Deep Dive
Shownotes Transcript
Free Willy hit theaters in the summer of 1993.
It was a movie about a good-hearted but troubled orphan named Jesse who befriends a frustrated captive orca whale named Willie. Willie was housed at an amusement park where Jesse cleaned graffiti to satisfy court-ordered community service. Long story short, Jesse successfully returns Willie to the ocean after uncovering plans by the amusement park's owners to kill the whale to collect on a $1 million insurance policy. Not a dry eye in the house.
Free Willy was a massive box office success. Critics called it truly inspiring. Michael Jackson wrote an original song for the soundtrack. It was a big deal at the time. Two sequels hit the big screen before the decade was over. All three starred a kid named Jason James Richter, who played Jesse.
Willy the Whale was eventually replaced with CGI, but in the original movie, the role was portrayed by a real-life orca named Keiko. Keiko is the only killer whale in all of Mexico. He's become a national treasure, and now he's become a national movie star. Unfortunately for Keiko, the undeniable art of Free Willy imitated his life.
Keiko had been captured off the coast of Iceland 14 years before the movie was released. At 2 years old, Keiko was sold to Marineland in Niagara Falls, Ontario, where he was bullied relentlessly by the other orcas. Mercifully, Keiko was sold again in 1985 to Reino Aventura, Latin America's largest amusement park at the time, located in Mexico City. The conditions were inadequate, to say the least.
Keiko, a 10-foot-long orca, was housed in a 22-foot-deep pool filled with warm Mexican tap water, supplemented with bags of salt now and then. The sun was relentless. Keiko was literally cooking in his environment. He developed lesions all over his skin. He also has...
what's known as a papilloma virus, which causes lesions similar to warts on humans, but that's a result of a weak or suppressed immune system. Keiko spent the next 10 years swimming small lethargic circles in his own feces between three performances a day
You could see the outline of Keiko's skull and ribcage through his malnourished skin. His dorsal fin was limp and folded, and his teeth were worn down to nubs from grinding them against the concrete walls that housed him. There were no other orcas at the park with which he could commiserate.
Keiko's pathetic condition was a significant part of why he was chosen to star in Free Willy. The producers initially approached SeaWorld about using one of their whales, but the company passed because they strongly disagreed with the whole part about, you know, freeing a whale from captivity. It's kind of their entire business model. Luckily for Warner Bros., the owners of Reino Aventura admittedly had not bothered to read the script before agreeing to rent their whale.
Even better, the deplorable nature of Keiko's facility would suit the film perfectly. But for everyone involved in the production of Free Willy, the images were hard to shake. When the shoot wrapped and everyone returned to the US, they felt like they'd left Keiko behind to suffer.
So the producers took action by including a toll-free phone number for the International Marine Mammal Project during the film's credits while posing a question to the audience, quote, "How far would you go for a friend?" That's why the Marine Mammal Rescue Center is such a fantastic thing. Not only for Keiko, but for other orcas, dolphins, and porpoises. So pick up the phone. Dial 1-800-4-WALES.
Children all over the world donated every sticky penny they could muster. They emptied their piggy banks, saved their lunch monies, and organized unlicensed bake sales and lemonade stands. Millions of dollars were raised in a short amount of time.
Warner Brothers and related studios noticed and donated $2 million of their own instead of paying the writers. The Humane Society of the United States donated a million. And Craig McCall, a billionaire cell phone business pioneer, and his wife Wendy donated a million of their own with the promise of more.
In February 1995, the funds were pulled together to form a new non-profit, the Free Willy Keiko Foundation. Their mission was to rehabilitate Keiko and maybe release him back into the wild someday. The Free Willy Foundation is a non-profit organization that is bringing together the experts on orcas and dolphins to design a new state-of-the-art facility at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. And it'll give Keiko more room to swim and the special attention he needs.
"Expert trainers will teach him to survive if he's ever released into the wild." "The rescue center is the first project ever designed to do just that." $7.3 million would be used to build a state-of-the-art tank at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon. It would be four to five times the size of Keiko's Mexican tank and contain actual seawater. There would be no more performances, no more excruciating sunshine, and there would be plenty of food.
There was just one last thing the Foundation had to do before they could make Keiko's life a bit more bearable. They had to convince Reino Aventura to give up their prized well. And SeaWorld wasn't helping.
The owners of Reno Aventura could not deny that Keiko was in poor health.
A veterinarian told the park that he wouldn't survive in those conditions much longer. Raynaud had tried to sell Keiko to SeaWorld before the movie came out, but SeaWorld wasn't interested because of his warts. But now that there was talk of freeing Keiko, suddenly SeaWorld was very concerned about his well-being. Brad Andrews, SeaWorld's chief zoological officer, told Florida Today, "...I don't think it's fair and humane to the animal to try this operation just to make a few people happy."
Rayno Aventura wasn't interested in SeaWorld's offer to install cooling equipment. And the only other option besides keeping Keiko was to sell him to Michael Jackson, who offered to house the orca at Neverland Ranch, a fate much worse than death.
The choice was obvious. Reino Adventura donated Keiko to the Free Willy Keiko Foundation. We feel very sad, but at the same time we feel happy because we are convinced that we are offering Keiko an opportunity. An opportunity to have a different life, a nice life.
After one final performance in Mexico City, Keiko was flown overnight to Oregon courtesy of UPS on January 7th, 1996. Two of Keiko's Mexican trainers traveled with him since he only responded to commands in Spanish. As many as 100,000 people lined the expressway to the airport to see him off.
After a year in his new tank, Keiko gained 2,000 pounds. His warts had disappeared. He had more energy, he was more playful, and he could now hold his breath for up to 20 minutes. When he first arrived in Oregon, Keiko, the killer whale, could only hold his breath for two minutes. What we're starting to see now is an animal who's starting to explore his environment, who's starting to manipulate his own environment and become master of his environment within this environment here, the pool that he lives in.
As Keiko's condition improved, the Free Willy Keiko Foundation became more encouraged that he could be successfully reintroduced to the Icelandic waters from which he came. Many thought that that was a delusional idea, including Steiner Bastisen, a pro-whaling Norwegian politician who called the efforts, quote, a lunatic waste of money. There are more than enough killer whales around, he said, adding, the only good killer whale is a dead one.
Bastassin suggested making 60,000 meatballs out of Keiko and sending them to starving children in Africa.
Other opponents had more reasoned takes. John Gunnarsson, the Icelandic aquarium owner who first captured Keiko, was convinced returning to the wild a whale who had been in captivity for 18 years would never work. "He's too different from them," Gunnarsson said, "and he will always rely on humans. The conservation people won't listen. They don't want reality. They want the romantic story."
The Oregon Coast Aquarium, where Keiko was currently housed, was also against releasing him. The Free Willy Keiko Foundation discounted their opinion because there existed a conflict of interest. Keiko's presence had doubled the aquarium's annual attendance, pumping $75 million into the local economy.
Of course, they wanted them to stay. And our missions, as we are learning painfully, are different than that of the aquarium. The Free Willy Keiko Foundation's mission is rescue, rehabilitation, and release. That's our business. The aquarium is in the display business. Legally, Keiko was in the custody of the Free Willy Keiko Foundation when they felt that he had shown enough promise of returning to the wild to take the next step.
So on September 9th, 1998, after 32 months at the Oregon Coast Aquarium, Keiko, 3 feet longer and 3,800 pounds heavier than the first time he was moved, was flown to the southern coast of Iceland, where he was housed in a pen in Kletzvik's Bay.
The foundation's trainers hope to teach him how to fend for himself. He spent the last, you know, 20 years being fed by humans. He needs to learn how to actually be able to handle it, find fish, catch fish, and eat fish on his own. So what we're doing right now is we're bridging that gap between humans feeding him all the time and Keiko feeding himself completely.
Keiko was also encouraged to explore. His caretakers would lure him into the open ocean on supervised walks where Keiko would follow the boat
Every now and then a pod of wild orcas would swim by. Keiko would watch from afar and lightly interact with them, but always return to the humans. And just when it appeared hope was lost, Keiko is swimming with wild orcas and might well be on his way to independence. For a week now, Keiko has been out of his pen in Iceland getting his own food and interacting with wild killer whales. Keiko's human handlers are keeping an eye on him by helicopter
They say it is still too soon to tell if Keiko is going to swim away with the migrating orcas and will leave in two to three weeks or stay with his human handlers. If Keiko doesn't go, attempts to make him part of an orca pod may be abandoned. Just as Keiko showed promise, the project's funding dried up. Craig McCall, the billionaire whose foundation contributed millions of dollars a year to freeing Willie, lost $8 billion in the dot-com crash of 2000. He had to cut some costs.
Still, Keiko made progress even on the new shoestring budget. He was going on longer and longer voyages and staying the night with his friends. But disappointingly, he was still returning to his human handlers every time. Until July 2002. Finally, Keiko was free. Keiko had followed some wild orcas into the open ocean. His former caretakers tracked him for six weeks and 870 miles until he came to a stop in Skalvik fjord in Norway.
When they arrived to assess the situation, the researchers found Keiko giving rides to the Norwegian children. The good news is, judging by his healthy girth, Keiko hadn't missed a meal on this journey. The bad news is that he was lonely. Keiko hadn't been welcomed into a pod and returned to the only thing he had ever known: people. Keiko couldn't shake his lifelong connection to people, and at this point, he probably never would. The Foundation accepted this reality.
They continued taking him on walks. They continued to feed him. Keiko would wander off and the caretakers would track him until he returned. Until one day, he didn't. He captured our hearts and minds during his time spent in Oregon and on the big screen. But tonight, Keiko the killer whale has died at the age of 27. On December 12, 2003, Keiko's 27-year-old, 6-ton carcass was found floating in Tactus Bay.
The probable cause of death was pneumonia. His caretakers had given him antibiotics the day before when they noticed he had stopped eating. Keiko was laid to rest in a private ceremony in a nearby Norwegian pasture, which is usually not permitted. Apparently all the pollution in the ocean absorbed by the whale's bodies poses an environmental hazard when buried. Welcome to Earth. Go figure. Was it a success returning Keiko to the wild? It depends on who you ask.
The positive among us point out that Keiko was able to spend the five final years of his life swimming free in a natural environment. That was enough for them. Was it worth the effort? Was it cost effective? Are those even the right questions to ask? How about was it moral? Isn't that what separates us from them?
It was obvious that Keiko was far from the ideal candidate for testing if a captive killer whale could successfully return to the wild. He had spent the majority of his life in captivity, in isolation. His chances of reintegrating into orca society and not missing a beat were always slim. That was always the most optimistic goal.
Besides, it had already been proven possible on a smaller scale. A year before Keiko's death, the US and Canadian governments reunited a young orca named Springer with her pod after she got lost when her mother died. Soon after, there was another opportunity to prove reintroduction possible. When six-year-old Luna was found separated from his mother near Vancouver Island,
However, those plans were thwarted by a local group of Native Americans who insisted that Luna was the reincarnated spirit of their dead tribal chief and they wanted him left alone. True story. So, Luna lived in the bay for five years, befriending people and playfully chasing vessels until he was sucked into the propellers of a tugboat and diced into unrecoverable pieces.
See, the ocean is a dark and scary place, reminds SeaWorld, the publicly traded marine amusement park corporation that viewed Keiko's return to the wild as an abject failure. Keiko never integrated with other orcas. He was too attached to humans. He was being fed until the day he died. We hate to say we told you so, SeaWorld expressed indirectly, as if it was sentient enough to learn lessons of its own.
The consequences of keeping one of Earth's most intelligent animals in captivity on this episode of Swindled.
Support for Swindled comes from SimpliSafe.
If you're like me, you're constantly thinking about the safety of the people and things you value most. After my neighbor was robbed at knife point, I knew I needed to secure my home with the best. My research led me to SimpliSafe.com.
I've trusted SimpliSafe to protect my home for five years now, and the level of security and customer care has been incredible. I sleep better every night knowing SimpliSafe's 24-7 monitoring agents are standing by to protect me if someone tries to break in and to send emergency help when I need it most.
I want you to have the same peace of mind that I and so many listeners experience every day, which is why I've partnered with SimpliSafe to offer listeners 20% off a system. Just visit simplisafe.com slash swindled. What I love most about SimpliSafe is that it just keeps getting better. With exclusive live guard protection, SimpliSafe agents can act within five seconds of receiving your alarm and can even see and speak to intruders inside your home, warning them that the police are on their way.
As a SimpliSafe user, it's no surprise that SimpliSafe has been named Best Home Security Systems by U.S. News & World Report for five years running and the Best Customer Service in Home Security by Newsweek.
I'm a huge proponent of SimpliSafe, and I'm very happy with my security system. And you will be too. Protect your home this summer with 20% off any new SimpliSafe system when you sign up for Fast Protect Monitoring. Just visit simplisafe.com slash swindled. That's simplisafe.com slash swindled. There's no safe like SimpliSafe.
And though the killer whale flips around like a tame and harmless porpoise, in fact, he's the most ferocious predator that hunts the seven seas. And he can eat a man anytime he likes. Swim with me. You're a two-year-old orca whale searching for food with your pod. You're near the Icelandic coast. The year is 1983.
