The tragic death of Dawn Brancheau, a 40 year old whale trainer at SeaWorld in Orlando Florida, has the media hyperbole machine operating in full steam, looping the same footage for hours at a time, and evoking massive amounts of sympathy for those of us unfortunate enough to be paying attention to the regular news, and especially for those of us who have already come to an obvious conclusion: Animals don’t write “dear John” letters before they take someone’s life.
Brancheau had been “interacting” with the whale when the giant Orca, named Tikikum, jumped up, grabbed her by her ponytail, and began tossing her around mercilessly. She died from “multiple traumatic injuries” and hundred of spectators – including many children – found themselves affirmed of what they had been told on the tour; they are, in fact, Killer Whales.
This is not an isolated incident. Killer whales have a history of…well…killing. Tikikum has had blood on his fins in the past. He is personally responsible for the death of at least two other people. One of which was found naked, laying ontop of the 12,000 pound behemoth. Apparently, Tikikum just “wasn’t that kind of Orca”, and didn’t take kindly to the drunkard’s advances. The Chicago Tribune says that the whale is regularly kept in a separate tank, away from the others.
HNL has also mentioned the death of at least 22 other people in the past thirty of so years. That’s like taking a dead pool bet once a year on who’s going to be murdered. Reports of the amount of janitors murdered by this primitive creature are still pending. SeaWorld says that they are going to keep the whale, despite these findings.
As expected, the trainer-killing attractions have been temporarily shut down. But no worries, someone else’s little boy or girl will be traumatized next week
when they reopen. I’m almost willing to take the side of Bob Barker – a major animal rights activist, and perhaps an animal in his own right – as he urges the Parks to release the whales into the ocean.
Detectives are now investigating this as a homicide. There’s merit in that. If I left one of my young nephews with a pit bull, who’s foaming at the mouth and sniffing around for something to eat, I could be in the same predicament. Although, just maybe, if put a sign outside the door, indicating some sort of canine attraction – at a $1.50 a pop – I might be able to offer a legitimate defense when the police come hull my ass off to jail. Prosecutors are much more inclined to give you a break if you tell them there’s a business license involved. But I think in the end the Florida dics’ are going to come up with the same conclusion, and dismiss the whole ordeal as a rare occurrence, cite the insurance claim Ms. Brancheau signed before jumping in the tank, and be done with the entire thing. Treating this as a homicide is the right thing; it just won’t result in anything constructive.
Michael Harris, a professional in this sort of field, said in a recent interview, “Anybody who knows these whales, in the wild, like our whales out in Puget Sound, know that these whales travel 100-miles a day.” He further went one to say, “I mean, they’re constantly on the move. You see them in large groups, sometimes up to 100 whales at a time…and you see them in the tanks in SeaWorld or other marine parks and there are a handful of them at best.” What he’s saying, for those not paying attention, is that these animals are constantly showing more and more psychotic behavior. And in the public arena, it’s and obvious danger.
There’s a reason why these professionals are warning against the domestication of wild animals. How many more people need to die? Or have their faces ripped off, as in the case of Charla Nash. How long will it be before we see lions being strapped up with leashes and taking a stroll around the block with their 70-year old owner? “Little Kitty was so sweet; he would never harm anybody – not even after he clawed at my throat and ripped my thyroid out.”
Email me at TheLastAnarchist@aol.com
