Bull orca Tilikum from popular SeaWorld Orlando theme park and marine zoological park in the United States died on Friday, January 6. This Orca was infamously involved in the death of three people and made headlines for killing a trainer at the park in 2010.
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On Friday, SeaWorld announced that Tilikum had died after battling lung infection. He was suffering from severe health issues and his poor health was reported by SeaWorld in March 2016. Tilikum was believed to be around 36 years old.
Tilikum's age was at the high-end of the average life expectancy of a male killer whale, Independent Science reported.
"Tilikum had and will continue to have a special place in the hearts of the SeaWorld family as well as the millions of people all over the world that he inspired," said SeaWorld President & CEO Joel Manby.
"My heart goes out to our team who cared for him like family," he added.
Tilikum was caught in 1983 off the coast of Iceland from where he was shifted to Sealand of the Pacific, in Canada. In 1991, he was transferred to SeaWorld Orlando and was there for 25 years.
Tilikum was involved in three deaths. The first incident occurred in 1991 at Sealand of the Pacific in which Tilikum along with two other orcas killed a trainer-cum-competitive swimmer after she accidentally slipped into the pool.
The second incident occurred in 1999 when a 27-year-old man was found dead lying over Tilikum's back, CNN reported. The victim had visited SeaWorld the previous day, stayed after the park closed, and evaded security to enter the orca tank. The autopsy concluded that the cause of death was drowning.
"There were no obvious signs of trauma to the body. He wasn't chewed. He wasn't dismembered," Jim Solomons, a spokesman for the sheriff's office, was quoted as saying by CNN.
The third death took place in 2010 when Tilikum was involved in the death of a 40-year-old trainer. The trainer was rubbing Tilikum as part of a post-show routine when the orca pulled her into the water. The attack grabbed a lot of attention worldwide.
In 2013, Tilikum featured in an American documentary film Blackfish. It dealt with the controversy surrounding captive killer whales. The film claimed that orcas attacked humans because of psychotic disorder due to them being in captivity.
The documentary earned $2.1 million at the box office and led to people, who were opposed orcas in captivity, protesting against SeaWorld parks. The theme park reacted to this by defending its practices.
SeaWorld claims that it has not captured any whale from the wild in the past 40 years. Last year, after seeing numerous protests by animal rights groups, the theme park declared it was shutting down its orca breeding program. This will be the last generation of whales in captivity, UPI reported.
You can have a look at the trailer of Blackfish right here:
