Dr. Walters featured in new documentary film

tumblr_mp46fqHqiB1r3e75so1_500.jpg

Blackfish, an award winning documentary about the captive killer whale industry hit theaters nationwide on July 26th. The films focuses on Tilikum, the world's largest captive killer whale, who has taken the lives of 3 humans during his 30 years of captivity. Tilikum is currently housed at Sea World Orlando and was involved in the death of a Sea World trainer in 2010. Dr. Walters, an assistant professor in our department, is featured in the film. He worked with Tilikum as a whale trainer from 1987 to 1989 and so the film makers wanted his perspective on Tilikum's early years in captivity. Because of Dr. Walters' experience working with Tilikum, combined with many years conducting research on wild killer whales in his native British Columbia, he was called as an expert witness in 1991after Tilikum was implicated in the death of a whale trainer, the first human death ever attributed to a killer whale.

Read more about this at News@ODU