I did not mention this, but one thing I cannot emphasize enough is that $$MONEY$$ is the real motivator for much of what is happening with the captive killer whale population in the United States. People can excuse having them by the need to study and understand them—which I personally can agree is important. The fact remains, however, that if Grandpa and little Suzie weren’t willing to cough up the big bucks for those Sea World tickets, the shows would not be happening. If you disagree with me, let me remind you that three movies and a TV series were made about Keiko (or a fictional killer whale in part patterned after him), and another one is due out soon. If we were truly interested in learning how to communicate with them and in what they are really like as creatures, it seems to me that we’d be studying them more in their natural environment, and we certainly wouldn’t be training them to do tricks.
While SETI (Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence) is a noteworthy endeavor, what will happen if we ever do find someone out there? We’d better know how to communicate with someone other than ourselves (which we don’t do well either) if we have any dreams of it ending other than badly—for us. Remember The Day the Earth Stood Still starring Michael Rennie (1951), War of the Worlds starring Gene Barry (1953), or how about The Arrival, starring Charlie Sheen (1996)? I remember a Gahan Wilson cartoon in Playboy Magazine many years ago when I was in college that showed a huge gray amoeba-like alien oozing down the highway in the middle of a Southwestern desert scene, heading for a little restaurant on the horizon with a huge neon sign above it that said, “EAT.” If we do find intelligent alien life somewhere, we have a good chance of ending up just like our killer whales, unless they happen to be a benevolent species, such as the Vulcans in Star Trek: First Contact (1996).
The other thing I need to say is that I was taught from a very early age when working with the horses we had on our ranch not to EVER turn my back on a stallion. And, it’s never a good idea to turn your back on any animal that is larger, stronger, and faster than you. If they should decide to attack, then you have no clue it is coming until it is far too late. I was taught to never underestimate them, and to never take them for granted—no matter how much I loved them or thought they might love me. I ignored that advice a couple of times and was injured because I was foolhardy enough to do so. Lucky for me, I was not killed, but I have a hunch that Ms. Brancheau made this fatal error and paid dearly for it. A hunting animal will always look for the moment when the prey animal’s guard is down to move in, and who knows how Tillikum really regarded his trainers? An animal will never go against its true nature, and we disregard this fact at our peril.
Another thing to remember is that what may be play to them will harm us. I well remember one time when my six-month-old Arabian filly Mafdiy (whom I had been around since the moment of her birth) suddenly whirled around in front of me, kicked up her heels, and struck me on the point of the hip. I was her human "Mom," and I know it was intended as play, since we had been playing a version of Tag in the pasture, but she forgot that I was not just another horse. It was nothing more than a tap, but I was brought my knees in pain. It could have been far worse, and even then it was enough to hurt a great deal. She expressed afterwards that she was very sorry, but we never played like that again, and both of us learned a lesson.
I am reminded of an old Indian story which tells of a scorpion who wanted to cross a river, but he couldn’t unless he persuaded another animal to carry him across. None were willing to take him though, because he was a scorpion and would sting them and kill them. He was about to give up when finally a fox agreed to take him across, but he had to promise that he would not sting the fox. The scorpion said, “Well of course I won’t sting you! We’d both drown in the river and neither of us would get to the other side!” So the fox let the scorpion get on his back and swam into the river. All was going well, and they were about halfway across, when suddenly the fox felt a sharp prick in his back. In shock, he realized that the scorpion had stung him after all, and in a rage he screamed, “Scorpion, why did you sting me when you promised not to? Now we will both die, and it’s all your fault!” The scorpion said, “I know Fox, and I’m truly sorry; but you see, I’m a scorpion, it’s my nature to sting, and I couldn’t help myself.”
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