#rip dawn

[screamindemon0]

*somewhat old* drawings of Dawn and The Driver

[trainer-specialist]

“Can... I follow you home? Cause, cause my mom always told me to follow my dreams.”

    “Took a lot of guts to say that huh....” Green stared at her in simple surprise as he watched her fidget nervously. He didn’t know what had caused her to say it but it was best to turn her down. “You’re a little too young for me, plus there isn’t that much room in my apartment for a second person.”

[emeraldfiire]

“Egg nog is disgusting.”

A meme lost to the stars|

@lexpxrdus

“That’s because you’re not drinking the special one.” Aimee told the woman as she held out the mug she had just poured. Her green eyes sparkled, knowing it would be much better with the liquor inside of it. “Let me know if you need anymore of the special egg nog and don’t let the younger ones know, yeah?”

[orcinus-ocean]

I'm not writing anything new in this post, but making it a shortened composite of two of my former posts on Dawn Brancheau and Daniel Dukes.

On this day in 2010, eight years ago today, senior trainer Dawn Brancheau was doing a Dine With Shamu-show with Tilikum. He was not actually supposed to be in the show, as he was having a bad day, but in the end he chose to go along with it.

Towards the end Dawn did a relationship session where she laid down with him in the shallow waters of the slideout, Tilikum submerged with his head by her. Her ponytail floated into his mouth and he grabbed it, and pulled her in.

SeaWorld trainer and Dawn’s friend Jan Topoleski said she saw the hair float into his mouth from the underwater viewing, turned to push an alarm button, and when she turned back, Dawn was gone.

Tilikum’s only exposure to humans in the pool had ended badly before. In Iceland, he was described as very sweet, but got angry once when he was to be separated from the other two whales, and pulled a trainer under and tore at his wetsuit. Not strange at all, he was an angry juvenile and not a killer.

The next time - as he was never trained for waterwork, along with the other whales he lived with - a trainer fell into the small sea pen at Sealand of the Pacific. The three whales pulled her under until she drowned. But as the females were very dominant over Tilikum, who was a very submissive whale, it’s unlikely he had a big part in her death.

Then eight years passed and he lived at SeaWorld, never with a trainer in the water unless separated by a gate. He had no reinforcement history with humans in the water, and had no idea how to act with them.

What was a fun, rewarding and interactive creature on land simply became a flimsy, dangly object to him in the water. They didn’t look the same, they didn’t act the same in the water as on land.

Tilikum in 1994 with another trainer.

Then in jumped a man Tilikum had never seen before, in weird clothes he had never encountered before, and tried to interact with him.

The cause of death was drowning. Whether that was by inability to swim in the cold water or being dragged down by Tilikum, we will never know. But many of his injuries were determined to have happened after death.

I’ve seen it described that in the morning when the scene was discovered, the man was on the back of Tilikum, who was making distress calls.

He could not understand why the human in his pool was not moving, and was very distressed. The anti-zoo activists call this “parading him around”, like “look at what I’m capable of”. But think of cetacean behavior for a minute.

When a cetacean sees another animal in distress, they will push them to the surface to breathe. I’ve seen adult dolphins towing a dead baby dolphin on their backs in a desperate hope to get it to live. It is a very base instinct in these animals. There is no such thing as “parading a victim around on your back” in whale behavior.

If Tilikum killed him on purpose, Dukes would have been found at the bottom of the pool. And a quote written by a friend of mine who has done a lot more research into the case:

So some scientists are hailing Tilikum as a hero for trying to save Dukes. Of course, being an orca, this would be a clumsy effort since the man is so much smaller than him, so he would have to use his teeth to maneuver the man, hence the injuries on Duke’s body.

While being a very sweet whale with other whales and his trainers, he was always violent and possessive with his toys, sometimes refusing to give them up, as they were very valued possessions, “treasures”, to him.

Or, also highly likely, he didn’t know how to act with a human in the water, so she was not a trainer and friend to him anymore, but a toy, like the kelp beds he enjoyed tearing and tossing around.

Again, quote by my friend who has more in-depth knowledge on the case than me:

I’m not sure how many trainers were in the underwater viewing area, but one trainer testified that Dawn was seen briefly breaking free from Tilikum’s mouth, and during that very brief moment, Dawn did the orca hand signal for “Don’t be Afraid.” At this point, Tilikum grabbed Dawn again – and this is where we start guessing what went wrong.

The trainer who saw Dawn make the hand signal implied that Tilikum was afraid and confused with a human in the water, blood in the water, human in distress, and mayhem outside the pool. As you know, Tilikum was possessive with his toys, especially the ones made of rope, (and Dawn’s ponytail probably resembled rope) so it is of course very possible he thought she was a toy.

On the other hand, he had a strong bond with his trainer, so there may have been another reason for his distress and refusal to give her up.