All of a sudden, you come across the mother lode. Thousands of herrings appear right in front of your rostrum. Of course, you feast. You almost didn't notice that unfamiliar noise at first, but now it's getting louder. Next, you're swallowed by a rapidly approaching shadow. Before you can heed your mother's warning, you find yourself entangled in a net with a couple of your cousins. You try to fight your way out for a while, but soon give up when you realize there's no use.
Suddenly you're ripped out of your environment and placed into a small compartment on a human piloted boat. That noise starts again. It's deafening, but unable to drown out your mother's screams. Humans haven't yet cracked the code of orca vocalization, but they know despair when they hear it. And that's the only way to describe the sounds coming from your anguished family.
Those calls grow fainter hours later when your pod becomes too tired to continue the chase. Any sign of your family has disappeared completely, and it's just you and the humans who are now hoisting your 13-foot, 2,000-pound body with a sling to put on a truck to be delivered to a marine zoo in Reykjavik.
and that's where you will be kept in a small tank in near total isolation for an entire calendar year until you are sold like a product to Sealand of Victoria, British Columbia. Sealand has been a part of Victoria for over 20 years. We specialize in the care and display of killer whales. In 1984, Sealand was looking to replace its orcas who had recently died.
"Congratulations, Tilikum. That's your new name. You've been chosen. We will teach you tricks. We will feed you fish. And you will perform eight times a day, seven days a week. Have fun." The performances were actually a relief compared to the lonely nights. You, Tilikum, shared a living space with two older, more dominant female orcas. They grew up in different pods from different regions, so none of you could communicate.
Not that it was necessary. The constant raking of your skin with their teeth and chewing on your tail until it looked like hamburger meat let you know exactly where the other orcas stood. And there was no way out. When the shows were over, all three of you were stuffed into a container only 26 feet wide, 14 hours at a time, pitch darkness. The conflict was unavoidable. Sometimes you, Tilikum, would refuse to go inside the container at the end of a long day
You could sense when the others were in a terrible mood. And you lived like this for years. This gray, dull existence where nothing new ever happens. Until it does. February 20th, 1991. The day's shows had just ended. Guests were filing out. The staff was cleaning up when you, Tilikum, hear a splash.
One of the new part-time trainers had fallen into the pool. Her name was Kelty Byrne. She was 20 years old. She was a marine biology student and a competitive swimmer. Kelty screamed when you bit down on her foot. The screaming stopped when you dragged her underwater. The older female whales in the pool squealed with delight when they saw your new toy, for which you had no plans of letting go.
Witnesses say Kelty Burns surfaced on occasion with terror in her eyes. Screams of "I don't want to die" echoed in the nearly empty arena. There was nothing anyone could do. The other trainers threw food in the water to distract you Tilikum but it didn't work. They threw a life preserver but the female whales prevented it from reaching your new possession. Ten minutes later, which felt like an eternity, you finally let her go.
Kelty Burns' lifeless body was retrieved from the pool. She had been stripped entirely naked, save one boot. There were bite marks all over her body. Her death was ruled an accident. Why did you do that, Tillicham?
Are you in pain? Are you bored? Are you lonely? Steve Huckster, the head animal trainer at Sealand, had a theory. They'd never had a plaything in the pool that was so interactive, he said. They just got incredibly excited and stimulated.
animal activists had a different interpretation. "But animal rights activists were quick to say the whales' behavior was a result of their captivity." "These are wild animals. They can be dangerous even though they are generally friendly towards people. Kind of a compact environment. They go crazy."
Keltyburn's death illuminated the physical and mental abuse orcas like Tilikum endured at amusement parks like Sealand of the Victoria, who never recovered from the tragedy. Less than a year later, the park announced it was closing its doors for good. Activists encouraged them to release their whales into the wild. Sealand said absolutely not, because the orcas trusted humans implicitly.
The people here at Sealand say releasing these whales into the wild is simply not an option. That, they say, would be a death sentence. So this is where Sealand's three whales are headed, sold to SeaWorld aquariums around the United States. SeaWorld scientists say they'll be better off here than in the wild. Come on to the SeaWorld, a wonderful place to be. Come on, see the SeaWorld.
In the early 90s, SeaWorld's marine amusement park empire was growing. The company had attractions in Florida, Ohio, California, and a new one in Texas, all featuring thrill rides and animal encounters that competing parks could not offer, specifically killer whales.
Killer whales have been the cornerstone of SeaWorld since its founding in 1964. In the early days, SeaWorld would buy orcas captured in the wild, give them the brand name Shamu, and teach them to bow, roll over, wave a fin, and blow a raspberry. "So the behaviors that they learn are all taught in very small steps, and these steps are just much like when we learn to ride a bike. We don't jump on a 10-speed for the first time. The same with the whales."
SeaWorld was in need of a mature male orca after the sudden death of Kanduk a year earlier. Of the company's 13 remaining whales, 12 of them were female. So SeaWorld purchased Tilikum from Sealand for a reported $1 million and moved him to the company's flagship park in Orlando. "Don't worry, Tilikum. You will primarily be used for breeding." That was SeaWorld's idea of a more modern, ethical approach.
You're the largest orca in captivity, after all. A big show-stopping splash is enough from you. Besides, SeaWorld was well aware of your history. But, tragically, the same couldn't be said for everyone. On Tuesday, July 6, 1999, SeaWorld staff arrived in the morning to find a nude male body draped over Tilikum's back. His skin was discolored and bruised. Rigor mortis had set in.
It took a while for emergency responders to retrieve the corpse from the whale, and when they finally did, Tilikum was reportedly "pissed." It seemed as if Tilikum had enjoyed entertaining himself with the human body, as evidenced by the little pieces of human flesh collected from the bottom of the pool. Tilikum had also nibbled open the victim's scrotum, removed his left testicle, and then spit it out, reportedly. We can't know for sure because there was no security footage of the incident,
Initially, the Orange County Sheriff's Office was stumped. While we'll probably never know the exact cause of death, a spokesperson said, he may have been a victim of what a whale would call horseplay, just playing around. The horseplay victim was identified as 27-year-old Daniel Dukes. They found his ID in a neat pile of clothes next to the pool, along with a marijuana-filled cigarette.
Those that knew him say Daniel was a free spirit, a drifter type. He lived at a Hare Krishna temple in Miami for a while. He was big on nature and environmentalism. SeaWorld staff remembered seeing Daniel Dukes the day before. He, quote, looked dirty and had a foul odor about him. He was muttering to himself all crazy-like and was, quote, wandering around the front gate plaza, glaring suspiciously at young girls.
Daniel must have hidden somewhere until the park closed. Then he hopped a three-foot plexiglass barrier and swam with Tilikum in the Dynum with Shamu pool. The cold water must have given Daniel hypothermia, and then he drowned accidentally, SeaWorld suggested, despite his severely mutilated body.
