An Ode to Tilly
Thank you Tilly
Thank you for your will to survive
Thank you for sacrificing your life to become a titanic symbol of animal rights
Thank you for hopefully blazing a trail to save your great species from human abuse and persecution
Thank you for putting up with us for all those years in captivity. For putting on show after show with a smile
Thank you for being bold and brave enough to fight back. To remind us that you are not a domesticated animal. That you belong in the wild. That you are dangerous when not treated well or taken seriously
Thank you for your life
I hope that January 6th, 2016 is a day remembered for a long long time. And one that we celebrate as a national, if not global, holiday to honor the life and sacrifice or orca whale, Tilikum, who passed away at this day at the age of 36.
Tilly, as he’s mostly known, is perhaps the most famous animal EVER, and has come to symbolize persecution, basic rights, and a fight to survive similar to icons of human history — Doctor King Jr., Nelson Mandela, Anne Frank, Joan of Arc.
Taken from his family off the coast of Iceland when he was just 2 years old, Tilly has been in captivity for 33 years, spending the last 24 with SeaWorld. Living in the human equivalent of a bathtub, Tilly, like all other orcas taken or bred in captivity, was robbed of his basic rights. The right to be with his family, to swim freely in open waters, to have choice and freedom. We don’t think of these rights often enough with the animal kingdom.
If you wanna know more about Tilly, watch the documentary Blackfish. It’s an incredibly job of filmmaking and a gripping film. Yes it’s biased. As are all the best documentaries, btw. Filmmaking is always best when you have a voice and POV.
There was also a really good article in NY Mag earlier this year about the movement that Tilly started:
I’m not going to roast SeaWorld — enough people have been doing that for years. All of their efforts to “do the right thing” — from a grant for orca studies to promising no more breeding in captivity — is a joke. Just shut down. At the end of WWII we didn’t keep German POW camps open in an effort to try to make them a more humane place for imprisoning those who are different. No, we shut those horrible places down.
I’m not going to roast the trainers or staff either. I for one thing that many of them truly do love these animals and want to try and make their life in captivity as pleasant as possible. Including Dawn Brancheau, the trainer infamously killed by Tilly. These are not bad people, they are just misguided. If you work at border control on a Native American Reservation you do not get a pass for being pleasant and kind to the Native Americans while you get a paycheck from the very institution that is taking away their human rights. If you really care, go fight the damn institution itself.
And for all those that like to point out that the orcas have great care, are fed well, and outside of a few incidents seem to have a great demeanor in their performances and relationship with the staff…I ask you what would you do in a similar position. What if I ripped you from your home, your family, and put you in a cage roughly 20x your size for the rest of your life? If I fed you better when you performed? If dropped other strange humans in your cage now and then and let you all fight over alpha status. Would you behave and do your duties in order to survive, hoping that if you stay alive long enough someone will hear your story and free you from this hell? Yes you would. These orcas are smart, intelligent creatures who problem solve, collaborate, and make emotional decisions. They put on that show in order to survive and live another day, in hope they will one day be free and back with their families. Just as you would.
Amongst all the reflection this week on the life of Tilly and what he stood for, I’m going to make an analogy I’ve made to many before, and leave everyone with some of my favorite videos and pictures of just how incredible orcas are in their element.
Tilly & Mandela
I have likened Tilly to Nelson Mandela, which usually draws the ire of whoever I make that analogy too. But its spot on IMO. Mandela spent 27 years in prison, and because of his courage and determination to live and survive, he changed not only an entire nation but the entire world when it came to institutional racism.
Tilly spent 33 years in prison as well. And believe me, for Tilly, those 33 years were as brutal and horrible and painful, if not more so, than the 27 for Mandela.
But Tilly survived. He refused to back down or give in. He put on show after show. And his life will lead to change, I truly believe that. Humans will abuse and profit off animals again, no doubt. Just as racism stuck around far after Mandela did what he did. But Tilly has made an entire generation aware, brought visibility and compassion to an entire species, and for that we should celebrate.
I hope that the entire world celebrates January 6th as national holiday one day. Not just for Tilly. Not just for orcas. But to recognize the right to life every animal has on this planet. To recognize that we humans do not rule this planet and all that reside in it. But that we are merely occupants like everything else.
With that, lets celebrate Tilly with some joy. Below are some of my favorite pics and vids of orca life.
