A Q&A with animal trainer turned activist Phil Demers
Phil Demers—widely known as the “the walrus whisperer”—is a former Marineland trainer famous for his close bond with a captive walrus named Smooshi. In 2012, Demers quit and became an outspoken critic of the park’s practices, alleging that staffing shortages, water quality, and a pattern of neglect were causing animals to suffer. The next year, Marineland sued Demers for $1.5 million, claiming that he had trespassed and was plotting to steal Smooshi. (His Twitter bio reads, “Life is short. Steal a walrus.”) Demers promptly countersued for defamation and abuse of process, and so began 10 years of litigation. Last week, Demers and Marineland settled out of court, and Marineland agreed to move Smooshi and her calf, Koyuk, to a new facility.
At the root of this long legal battle with Marineland is your relationship with Smooshi the walrus. How did you two first meet?
Marineland started importing walruses around 2003 or 2004, and eventually Smooshi was one of those. But our anomalous relationship began while we were doing a medical procedure on Smooshi. She was in this heightened state of emotion and panic, and her fear caused this perfect elixir of whatever was required for her brain circuitry to open to me. That’s how and when I became her mother.
For the uninitiated, what does it mean to become a “walrus mom”?
In the wild, walrus calves imprint on their mothers, but Smooshi was separated from her mother when she was...
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