The amusement park was quick to point out Duke's numerous arrests. It was all minor stuff: marijuana possession, petty theft, trespassing. In fact, Daniel Duke spent some time in jail just days before his death for stealing a Three Musketeers candy bar from a convenience store, like some kind of out-of-control career criminal. SeaWorld made an effort to paint the victim as a mentally ill, drug-abusing vagrant. And as typical of those cases, the media coverage was sparse.
Mr. Dukes had been trespassing, SeaWorld's executive vice president told the New York Times. Not only was that incredibly bad judgment to try to take a dip with a killer whale, but, remember, this water is 50 degrees ice-cold water. In other words, it was a freak accident, and Daniel Dukes only had himself to blame. SeaWorld returned to business as usual in short order, including Tillichem, who would claim his third victim about 10 years later.
Support for Swindled comes from Rocket Money. Most Americans think they spend about $62 per month on subscriptions. That's very specific, but get this, the real number is closer to $300. That is literally thousands of dollars a year, half of which we've probably forgotten about.
I know I'm guilty, but thankfully, I started using Rocket Money. They found a bunch of subscriptions I'd forgotten all about and then helped me cancel the ones I didn't want anymore. Rocket Money is a personal finance app that finds and cancels your unwanted subscriptions, monitors your spending, and helps lower your bills so that you can grow your savings. With Rocket Money, I have full control over my subscriptions and a clear view of my expenses.
I can see all of my subscriptions in one place. And if I see something I don't want, Rocket Money can help me cancel it with a few taps. Rocket Money will even try to negotiate lower bills for you by up to 20%. All you have to do is submit a picture of your bill and Rocket Money takes care of the rest. They'll deal with customer service for you. It's a dream.
Rocket Money has over 5 million users and has saved a total of $500 million in canceled subscriptions, saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the app's features. Stop wasting money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash swindled. That's rocketmoney.com slash swindled. rocketmoney.com slash swindled.
The trainers who work with the killer whales are in amazing physical shape, and some of them have a lot of experience competing in marathons and triathlons. And I want to introduce you to one of those very special trainers this morning. This is Don Brancho. Don is the senior trainer here at Shamu Stadium. And I have the honor, Don, and I mean this so sincerely, of watching you perform yesterday. You're amazing. Thank you. You really are. You're not only a wonderful showman, but you are so physically fit. It's a tough job, isn't it?
Dawn Brancho had known she wanted to be a SeaWorld trainer since she was nine years old. A family vacation to the Orlando park ignited the passion. Dawn started working for the company in 1994 after graduating with degrees in animal behavior and psychology from the University of South Carolina.
Dawn Brancho was a friend to every living creature. "Fast do I love coming out here every day and having the audience just love what we're doing with the animals. How do I make this animal as beautiful as they are and have people walk away loving this animal? They're touched and they're moved and I feel like I made a difference to them." Fifteen years later, Dawn Brancho had become the literal poster girl of SeaWorld. She was featured on billboards throughout Orlando, including the city's welcome sign at the airport.
At 40 years old Dawn was the company's most experienced trainer. She had worked with every animal at the park, including the now 23-foot long 12,500-pound Tilikum, who Dawn was scheduled to interact with on February 24, 2010. The "Dine with Shamu" show was a short session that featured a trainer leading a whale through a series of tricks while park guests enjoyed lunch in a restaurant setting.
By all accounts, the show itself progressed swimmingly. Tilikum obeyed Don's every command and received his rewards: frozen fish from a bucket and soon a customary post-show rubdown. The guests cleared out around 1:30 p.m. after the show's completion. Don Brancho called Tilikum over to the slide-out, a shallow platform in the pool where she was positioned to reach him better. Don laid down on the slide-out and started rubbing Tilly.
At approximately 1:38 p.m., he pulled her into the water. What I observed was a current of water or a ripple of water blow her hair into his mouth. All of a sudden, I saw her pulling on her hair and trying to pull out. There is conflicting witness testimony. Some saw Tillichem deliberately pull the trainer into the pool by her left arm and shoulder. Others saw the whale become infatuated with Don
with Don's long ponytail which drifted in front of his mouth. Don was growing out her hair to donate to cancer patients. With Don Brancho in his mouth, Tilikum maneuvered around the pole erratically. Witnesses say Don broke free in a brief moment of fortune and swam frantically for the near surface.
And here comes the whale. And here comes the whale. And at first it looked like he was going to go underneath her and give her a foot lift, you know, like you see them do during the Believe show. And then he lifted his snow up and impacted her squarely in the chest. And she went, I mean, you can't go flying through the water, but it was substantial. Tillichem rammed his rostrum directly into Don Brancho's chest and then fetched her with his jaws.
Orange County Fire Rescue.
6600 Sea Harbor Drive. Okay. SeaWorld, 942. Okay, and where's the patient located inside the car? They are at Shamu Stadium. We actually have a trainer in the water with one of our whales, the whale that they're not supposed to be in the water with. Okay. So we don't know what's going on. We were just told to call and have people here on standby when they get the person out. Okay, and do you know if, so you don't know if the person was injured or if they're having a medical problem?
Tilikum grew more agitated as trainers tried to distract him with food and nets. They coaxed him into three different pools, but he wouldn't let go of Don, who was utterly motionless by this point.
Finally, after 45 minutes, the SeaWorld staff were able to corner Tillichem in the medical pool and raise the false bottom. Witnesses say the rescue workers had to pry open the whale's mouth twice, one to release Don Brancho from the grips of his teeth, and a second time to retrieve her detached left arm. This is witness testimony from Laura Surovic, a SeaWorld employee and Don Brancho's best friend. Tillichem was in there, and he knows me. I worked with this whale for...
since he's been here. So I decided at that point they were listing and as the floor listed I stepped into onto the platform and
Don Brancho had no pulse. The defibrillator had no effect.
Dawn's autopsy later revealed that she had jaw, rib, sternum, and vertebrae fractures. Additionally, her spinal cord was severed, and her entire scalp had been "forcibly torn from the head." It was retrieved from the bottom of the pool later, ponytail still attached. The official cause of death would be blunt force trauma and drowning. First responders covered Dawn Brancho's body with a black cloth to protect her dignity from the local news station's eyes in the sky which were circling overhead.
Occasionally, Tilikum would swim over to the edge of the pool and take a peek for himself. Tragedy at SeaWorld. It happened without warning. A killer whale grabbed a trainer who'd always dreamed of working with orcas and pulled her underwater. Star of the show, the setter of all things SeaWorld today offered a grisly reminder why the name killer is right in its title. SeaWorld Orlando's biggest killer whale carried out the park's biggest tragedy today, drowning a trainer as horrified spectators looked on.
