Sea World important for marine mammal fun even in wake of tragedy
If you read this blog long enough, you’ll come to find that I love animals - I mean, LOVE them. I’ve grown up around animals of all shapes and sizes, from the traditional fish to the crazy-wonderful canines of my life. Add in the goats, (one who lovingly kicked me in the head) to ponies to ducks to cows to… We had a farm stand with a “petting zoo” - more petting, less zoo - and I was the main caregiver-playmate of these furry beings. (Tragedy at Sea World)
I’d dreamed of working in a zoo, but frankly, my ADD & attention span took me other ways - but I kept working with animals when & where I could. Even now they fill - control my life…
I spent time doing an internship with a guy named Dr David Nathenson in the Florida Keys. Dr Dave was a pioneer in using dolphins with special needs kids, and since my Masters Thesis was on the topic, who better than to work with.
One of my best birthday presents ever was a day as a trainer at Brookfield Zoo, working with dolphins. I love dolphins - heck, I love all those marine creatures - for you God loving folk (and yea, I’m one) the Guy (God) has got to have a major sense of humor when you consider all of what He’s made! I mean look at the beings of the ocean - or at the zoo - crazy sense of humor & its awesome!
So, the logical idea here is that I’d love Sea World.
Yea, I do.
I don’t get to go as much as I’d like. Our family trips to Orlando have mainly been about WDW and trips over to Sea World didn’t really happen every trip.
But when we went, man was I in heaven!
We’ve been in Orlando now for almost 3 months (WOW) and not yet had the pleasure of getting over there. I take my solace in our visits to Clearwater Beach area & Clearwater Marine Aquarium. Also great places for the oceanianic blood coursing through my veins.
So, I’m thinking about getting my time together to get over there, to do my fun walk arounds and look arounds and then do my write ups - telling you folks all about how much I love the Sea Lion in his goofball show & the dolphins in their high flying playfulness and of course, Shamu - not so much a name as a way of speaking out loud the fun of seeing one of these big boys in action - SHA-MUUUU…
Shamu, the name given to all the Sea World star orca, is a vital part of how we humans come to love & care about their wild cousins. Photo Courtesy of Sea World.
We haven’t made it yet, and I’m still working on getting those folks in the Sea World PR department to connect with me…
And then today happens…
By now you know - a Senior Trainer for the Shamu group was accidentally killed “by one of the whales.” Dawn Brancheau had 16 years of experience at Sea World - that’s impressive.
I’m a big believe in having these animals in human care.
I know, there are a lot of people out there who’ll want to throttle me for such a thing if they could, but I’ve come to know in my four decades on this planet, that we humans tend to not think about or care about things - most anything - unless we have a personal relationship with that thing - being, place, animal, or what have you.
So when I see how kids are touched to their very souls, how people who may not have cared about that piece of garbage they threw out the window, when I see kids & adults alike start to talk or move because of their time with one of these magnificent beings, I know in my heart that it is the right thing.
I know that there are always going to be those people who should be put in jail (yea, I’d like worse, but we are a civilized society - right) for how they treat animals.
But I’ve also had the distinct pleasure of knowing other animal people - men & women who believe in what they are doing, love what they are doing, who love their charges as much as their own children - and these are the people I celebrate.
I didn’t know the trainer killed. I’ve heard from Tweeps on Twitter - that world-wide-shrinker of space & growing of friendships & community - that this lady loved what she did.
She’d been at Sea World for 16 years and loved her job. She loved the animals. Heck, these folks have to. They are the parents to these animals -
Wild animals.
I’m a believer in Steve Irwin & his hands-on approach. I think that all animals in zoos & aquariums need to be interacted with more - not less. That if we are going to change their lives, lets do it in a way that shows them they’re a little different, while still respecting - always - that they remain wild animals.
Yes, there’s a way.
The folks at Sea World said in their first news conference it was an accident.
I never doubted.
I’ve watched news commentators & “experts” talk about this wild animal - his “other attacks” & try to make this into a titillating sensational story.
Its not.
A lady who loved her job was doing it. Something happened. She ended up in the water with a mammal that was either thinking it was playing with her, or saving her.
This is a big animal.
When he plays, its like a defensive guy on the Bears taking on a baby - any guesses the turnout? That’s what we’re talking here…
Animal people get it. Non-animal people can’t. You have to understand them - they are what they are; they play & laugh & mourn & have families &… they even have brains!
And yea - emotions.
He was likely playing - or trying to save her from what he may have thought was danger.
Nope - I’m not a crack pot, just someone who’s been with a lot of animals, taken care of them, watched them…
I often think humans can’t grasp that animals are like this because of guilt… guilt in how we treat them, and maybe fear that if they are smart and caring and all of that, that maybe we are the greatest things to walk the earth…
And if they are all these Rori, then how can we keep them in cages & shows &…
Yea, you’re right; maybe. But if we don’t - many would be gone. Wiped out by we the “higher species”. Many would go away. We can even help ourselves because of what we’ve learned from them. Heck, I even question my eating beef all the time, but I figure, God gave us all a purpose and a life - enjoy the one, live the other.
I’m not doing a debate kind of thing here and I’m not challenging anyone…
I’m simply reflecting on a life - a lady who loved what she did, and in the end, died doing just that. We’ll never really know what happened, because we can never really know what the big guy was thinking - what Dawn was thinking.
But we can learn and grow, and maybe, without over reacting, we can move forward.
Sea World is and will be a valuable place for us all. Children will continue to learn about the ocean and whales and dolphins…
I think maybe we can look at it all like this…
Steve Irwin loved animals. He gave his life to caring for them, learning about them, teaching others about caring for them.
When he died, people were scared of stingrays and some, even killed rays on the Great Barrier Reef. Steve would have been the first to be angered. I went to the Phoenix Zoo after we lost Steve, and watched as children who’d known of his death, now feared going to pet the rays - their parents terrified.
That exhibit, where you can pet the rays & feed them, allowed those children and their parents to learn the truths. To understand how to care for and watch out for rays, to do “the Florida Shuffle”.
Those children will grow into adults who will not fear, but protect, will not hate, but find a love that will allow them to keep building a better tomorrow.
It will be easy to accuse, to create scandal, to create doubt. What won’t be so easy is to build truth and understanding.
Let’s not let Dawn’s death result in other deaths, but in understanding, learning, truth, and better tomorrows - for us, for our oceans, and for all the Shamu’s of the world. They need us as much as we need them.
