Last week, the world experienced one of its first losses of 2017. Tilikum, the Orca Whale famous for being the largest held in captivity for 34 years at SeaWorld passed away. For most people reading this it might seem like a heartbreaking news story, but for the people who are well aware of the animal cruelty and torture that goes on not just behind closed doors but center stage at SeaWorld, you might feel a slight sense of relief. Relief over the fact that this massive and amazing animal can finally be at peace outside of his tiny jail cell at the Orlando amusement park. The cause of death is said to be pneumonia and an incurable lung infection that Tilly was suffering from for almost a year, but was being treated for by the “caring experts” at SeaWorld. Notorious for spewing false information and costing the lives of both animals and humans, the only thing SeaWorld has experts in is covering up the sad truth.

The legacy that Tilikum will leave is one that will unfortunately always be tainted by the deaths of three people that he had caused while he was alive. All tragic accidents that all could have been avoided if SeaWorld’s doors had been closed a long time ago. If you haven’t seen the documentary Blackfish on Netflix, I strongly suggest you take the hour and 20 minutes out of your life to do so, and prepare to be shocked and completely devastated by the realization of how human kind is mistreating animals for the sake of greed and entertainment. The documentary is centered around Tilly, as well as other Orca whales, and the negative media attention over the lives they took and severe injuries they caused to their trainers. The ‘incidents’ are ALWAYS described as human or trainer error, putting all the blame on the person in order to keep the animal’s clear cries of aggression and psychosis out of the public eye to continue to attract audiences.

It’s become obvious that an animal kept in captivity isn’t the happiest, which we’ve learned from tragedies and other news stories (R.I.P. Harambe), but to truly understand what the human race is doing to wild animals for money is beyond a scary and frustrating thing. People are being killed and innocent lives are being taken because people refuse to realize the psychological and traumatizing effects captivity has on animals, who DO in fact feel and have emotions and families of their own. In the case of SeaWorld, they blatantly lie to their employees about the violent history of the animals, teach them false information about wildlife living in captivity that gets passed on to audiences, starve animals when they underperform, and they rip giant and intelligent animals from their homes and children until they go crazy. I swear after hearing the cries of a mother Orca when her calves were taken and transferred to other parks, you won’t be able sleep for a long time. I think it’s pretty safe to assume that if any of us were suddenly locked in a 10-foot cage for the rest of our lives without the comfort of our loved ones, we would without a doubt lose our minds on a dangerous level.

If you can take anything away from the life and death of Tilikum, it’s the cold hard truth about what he went through and died for, as well as what the people that were killed by him died for. The only justice that can come from these tragedies is awareness and action. On top of the long list of abusive acts and inhumane living quarters that these animals endured, let’s not forget that they were bred and reproduced- a lot. Tilikum himself produced 21 calves all in captivity, that are still alive and suffering while you read this. What’s more disturbing is that there are 21 animals with the aggressive genes that will only be continued to be passed on, with an excellent chance that will lead to more unnecessary and gruesome deaths. The sooner we set these animals free, the sooner we can make things right for the lives lost, and for the biggest one to date, Tilikum the Orca.