Well, officially, the Orange County Sheriff's Office says this 40-year-old female employee of SeaWorld, a trainer with more than 20 years' experience, slipped and fell into a behind-the-scenes pool behind the Shamu Stadium show. We're told that the whale in that pool apparently grabbed her and pulled her underwater. It is believed that she drowned. But we know this. Children saw this, waiting for a SeaWorld water show, waiting to see the majesty of the world's largest whale in captivity, a third.
13,000 pound killer whale. Instead they got a first-hand look at the violent and deadly world of nature in its rawest form. Witnesses say Tillicum jumped out of the water, grabbed a female trainer around the waist and started thrashing her so hard that at one point her shoe flew off. A SeaWorld spokesman says the female trainer slipped and fell into the water and then was attacked by the whale. Either way the audience was quickly rushed out of the park. The park immediately closed.
By the time paramedics reached the trainer, she was dead. I don't know. What apparently happened is we had a female trainer back in the whale holding area. She apparently slipped or fell into the tank and was fatally injured by one of the whales. Dan Brown, the vice president and general manager of SeaWorld Orlando, delivered a statement that evening.
It's with great sadness that I report that one of our most experienced animal trainers drowned in an incident with one of our killer whales this afternoon. We've initiated an investigation to determine to the extent possible what occurred. There are no other details to share at this point but we will make our findings known in due course. I must emphasize this is an extraordinarily difficult time for the SeaWorld Parks and our team members.
Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees, guests, and the animals entrusted to our care. We have never in the history of our parks experienced an incident like this, and all of our standard operating procedures will come under review as part of this investigation.
The next day, February 26, 2010, SeaWorld CEO Jim Acheson announced that trainers would temporarily no longer join orcas in the water until they could reassess their processes and procedures.
As you know, all direct interactions with these animals was suspended immediately after the incident on Wednesday in all three SeaWorld parks. This includes all show and most husbandry interactions and our dining programs. We will resume performances of our killer whale show Believe tomorrow at SeaWorld parks in Orlando, San Diego, and San Antonio. But our trainers will not enter the water. Okay, well...
What about Tilikum? Let me be very clear about how we care for Tilikum. Tilikum is an important part of our overall team here. Our team at this facility, one of the largest marine life facilities in the world, is comprised of the whales and the trainers. Tilikum interacts with both. Tilikum is not separated in any fashion. He is part of the whole social network of this facility, including the other killer whales and the trainers. He is never separated.
After the Brancho attack, Tilikum became more isolated than ever. His caretakers were instructed to brush his teeth with a two-foot pole. Instead of massaging the whale with their hands, they sprayed him with a high-powered water hose from afar. Despite pleas from the American Family Association, a religious conservative group that issued a decree for Tilikum to be stoned to death in accordance with biblical law, SeaWorld made it very clear that the whale would not be punished and that they would not get rid of him.
The company didn't outright say it, but Tilikum was too valuable to their operation. He had already fathered 13 calves and would have two more on the way just a few months after the incident. Tilikum would not, however, be allowed to participate in the performances, which resumed three days later. Fans lined up two hours early to see the first show, which was dedicated to the beloved Don Brancho. The trainers were given a standing ovation. In memory of the
Behind the scenes, the Brancho attack had triggered an investigation into SeaWorld by the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Any workplace where an employee is scalped alive, crushed, and drowned can usually expect a visit. OSHA discovered that SeaWorld had a long history of incidents involving its killer whales, many of which were undocumented.
Even the company's first orca, Shamu, whose mother was shot and killed with a harpoon right in front of her when captured, was involved in a near-tragic incident. In 1971, a SeaWorld secretary named Annette Eckes was chosen to ride on the back of Shamu for a publicity event. Shamu's jaws had to be pried apart to allow the bloody and battered woman to reach safety. 1987 was the worst, though.
Fourteen SeaWorld trainers at SeaWorld San Diego were injured on the job in four months. One of them was 26-year-old John Silek. As part of a show, John was riding the back of a corky when another whale named Orky leaped out of the water and landed on John, sandwiching him between the six-ton animals in front of a horrified capacity crowd.
John Silek survived with broken ribs, a broken pelvis, a shattered femur, and 12 broken vertebrae. It was only his second year on the job. SeaWorld blamed the newbie trainer for making an error. It was an accident, the company claimed, not an act of aggression. That same year, a 6,000-pound orca named Kandu landed on top of a trainer named Joanne Weber, fracturing her neck while pushing her to the bottom of a 40-foot-deep pool.
Joanne's injuries were made worse when SeaWorld demanded she remove her wetsuit before making her walk to the ambulance. They didn't want the paramedics to damage the company's property. Several people, including John Silek and Joanne Weber, sued SeaWorld that year for negligence and fraud for making them work with "ferocious and dangerous animals." SeaWorld settled all of those lawsuits out of court with a gag order. As a result, none of the trainers can talk about it publicly.
Side note: here's what happened to Kandu, the whale that landed on Joanne. Two years later, Kandu interrupted a show where her born-in-captivity daughter, Orchid, performed with Corky, a mature female. Kandu apparently did not appreciate how close Corky was becoming with Orchid, so she attacked Corky, ramming her at full speed with an open mouth.
The strike resulted in Kandu breaking her own jaw, which severed a major artery in her nasal passage, causing a 10-foot geyser of blood to spray from Kandu's blowhole as she bled to death over the next 45 minutes in front of horrified spectators. "It's common behavior," the SeaWorld veterinarian told the LA Times. The altercation was initiated by Kandu. She was asserting her dominance.
Orcas are very protective of their offspring. It's been suggested that this maternal bond is what led to the 2006 attack on SeaWorld San Diego trainer Ken Peters.
The video from 2006 is chilling. Ken Peters, an experienced trainer, is swimming with a 5,000 pound female named Kasatka, an animal he's worked with for years. With no apparent warning, the killer whale grabs his feet and pulls him underwater for close to a minute. Then it brings him to the surface where the trainer pets the whale, tries to calm it, only to be yanked down again.
During the performance, Kasatka's calf reportedly called for its mother from a nearby pool. Being helpless to respond, Kasatka lashed out at those who were keeping them separated. Ken Peters survived with a broken foot. Kasatka performed the next day. There are times like this when they are killer whales and she did choose to, uh,
to demonstrate her feelings in a way that obviously was unfortunate. And we are unfortunate that our guests did have to see this and we obviously do not want this.
California's State OSHA investigated the Ken Peters event and issued an 18-page report in 2007 that warned, "The contributing factors to the accident, in the simplest of terms, is that swimming with captive workers is inherently dangerous, and if someone hasn't been killed already, it is only a matter of time before it does happen."