My friend's theory is that it was the alarm bell that caused Tilikum to be startled, and pull her in. That if it did not go off, he might never have pulled her in at all.

Dawn and Tilikum, on the scale in the same pool where she died.

Continuing the theory that Tilikum was trying to get Dukes to live:

So if this is the case, it is plausible that Tilikum may have, (in a terrified, confused and panicked state) have tried to exhibit the same natural behaviour when Dawn slipped into the water.

In both cases, a human fell into the water (where they were not supposed to be) and both were in distress. If Tilikum’s pod mentality kicked in, his knee-jerk impulse is going to be to get them to the surface. And if a massive creature like Tilikum attempts to do this with a puny human, (and in a state of extreme duress) it is going to appear to us to look horrifically violent.

What I find intriguing about both of these cases, is that if Tilikum’s natural pod instincts were kicking in and he was instinctively trying to get the two humans to the surface for air, this would mean that Tilikum considers humans to be part of his pod. If this is true, it discredits everything in the ARA playbook.

Dawn got free from him twice but he grabbed her again. It took ten minutes to deploy the nets, and by that point it was too late. They had to coax him through several different pools until he was on dry land in one of the medical pools, and after that it took several tries to get her out of his mouth.

The right gate is open.

After her body had been released and placed under a blanket, Tilikum was lowered into the water and the gate to the medical pool was left open, but he refused to leave, peeking out of the water to take a look around, perhaps trying to find her, probably confused and concerned for her.

Everyone who knew Dawn described her as a bright sunshine, always with that huge smile that lit up any room she went into, and her amazing ability to connect with people and animals alike.

Her favorite whales were said to have been Kayla and Tilikum.

Dawn’s death is being used by people who think she and the other trainers like her, are slavers and animal abusers. And they use her beloved Tilikum as a "martyr" for their agenda, calling him a deranged, psychotic killer, who hated his trainers.

Tilikum, her beloved whale she knew for a decade and a half, is the most misrepresented whale that has ever lived.

Keltie’s death he likely had nothing to do with. Daniel he might have drowned, but most likely saw first as a toy and then displayed distress and was very upset that the man wasn’t moving.

Dawn he most definitely killed, violently, but this was most likely because of the alarm ringing, startling him to pull her in, and the more distressed and loud the people got over the situation, the more desperate Tilikum was to “keep Dawn safe”, close to him. When her body was under a tarp and he was in the water again, he refused to leave her.

An unidentified trainer playing with Tilikum in 2004.

The trainers who worked with Tilikum described him as a “child in the body of a six ton whale” (anthropomorphic but to get the idea). How affectionate and fun-loving he was, much more so than most adult males.

His behavior, throughout his 26 years at SeaWorld, does not in any way match that of a deranged, psychotic serial killer, hating his life or hating his trainers. Not only that, it’s ludicrous and anthropomorphic in the extreme.

Two unidentified trainers with Tilikum, prior to Dawn’s death.

Some random info about Tilikum that I’ve gathered from online and conversations with people: sources seem very consistent that Tilikum was a favourite among trainers at every facility he has ever lived in.

He was sweet, special, sensitive, playful, childlike, and very fascinated by humans and eager to please them.

If a trainer was doing something random near the pool, they’d turn around and Tilikum’s face would be peeking out of the water at them, watching attentively. He also seemed to thrive when he performed in the shows - mostly splashing.

You probably already know that Tilikum was not allowed to perform after the accident for a while. (I believe it was pressure from activists) The trainers began to notice that when Tilikum was not performing, he failed to thrive. His health deteriorated. (physical and psychological)

Until they finally said, just screw it. Let’s put him back in the shows. His first show back, Tilikum was welcomed by a sold-out crowd and received a standing ovation. His health and well-being bounced back after that.

[mayorhannie]

so i just finished blackfish and its amazing and its sad because its so wrong and horrid i fucking hate seaworld theyre such liars but yeah watch it :((

[ousamapudding-remade]

the best 23 minutes of my life just passed

[bucky-barnes-deserved-better]

Shit

Fuck. I shouldn't be crying like this except... Fuck. I know what it feels like to lose your best friend. I remember when Dawn (my friend died) I said almost exactly what john did at sherlocks grave And this happened before I even liked sherlock You dont understand how much it hurt to watch the fall. I didnt expect it. I hadn't even thought of Dawn and then it fucking hit me after the episode was over. And now the teaser trailer... I can relate its almost been 3 years since Dawn passed Do you know how much I have wished he could come back And to see it happen with Sherlock and John And I know exactly how John feels I know the pain The hollowness The desperation The anger I know it all. And I wasnt even thinking of Dawn much like how it happened after the fall it just fucking hit me Fuck it hurts I have to log off I cant do this. I'm sorry. I'll come back when I've calmed down.

[spookysoupyy]

Actually

She hasn't texted me back in a while