Talk:Tilikum (orca)

Not about the trainers
With all due respect, this wiki page is about a 2 year who was kidnapped and grew up bullied and exploited. The biographies of the humans he killed as a result of human mistreatment do not belong here. The humans should have pages of their own. 173.22.250.243 (talk) 01:45, 8 August 2022 (UTC)
 * They do have pages of their own, follow the subtopic links. WADR, as humans we are bound to be curious about the human angle, but I think the subsections re. the 3 deaths could easily be cut down to a minimum because they are covered in detail in the subtopics. Rodney Baggins (talk) 15:34, 8 August 2022 (UTC)

Offspring
Tilikum's offspring field in infobox needs sourcing or removing. Without verification, we cannot know the true status of any offspring (i.e. number that are still alive or not) and I suggest we remove this detail from the infobox, as it will inevitably become outdated and incorrect. Rodney Baggins (talk) 15:38, 8 August 2022 (UTC)


 * I agree we should just remove from the infobox. We have a page dedicated to Killer Whales in captivity which includes this information.-- VViking Talk Edits 14:59, 9 August 2022 (UTC)

Semi-protected edit request on 26 July 2023
Under Life>Third Death change "he reportedly scalped her, then bit off her arm and swallowed it" to "he reportedly scalped her and bit off her arm."

The statement that Dawn Brancheau's arm was swallowed is incorrect. Per the OCSO report, Brancheau's arm was retrieved from Tilikum's mouth immediately after the body was recovered. Both arms were present at the autopsy, with one being described as "completely avulsed" meaning detached via tearing. Mattwood440 (talk) 20:25, 26 July 2023 (UTC)
 * Reviewing your sources which both are from law enforcement, there are no indications of Brancheau's arm being dislocated nor swallowed. However The Daily Telegraph and Latin Times which were used to source "swallowed it" mentioned it. While I would like to BOLD forward and fulfil this request by removing the supposing factual errors since the sources from law enforcement doesn't exactly stated that, however maybe I'm missing something here hence would like another editor to take a look at it.  — Paper9oll  (🔔 • 📝)  13:30, 27 July 2023 (UTC)
 * I would not trust the Telegraph source for the information on this. From their story it's not clear where they obtained the information from, perhaps from the documentary filmmaker who was being interviewed. One detail which shows the paucity of information in their reporting, is that they make two different descriptions of how the trainer died. At the beginning of the Telegraph article they describe her death like this: A huge male orca, Tilikum, had leapt out of the water as Brancheau had been talking about the creature to a group of visitors, grabbed her with its jaws and dragged her under the water, where she drowned. Then, later on in the same Telegraph article, they list a timeline where they describe the trainer's death like this: Veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, is lying face-to-face on a shallow platform with Tilikum as part of a post-show routine, when the orca grabs her and drags her into the pool. So which one was it, was she laying on the platform as part of the routine and the orca grabbed her, or was she talking to the audience and the orca "leaped out and grabbed her"? Granted she could have been talking to the audience while laying face-to-face on the platform, but would the orca have had to "leap" to grab her if it was already face-to-face with her? Also, how does one determine if an orca has swallowed anything.... do they give it an x-ray, or do they check its excrement? It's small details like this which make one doubt the source's reporting in this case, and ask "how do they know what they know". I would agree with what the requesting editor is asking for, and that we give the information from the primary source, which is the medical record, saying the arm was not swallowed because at least their claims are backed by the physical evidence detailed in that report. The Telegraph has no such report to go on. Regards, Spintendo  11:16, 30 July 2023 (UTC)
 * ✅ Claim omitted. Regards, Spintendo  02:54, 31 July 2023 (UTC)