SeaWorld successfully challenged the report. It was withdrawn, revised, and reissued 10 pages shorter. The most damaging information was removed, including the dire warning:
It's been rumored that California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger personally intervened. The governator was a well-known friend and political ally of August Bush IV of Anheuser-Busch, the family company that purchased SeaWorld in 1989. It's unbelievable that a commercial corporation was able to influence what should have been an objective investigation by
That's Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist who worked for the Humane Society of the United States. She argued that withdrawing the original 2007 OSHA report led to avoidable deaths. Not only Don Brancho, but also Alexis Martinez, who, two months earlier, was battered to death at Loro Parque in the Canary Islands by a SeaWorld-owned orca named Keto. Alexis Martinez, who was a member of the United States Marine Society,
Alexis was bleeding from every orifice. Laurel Parquet reported no signs of violence. It was an unwritten rule never to blame the Wells. Why? Money, money, money, a former SeaWorld trainer named John Jed told the San Diego Tribune. SeaWorld is the new Ringling Brothers Circus, he said. Only now the draw is pretty girls in tight wetsuits, interacting with large carnivores in environments that are in no way related to their natural history, except maybe the saltwater.
Other former SeaWorld trainers came forward with similar sentiments. The same thing so many scientists, academics, veterinarians, environmentalists and activists were saying. Orcas, killer whales, are too large, too smart, too conscious and too family oriented to be kept in captivity. They're truly remarkable animals.
Orcas are the largest member of the dolphin family. They live in highly complex and highly social matriarchal societies, each with its own culture and communication. Male orcas stay with their mothers for their entire lives. Separation is not an insignificant issue. This is Rick O'Berry, former trainer of Flipper the dolphin, turned animal rights activist.
What a violation of nature and what hypocrisy to say we're capturing these dolphins and bringing them to the Miami Seaquarium or SeaWorld or some other park so that we can teach you respect for nature.
Respect for nature doesn't look like this. Captive orcas develop cataracts and eye damage from the hot suns in Florida, California, and Texas. They're fed fish filled with antibiotics to treat the constant infections resulting from impaired immunity. They become less vocal because these signals bouncing off the tank's walls are maddening. The wild orcas swim up to 100 miles a day. In captivity, they bang their heads against the wall for fun.
It's theorized that a lack of physical activity is what leads to the collapse of the dorsal fin, seen in 100% of captive males. In the wild, dorsal fin collapse is seen in less than 1%. And part of that 1% includes two orcas exposed to the Exxon Valdez oil spill, both of which died within two years. SeaWorld disputes these numbers, but male orcas can live as long as 60 years in the wild, and captivity males rarely reach 30.
Wild females can live to be 90 years old. Captive females typically die before the age of 50. One of the reasons orcas live so long in the wild is because they have no natural predators. They do not kill each other, and they do not kill humans. There's only one documented orca attack on humans in the wild. A surfer in a wetsuit mistaken for a seal in 1972. So where's all of this uncharacteristic aggression coming from?
Gee, I wonder. So any tank is too small. I would like SeaWorld to consider retiring him to an open ocean sea pen and seeing whether they can lessen some of the stress he suffers from. Again, I think they're just fooling themselves if they argue, oh, there's nothing unusual about this, or Tilikum is just fine with this situation. He's clearly not just fine with this situation.
SeaWorld always favored the testimony that Tilikum pulled Dawn Brancho into the pool by her hair, but somehow made the whale's actions look more benign and less unpredictably violent. Otherwise, the company might have to acknowledge that there was something seriously wrong with its whales. But the fact is the company already knew Tilikum was dangerous. The Kelty Burn incident, the Daniel Dukes incident. Tilikum was the only whale of 26 that trainers were forbidden to swim with.
Linda Simmons, SeaWorld's former safety chief, divulged this information and more after she says the company fired her for cooperating with OSHA investigators. The Tilly Talk is an orientation for anyone coming into the stadium to work with the whales, whether you've been at SeaWorld and other positions or you're brand new to SeaWorld. And what they do is they talk to you about going in the water with Tilly, that if you get in the water with Tilly, you will come out a corpse.
letting them know how dangerous an animal he is.
SeaWorld argued that its orcas, such as Tilikum, were not dangerous and did not live solitary lives. They receive world-class health care. They're free from the pollution and dwindling food supplies of their natural environment. And they're providing an educational service to the public. And their managers, investors, other aquarium owners, some former and current trainers, and politicians whose constituents benefit from their parks, agreed with them.
On August 23, 2010, the U.S. Labor Department's OSHA cited SeaWorld for three safety violations. A serious violation for a missing handrail on a staircase leading up to a bridge on one of the stages. An other-than-serious violation for weather-exposed electrical outlets. And a willful violation for exposing its employees to danger by having them interact with killer whales.
OSHA's probe revealed that "SeaWorld trainers had an extensive history of unexpected and potentially dangerous incidents involving killer whales at its various facilities. Despite this record, management failed to make meaningful changes to improve the safety of the work environment for its employees."
SeaWorld was fined a measly $75,000 for the three infractions, but their trainers were effectively banned from working with the whales in the water. It was a huge blow. Again, this is Naomi Rose. They are not machines. They are not domesticated animals that SeaWorld can control. They have this idea that they can control these animals, and they can't. SeaWorld called OSHA's findings unfounded and would spend the next several years fighting it in court.
The month after the ruling, in October 2010, Kalina, aka Baby Shamu, died unexpectedly at SeaWorld Orlando. Kalina was the first orca born in captivity back in 1985. She was a little troublemaker when she was younger. So much so that SeaWorld abruptly transferred Baby Shamu out of Florida to SeaWorld Ohio, which has since closed.
Kalina's mother Katina reportedly remained immobile in the corner of the pool from which her child disappeared. She wailed in grief throughout the night. This is the second whale death here at SeaWorld in a year that's been marked by tragedy.
This morning, SeaWorld is confirming that Kalina, a 25-year-old killer whale, died unexpectedly after a sudden illness on Monday. A few months earlier, Taima, a 20-year-old orca, died giving birth to a stillbirth calf in Orlando. SeaWorld continues to spend millions of dollars on advertising what they're doing for the Gulf Coast, but like BP, their image has also become tarnished by these recent tragedies of the death of a trainer and now the death of a baby killer whale and the mother.
That's Brian Wilson of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, PETA, who would later file a lawsuit asking the court to rule that SeaWorld's orcas were held in illegal involuntary servitude in violation of the 13th Amendment of the United States Constitution. U.S. District Judge Jeffrey T. Miller ruled against PETA because slavery and involuntary servitude are uniquely human activities. Lucky us.
Despite the victory, the lawsuit was more bad publicity for SeaWorld. It was an avalanche of terrible optics. How could it get any worse? I'm sorry I asked.
Let's stick with the whales. Right now what we're doing is we're preparing the whales to begin the desensitization process and to start from the beginning. Even though many of these whales have a vast amount of experience, we're going to bring kind of everybody back to the beginning. SeaWorld was getting back to the basics. All of its orcas' training would be reinforced and re-evaluated. By March 2011, even Tilikum was performing again alongside his grandson.
