reyshells

I've been publicly humiliated by Tommy for asking where he was from (many spoons were thrown and I got quite a speech about American freedom). I'm sure you're asked this a lot but... seriously, does no one know?

Actually, since I was in the front row, he gave me his full "no one asks that question in America" speech and then said, "but you are a small innocent girl," and gave me a hug. I didn't know how to react.

I love the fact you described Earth as rising up and smacking into your Soyuz capsule. Reminds us that Earth is constantly moving too..

I wanted to be a trainer for years before I decided against it, and got my degree and will be conducting field research in Alaska this fall. Orcas are beautiful creatures, and I've been following the Northern Residents for some time. I also followed Keiko's story up until his death. My question is, if Tilikum finally does achieve freedom, do you think he has a chance? Keiko continued to seek out human interaction, do you think Tilikum would do the same?

Yes to some degree; dolphins in the feed/touch tanks have been known to lash out against visitors, like the girl who was bitten last year. Most attacks on trainers were by captive orcas. They are much larger animals that migrate with close family groups. Recent studies have shown they have very distinct dialects down to the family level, and many wild-caught orcas in captivity today still recognize their family dialect after 20+ years. I'd say the stress for the animal comes from being in an acoustically-dead and shallow tank, away from family and mixed with strange individuals from around the world. This causes serious problems.. a good example of this being the death of Kandu at Sea World San Diego, after colliding with Corky before a show. There is no record of orcas attacking humans in the wild.

EDIT: I was wrong, there are a few incidents in the wild, mostly due to orcas mistakening humans for seals on the ice. Here is the wiki list of incidents. Note how short it is compared to the captive list.

EDIT #2: Kandu's death was due to a collision with a wall when attempting to ram Corky. Although this happens in the wild, I'm betting their clashes were intensified by being in close quarters.