A sad tale …

… Tilikum, SeaWorld’s Killer Orca, is Dying.

Like most of the world, I had never heard of Tilikum until February, 24, 2010 when he pulled SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau into his pool and brutally killed her. When I learned that he had been involved in two previous deaths it seemed clear he had a story worth telling. So I set out to try and explain how Tilikum’s life led to the death of Dawn Brancheau. I published “The Killer In The Pool” in Outside magazine in the summer of 2010. That led to a call from film-maker and director Gabriela Cowperthwaite, and a chance to help turn Tilikum’s story into the documentary Blackfish, which premiered in 2013. In between, journalist David Kirby published Death At SeaWorld, also an in-depth examination of killer whale captivity.