The people that read this story and are proposing that the animal be destroyed are, quite frankly, wrong on a number of accounts. This animal (I believe its name is Tilikum) was not one bred in captivity. It is, according to reports, a member of an Icelandic pod that was captured when it was younger. The Orca is, without doubt, one of the most complex and sophisticated animals we share our world with. With this comes its ability, and WISH, to hunt for food requiring an inate aggression that in the wild leads it to hunt seals, whales (hence its misnomer name 'Killer Whale' - its not a whale at all, it is a dolphin) and even great white sharks. Quite why we should be surprised that an animal that has been plucked from its possible 1,000,000 square kilometer habitat only to be placed into a 'pond' then acts in an aggressive and possibly frustrated manner is beyond me. We should use this tragic event as a stark reminder as to our place on this planet and question whether we should keep such animals such as this in such confined spaces for little more than our own amusement.
This animal (I believe its name is Tilikum) was not one bred in captivity. It is, according to reports, a member of an Icelandic pod that was captured when it was younger. The Orca is, without doubt, one of the most complex and sophisticated animals we share our world with. With this comes its ability, and WISH, to hunt for food requiring an inate aggression that in the wild leads it to hunt seals, whales (hence its misnomer name 'Killer Whale' - its not a whale at all, it is a dolphin) and even great white sharks. Quite why we should be surprised that an animal that has been plucked from its possible 1,000,000 square kilometer habitat only to be placed into a 'pond' then acts in an aggressive and possibly frustrated manner is beyond me.
We should use this tragic event as a stark reminder as to our place on this planet and question whether we should keep such animals such as this in such confined spaces for little more than our own amusement.