In May 2012, Judge Ken S. Welsh sided with OSHA when SeaWorld appealed the citations that was keeping its trainers out of the water. Welsh stated, "It is implausible and difficult to reconcile claims made by SeaWorld that the company was unaware that its animals posed a danger.
However, Judge Welch did agree that the company had emphasized trainer safety even if its procedures were largely ineffective. As a result, he downgraded the severity of the citations and SeaWorld's total fine was reduced to $12,000. SeaWorld would continue the fight to overturn even that ruling because its trainers still could not return to water work. The company argued that having the trainers in the water with the whales was fundamental to its business.
One year later, SeaWorld's business would be front page news. There's been a lot of lies circulating about how we take care of our animals here at SeaWorld. The truth is, SeaWorld is recognized as a world leader in animal care. But that's not what the groups behind the film Blackfish or PETA wants to make you believe. The truth is, at SeaWorld, we've dedicated our lives to taking care of these amazing animals. We know you love these whales, and we love them too.
Blackfish premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival. It's a documentary directed by Gabriela Calperthwaite that explores the link between Telecom's attack on Don Brancho and the consequences of keeping orcas in captivity.
The film includes interviews with former trainers, scientists, and witnesses. It followed on the heels of an equally devastating expose by David Kirby titled Death at SeaWorld, published in 2012, which followed Tim Zimmerman's 2010 long-form article in Outside magazine called The Killer in the Pool. The concern for captive killer whales was reaching the mainstream consciousness. Magnolia Films picked up Blackfish for broader distribution. So did CNN, who aired the film in its entirety on primetime.
The public was horrified and demanded change. Legislation to ban orca shows and breeding garnered momentum in New York, California, and at the federal level. SeaWorld went into damage control mode and spent half a million dollars on political lobbying in the first half of 2014.
SeaWorld called Blackfish "misinformed, sensational propaganda." The company released a statement, quote: "Blackfish is inaccurate and misleading and regrettably exploits a tragedy. The film paints a distorted picture that withholds key facts about SeaWorld: that SeaWorld rescues, rehabilitates and returns to the wild hundreds of wild animals every year and that SeaWorld commits millions of dollars annually to conservation and scientific research.
SeaWorld also purchased full-page newspaper ads in the largest markets that addressed some of the film's claims. For example, the letter states, "SeaWorld does not capture killer whales in the wild. We do not separate killer whale moms and calves. SeaWorld's killer whale's life spans are equivalent with those in the wild." Even if those things were true, and most scientists agree that they are not, the damage from Blackfish was already taking place. It was too late. The SeaWorld trainer Barbie was discontinued.
Pixar changed the ending to its script for Finding Dory, which originally called for the characters to be sent to a SeaWorld-like aquatic park to live happily ever after. Also, 8 of 10 musical acts pulled out of SeaWorld's upcoming concert series. Willie Nelson, the Barenaked Ladies, REO Speedwagon all said thanks but no tanks to the amusement park. This particular slight rubbed some people at SeaWorld headquarters the wrong way.
Fred Jacobs, the company's spokesperson, wrote in an email to a coworker in 2013, "God, we look like idiots. This whole fucking thing pisses me off. What relentless amateurism we've shown in booking these fucking people and managing the whole fucking chocolate mess." An email from later that year showed just how desperate SeaWorld was getting.
In December 2013, the Orlando Business Journal posted a poll on its website asking, quote, Surprisingly, 99% of the vote sided with the amusement park. However, it was soon discovered that 55% of the votes had come from a single SeaWorld-owned IP address.
Marketing director Nick Golochczyk had discovered an exploit in the web poll that would allow a visitor to vote multiple times. He shared it with his colleagues. "The poll is still running. Let's keep flooding it," he wrote in an email sent on Christmas Eve. "Happy holidays and keep voting. Ho ho vote. It's just embarrassing." Attendance was down. Revenues were down. The brand was toxic. But, in public, SeaWorld put on a positive face.
As much as we're asked that, we can see no noticeable impact on our business." CEO Jim Atchison told analysts on a conference call when asked if Blackfish had affected the company's bottom line. "The movie in some ways has actually made perhaps more interest in marine mammal parks and actually even about us, so we've seen that reflected through certain visitor profiles and certain guest comments and things we get."
Jim Atchison was lying, and he knew it. SeaWorld had suffered a $15.9 million loss because of the movie, which they blamed on high ticket prices and bad weather. But instead of sharing this insight with investors, Atchison quietly sold his own stock to keep the company afloat.
In August 2014, SeaWorld finally came clean and admitted that Blackfish had hurt its revenue. The company's stock price fell 33%. The potential for business altering legislation spooked new investors. Meanwhile, old investors were filing a class action lawsuit against SeaWorld for misleading them about the Blackfish effect on revenue. SeaWorld would later settle that lawsuit.
for $65 million. Now, according to filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Seaworld will pay $65 million to settle the class action lawsuit. Now, under the agreement, Seaworld admits no wrongdoing. CEO Jim Atchison resigned in December 2014. He later paid $5 million to settle federal charges brought by the Securities and Exchange Commission for his role in hiding the negative impact of Blackfish on the company.
Acheson was replaced by Joel Manby, who previously managed Dollywood. Manby immediately instituted layoffs, mainly in SeaWorld's marketing department. His goal was to repair the company's brand, aggressively. SeaWorld launched a new website called AskSeaWorld.com to help dispel some of the misinformation popularized by the movies and books. The company also launched a social media Q&A, which backfired spectacularly.
Joel Manby also ordered some SeaWorld workers to work undercover and infiltrate PETA. He later claimed it was to find out what the animal activists were planning so SeaWorld could protect its employees and customers accordingly. SeaWorld also set its targets on a former trainer named John Hargrove. John had appeared in Blackfish and was preparing to release his own book.
and response an organization related to SeaWorld built a website called RealJohnHardgrove.com where it published a five-year-old video of the intoxicated former trainer using racial slurs while on the phone. They did a really good job of doctoring the footage to sell their agenda. You're lying about how we care about these animals. You're lying about the benefits of having these animals in a zoo and aquarium. There's no evil empire.
I am not an evil Darth Vader minion, you know? I have a heart too, and I would not have worked the career that I did and come to work every day that I did if I felt that these animals were ever treated like anything other than royalty. Blackfish really hit me because I believe wholeheartedly in what I do. I believe that what I do makes a difference in the animals' lives and in people's lives. The one thing that I want people to know after watching the movie is that it's not true.
SeaWorld was fighting back. It even announced that it was building new, larger tanks for the orcas at every one of its parks. These improvements had little effect. Attendance continued to fall. By August 2015, SeaWorld had experienced an 84% reduction in profit from previous years.
