Many in Oak Bay joined fellow animal lovers around the world last week in mourning Tilikum, the 36-year-old orca who died while in captivity in SeaWorld Orlando.
Before Tilikum moved to the United States, he spent many years here in Oak Bay, where locals and visitors grew to know and care for him and his fellow creatures at Sealand of the Pacific, founded by Oak Bay Marine Group at Oak Bay Marina.
We heard about the impact Tilikum had on the children who grew up visiting and learning about the majestic creatures that make their homes, free, in local waters. We heard about their intelligence and, ultimately, that people wished those in captivity would receive their freedom.
Because most recently, Tilikum became known to those from beyond the bounds of Oak Bay and Orlando through the movie Blackfish, which brought to light the plight of these majestic animals in captivity.
Before Tilikum came to Oak Bay’s Sealand, he was captured and taken from his pod off the waters off Iceland in 1983. The male orca moved from Sealand to Orlando, Florida in January 1992 and Sealand of the Pacific closed in the wake of the first trainer death attributed to Tilikum – the drowning of 21-year-old Keltie Byrne. Two more deaths attributed to Tilikum followed at SeaWorld.
Oak Bay’s Steve Huxter was a young new trainer when he met Tilikum back in the 1980s, and worked with him until his move south. “It was an eye-opening experience. From that point on I started wondering ‘what are these animals all about?’” Huxter said. “I started to think about their emotions and what kind of emotions do they really have. My perceptions started to change.”
While many expressed sadness last week that Tilikum died without experiencing the chance to swim again in open waters, perhaps we can take solace in the impact he has had on the advocacy movement to prevent the keeping of whales in captivity, and know that his legacy lives on.
