Dear Jennifer, For two years, Tilikum lived the wondrous life of a free orca infant, swimming without restraint in the waters of the Atlantic Ocean. This tranquility was soon interrupted when a capture crew traumatically separated him from his family and the ocean and dumped him into a tiny pool. Tilikum has been enslaved for more than 30 years since he was first trapped, eventually being sold into a SeaWorld prison, where he is forced to perform tricks and has little to look at other than the cement walls of his tank. You can help support PETA's groundbreaking work for Tilikum and other exploited and abused animals by making a much-needed gift today. Enraged from his constant confinement and lack of anything natural or pleasant to do, Tilikum acted out in 2010 and violently attacked and drowned his trainer. In fact, Tilikum has caused three human deaths during his decades of enslavement. But instead of recognizing the tragedy as a sign that Tilikum is an intelligent animal who is suffering immensely from captivity, his SeaWorld captors punished the massive orca with a year of total isolation in an even tinier tank. For some of that time, Tilikum languished in a concrete tank just 2 feet longer than his own body. Beyond the physical stress of confinement, imprisoning orcas causes them severe psychological distress. Orcas are among the most social animals on the planet, many spending their entire lives in close-knit matriarchal groups that communicate through family-specific dialects. To be locked up and forced to work against one's will is awful for any living being. But for orcas like Tilikum, the abuse is mind-numbingly cruel. Orcas are the largest animals held in captivity—Tilikum himself weighs more than 12,000 pounds. In the wild, orcas are in near-constant motion, even when they are resting. They travel up to 100 miles every day and spend up to 90 percent of their time under the water's surface—something that's nearly impossible at SeaWorld, where only two of the seven tanks are even as deep as Tilly is long. We need to do all that we can to free Tilly and other animal prisoners like him, and I hope you'll help. Please make a generous donation online right now. PETA recently put Tilly's case on the map by taking groundbreaking action: We sued SeaWorld on behalf of Tilikum and four other wild-caught orcas who are imprisoned there. For the first time in history, a federal judge listened to arguments that the definition of slavery does not depend on the species of the slave any more than it depends on race, ethnicity, or gender. Although the case did not move forward, the significant media coverage that it received and academic and legal debate that it stirred have generated a public outcry against SeaWorld and other entertainment-industry slaveholders. This landmark case mirrors the many court decisions that, in our past, denied certain humans rights that we now accept as fundamental. Each step was crucial to the expansion of rights. Your help today will strengthen PETA's efforts for all animals and help us do even more to get SeaWorld to release Tilikum and the other animals it enslaves and move them to coastal wildlife sanctuaries, where some can eventually make the transition back to the ocean, where they belong. No animal deserves the loneliness, confinement, and denial of nearly all that is natural and important to them that Tilly has endured for more than three decades. Thank you for standing up for orcas and other animals who are yearning for freedom. Kind regards, Ingrid E. Newkirk President P.S. Tilikum and animals like him need PETA and our millions of dedicated supporters to free them from a lifetime of confinement and exploitation. Please help us do even more for them with your secure gift today.

Tilikum: milan.bores/cc by 2.0 | Orca in tank: wendypiersall/cc by 2.0  Share on Facebook    Share on Twitter Click to update your e-mail preferences or to unsubscribe. This e-mail was sent by PETA, 501 Front St., Norfolk, VA 23510 USA.