less dominant whales
when frustrated, confused or sees an imbalance in attention.” While playing with
toys or trainers, Kalina had also “shown extreme excitement to borderline ‘aggres-
sion.’ Aggression involves anything from slight bumping or sliding over her trainer
to a complete bow over her trainer.” She also “opened her mouth on trainers” on
several occasions.
John was eventually able to shake off his doubts about worker safety at
SeaWorld. But his days of denial and rationalization about the welfare of the ani-
mals were coming to an end.
“You know, every day I go in to work, it becomes more painful for me to see
these animals in this environment,” John confided in his buddy Jeff over beers at a
local pub. “But I keep telling myself that maybe my presence is going to make their
lives better. And I really do try to make their lives better, especially Tilikum. I work
as hard as I can for that poor guy.”
A FREELANCE WRITER in New York City, David Kirby has previously written
about factory farming for All Animals. Available July 17, Death at SeaWorld can be
preordered now online. See the book tour schedule—and pledge to get the facts
before patronizing facilities such as SeaWorld—at humanesociety.org/seaworld.
Editor’s Note: Six months after
Dawn Brancheau’s death, the
Occupational Safety and Health
Administration assessed SeaWorld
the maximum penalties and sanc-
tions allowed under federal law.
One citation—exposing employees
to the hazard of interacting with
orcas without adequate protec-
tion—banned work with orcas
unless trainers are separated from
the animals by physical barriers or
other similar methods of protected
contact. In May, SeaWorld lost its challenge of the
citation and will now have to comply with OSHA’s
abatements, although it can appeal.
Death at SeaWorld follows Jeff Ventre, John Jett,
Samantha Berg, and Carol Ray as they left SeaWorld
to become outspoken advocates against captivity.
The book also chronicles the fates of SeaWorld’s ani-
mal cast of characters. Kanduke, captured in 1975 off
British Columbia, spent much of his time at SeaWorld
Orlando alone, floating motionless
at the surface, Kirby writes. Used
mainly for breeding and not for
water work, he had minimal inter-
action with the trainers. The
females often picked fights with
him, raking their teeth over his skin.
In 1990, a few weeks after trainers
reported that Duke had been acting
“slow,” he died.
After being impregnated by
Tilikum in 1995, Gudrun was used
to pose for photos with tourists in
the dry slideout area of one of SeaWorld Orlando’s
pools. “The weight on her unborn calf must have
been immense,” notes Kirby. When she went into
labor, the calf’s pulse couldn’t be found, and the
body had to be pulled from her with chains. Four
excruciating days later, Gudrun swam over to gently
nudge her 2-year-old calf, Nyar, “as if to ask for an
overdue rapprochement” for previously rejecting
her, writes Kirby. Shortly after, Gudrun died. Within
months, Nyar was dead, too.
As if mimicking her mother’s aggressive behav-
ior, Gudrun’s older daughter Taima attacked the
three calves she bore by Tilikum. Following
Brancheau’s death, she became virtually the only
companion to Tilikum, a fellow exile from water
work. In June 2010, she died from complications
giving birth to their fourth calf.
Kalina, the original “Baby Shamu,” died in 2010 of
an infection. Her mother, Katina—captured off
Iceland in 1978—is still performing at SeaWorld
Orlando.
Captured in 1983 off Iceland, Tilikum was held
primarily in a back pool for almost two years after
killing Brancheau. Shortly after her death, The HSUS’s
Naomi Rose flew to Orlando with an HSUS videogra-
pher and observed him spending little time with
trainers. Two months later, his close companion
Taima died. At approximately 31 years of age,
Tilikum is back in the show, where he performs in the
“big splash” finale. He has outlived most other male
orcas in captivity. His days are likely numbered.