The company ramped up its public relations campaign even more. There's some facts about SeaWorld we'd like you to know. We don't collect killer whales from the wild and haven't for 35 years. With the highest standard of animal care in the world, our whales are healthy. They're thriving. It wouldn't work here if they weren't. And government research shows they live just as long as whales in the wild. Our male killer whales do have dorsal fins that are bent.
The dorsal fin is not an indicator of the animal's overall health. The truth of the matter is that all toothed whales and dolphins rake each other. This is how these animals interact with each other. Again, SeaWorld's defense was falling on deaf ears. So, in November 2015, the company finally acknowledged which way the wind was blowing and announced that its killer whale shows would be phased out permanently.
We are listening to our guests, CEO Joel Manby announced. We are evolving as a company. We are always changing. However, Manby denied that the change resulted from pressure from environmentalists. We didn't do it from activists, he said. Frankly, the activists will not be pleased with anything we do. He was right. PETA issued a statement in response to the news, quote,
An end to SeaWorld's tawdry circus-style shows is inevitable and necessary, but it's captivity that denies these far-ranging orcas everything that is natural and important to them. This move is like no longer whipping lions in a circus act but keeping them locked inside cages for life, or no longer beating dogs but never letting them out of crates. A few months later, SeaWorld made another surprise announcement. Some say, "Free the whales." For them, nothing else is acceptable.
But nothing could be worse for the whales. Most of the orcas at SeaWorld were born here. Sending them into the wild wouldn't be noble. It could be fatal. When they freed Keiko, the killer whale of movie fame, the effort was a failure and he perished. But we also understand that times have changed. Today, people are concerned about the world's largest animals like never before. So, we too must change. That's why the orcas in our care will be the last generation at SeaWorld. There will be no more breeding.
We're also phasing out Orca theatrical shows. They'll continue to receive the highest standard of care available anywhere. And guests can come to see them simply being their majestic selves, inspiring the next generation of people to love them as you do.
In March 2016, SeaWorld pledged to end its orca breeding program. Again, CEO Joel Mamby said the decision was influenced by society's shifting attitude towards keeping killer whales in captivity, though he elected to use some softer language. It's about where society is shifting. I have seen clearly that society is changing their attitude about these unbelievable, majestic animals being in human care.
This meant that SeaWorld's 29 orcas would remain in captivity and on display until the day they died.
Activists noted that the company was still breeding other animals and that the announcement's timing was a bit suspect considering the condition of their primary stud. The star of SeaWorld's Killer Whale show is very sick. SeaWorld says Tilikum, its notorious 12,000 pound killer whale, is not doing very well. Until recently, Tilikum performed at Shamu Stadium even after the death of trainer Don Brancho in 2010. I wish I could say...
I was tremendously optimistic about Tilikum and his future. But he has a disease which is chronic and progressive and at some point might cause his death. Tilikum died on January 6, 2017. His cause of death is listed as a bacterial infection. Throughout his life, Tilikum fathered 21 calves.
At the time of his death, only nine of them remained alive. The last killer whale born in captivity at SeaWorld occurred a few months after Tilikum's death on April 19, 2017, in San Antonio. That baby orca's name was Kiara. She died 96 days later. SeaWorld has yet to confirm the cause of death, but said in a statement they do not believe it was the result of being held in captivity.
Curiously, even though SeaWorld pledged to stop breeding orcas back in 2016, the company spent 2018 trying to block federal legislation that wouldn't even give them the option.
More challenges lay ahead. SeaWorld survived the COVID-19 pandemic by furloughing 95% of its staff without a paycheck or health benefits.
After raising more than $227 million through a private offering in March 2020, the company faced backlash when it sought an emergency loan from the federal government worth potentially hundreds of millions of dollars more, despite having only paid less than $8 million in total income taxes in the previous 10 years.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, SeaWorld had amassed more than $556 million worth of tax credits when Anheuser-Busch sold it to the Blackstone Group in 2009. That makes them smart. In the third quarter, we generated among our highest revenue and net income ever reported. The earnings report showed huge gains in attendance and revenue from 2020 figures.
2021 and beyond has been encouraging for SeaWorld as the company has pivoted more towards thrill rides and educational shows rather than circus acts and breeding. They partnered with a company in Abu Dhabi to open the world's largest aquarium, which is set to open in 2023. SeaWorld Abu Dhabi will be totally orca-free. However, worldwide, there are still 55 orcas in captivity.
It's heartbreaking video. A killer whale seen banging its head against a tank. Kiska, a 45-year-old orca, lives in total isolation at Marineland Park in Niagara Falls, Canada. Experts who've reviewed Kiska's condition have said that she's probably the loneliest orca in the world because she has no companionship whatsoever.
Canada's last captive orca, Kiska, died from a bacterial infection on March 11th, 2023. Kiska was 47 years old. She was captured in Iceland in 1979 alongside Keiko. Kiska spent more than 40 of those years in a tank by herself. Rest in paradise. 54 orcas in captivity and counting. Swindled is written, researched, produced, and hosted by me, a concerned citizen.
with original music by Trevor Howard, a.k.a. Deformer, a.k.a. Baby Shamu. For more information about Swindled, you can visit swindledpodcast.com and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, and TikTok at swindledpodcast. Or you can send us a postcard at PO Box 6044, Austin, Texas, 78762. But please, no packages. We do not trust you.
Swindled is a completely independent production, which means no network, no investors, no bosses, no shadowy money men, no captive orcas, not a single one. And we plan to keep it that way. But we need your support. Become a valued listener on Patreon, Apple Podcasts, or Spotify at valuedlistener.com.
For as little as $5 a month, you will receive early access to new episodes and exclusive access to bonus episodes that you can't find anywhere else. And everything is 100% commercial free. Become a valued listener at valuedlistener.com.
Or if you want to support the show and need something to wear to not SeaWorld, consider buying something you don't need at swindledpodcast.com slash shop. There are t-shirts, patches, hats, hoodies, posters, coffee mugs, and more. swindledpodcast.com slash shop. And remember to use coupon code CAPITALISM to receive 10% off your order. If you don't want anything in return for your support, you can always simply donate using the form on the homepage. That's it. Thanks for listening.
Hi, my name is Emma from London, UK. My name is Leah from Vancouver, Canada. Hi there, my name is Cyrus from New Orleans and I am a concerned citizen and a valued listener. Trademarked. Swindled Corporation.
Thanks to SimpliSafe for sponsoring the show. Protect your home this summer with 20% off any new SimpliSafe system when you sign up for Fast Protect Monitoring. Just visit simplisafe.com slash swindled. That's simplisafe.com slash swindled. There's no safe like SimpliSafe.