Here's another article on the whale that killed that trainer, Dawn Brancheau. Man, did you read that that particular whale was involved in the deaths of two other people?? Yeah. They say he is of a "different temperament" than the other whales and claim they took precautions. You know what freaks me out the most? I think whales who are in that situation are smart enough to know that humans can't breathe under water. I'm no whale expert, but, I just think they seem pretty smart. Which makes this incident very chilling. What do you think?
Thursday, February 25, 2010
Killer whale at Sea World
Here's another article on the whale that killed that trainer, Dawn Brancheau. Man, did you read that that particular whale was involved in the deaths of two other people?? Yeah. They say he is of a "different temperament" than the other whales and claim they took precautions. You know what freaks me out the most? I think whales who are in that situation are smart enough to know that humans can't breathe under water. I'm no whale expert, but, I just think they seem pretty smart. Which makes this incident very chilling. What do you think?
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31 comments:
I think it's time to start closing SeaWorld & similar places.
Frankly, if I were in his situation, I'd take out a trainer or two myself.
i think that wild animals should not be captured and trained to perform for people's entertainment and to enrich park owners....
I think we should leave wild life/ sea and etc animals alone. We shouldn't hold them captive for are own entertainment. After awhile taunted or not a animal is going to attack.
Usually they say a animal will attack when they feel the person taking care of them is in distress. They can feel and sense this.
Sounds silly, but ever since I saw "Free Willy", I can't stand the thought of those poor marine animals confined and I've always felt sorry for animals in zoos. I wouldn't like to think that it acted maliciously against a trainer that showed it love, but who's to say?
Ita the zoos and aquariums should be abolished
as well as the circus. This is against what nature
intended. Even horses should not be ridden
anymore it's time for a rebalance & respect
to be shown to these magnificent creatures.
Trained seals are not evolution. Kiki :/
I agree with all of you--IMO, it is SINFUL to keep such large and very intelligent animals in such SMALL spaces as prisoners. They are very social animals. The problem is compunded by the fact that the ones that have been bred @ SeaWorld etc can never survive in the wild and they have long lives. There should be at least an immediate ban on further captures and an immediate ban on further breading, which is what this whale's great financial value is to SeaWorld.
DD, they definitely know that humans can't breath under water. I read a great book-it's small you can read it in a day--called Grayson by Lynne Cox. It is beautifully written and a true story of a miraculous encounter between a teenage girl and a baby whale that had become separated from its mother in San Diego. She tells her story of the whole ordeal and the reunion. If you did not believe in interspecies communication before reading this book, you sure would afterwards.
When you are there and look at the pools, you think, wow, they are a good size, but when you put it into perspective, they are TINY compared to the ocean.
It's very sad and unfortunate. I hope they don't do anything to this whale. I don't blame him. As Ava's Mommy said, wild animals are wild animals and can turn on you in a second.
Regarding the two deaths linked to Tilikum, I wouldn’t blame him for one of those. They found a man who had snuck into the park after it closed. He had bite marks on him, but died of hypothermia. The dude was found in his underwear. I think the idiot got what he deserved. What did he think they were going to do with him??
~Palmetto Girl
Just heard part of Sea World's press release on the news, even tho the whale has now been involved in 3 human deaths he will still remain apart of the Shamu Show.
Can you believe that??
I don't believe that the orca had any malicious intent towards that trainer or any other human.
What I do believe is that the whale was probably having a pissy day, was either bored or hungry (or both), the trainer fell into the tank accidentally and triggered off the whale's aggressive response to being startled. That trainer was killed in the same way that wild orca kill seals. Grab, shake, drown.
Shame on Seaworld for using this animal as part of its shows at the park.
At this time, release into the wild is probably out of the question after so long in captivity.
As much as I hate seeing these animals in captivity for human enjoyment, I hate even more seeing animals held in subpar parks, roadside exhibits, etc.
At least Seaworld is state of the art with animal welfare being its primary goal.
The only way to stop it is to quit attending these exhibits.
Animal parks (Sea World) need to stop trying to humanize deadly creatures. It's a friggin' KILLER whale. What about that is so hard to understand.
It's interesting that there are two stories out there. The one from Sea World is that the Trainer slipped.
The second one is that the whale grabbed her pony tail.
Biz Its such a shame it's all about the
big money they get about $77 per head
and hundreds of thousands of tourists
every year frequent it's parks. I call a
boycott on seaworld & all the other
anhauser busch theme parks. Disney is
exceptional all their animals are celluloid or
animatronic Walt was a visionary. Kiki :)
I agree with all of you. I also think that the whale was "thinking" about what it did when it was doing it. Knowing she couldn't survive under water, he did what came naturally to him. I think he should be set free as well. Seems he could handle himself, he's a big boy, no other orca's are gonna mess with him. He would be just fine in the ocean. And he would be happy. It's like when an elephant attacks & tramples it's long time trainers. So what! Not the animals fault. They can only take so much, it's not natural for them to do tricks and get poked. Especially after they knew this animals history and still interacted with him, seems like they were not playing it very smart. The bum that died in his tank & found on the whales back was probably actually rescued by the whale, scooped up and left there so he could get away, but he was already dead. The whale was doing a rescue but to no avail. I doubt he killed the bum. The other incident, was probably much like this one. Maybe he is a serial killer. In the wild thats what they are! Murderer? Thats a stretch. Set them free. It's probably claustrophobic for them.
rox
FUCK SEA WORLD!
kiki-
You are so correct about Walt!
Just read Miss Tia's last comment!
YES, Miss Tia :)
Actually, it was a killer whale, not an orca. Apparently they call them a killer whale for a reason. Why do people insist on taking animals out of their natural habitat and throwing them in a 'pool' when previously he had the whole ocean as his world or throwing them in a cage, when they were meant to roam in the wild. It sickens me.
Agree! They're wild animals!
Linda ~
Not to belabor a point, but a killer whale is also known as a genus of Orca. Marine parks just use the label "Killer" to draw in more attendence.
This is from Wikkipedia:
Captive killer whales occasionally act aggressively towards themselves, their tankmates, or humans, which critics say is a result of stress. Unlike wild killer whales, captives have attacked and even killed people such as their handlers or pool intruders, with nearly two dozen attacks since the 1970s. Tilikum, an orca, has allegedly been involved in three fatalities.
I heard on the news that killer whales are actually Dolphins.
I have boycotted sea world, zoos, circuses, rodeos, etc, since the early 90s.
Truth be told, I'm voting for the whale to continue with his hunting ways! I just hope next time it's in front of all the kiddies and their selfish, stupid parents.
(evil cackle)
The "Killer whale" has been famous for being marketed as this lovable sweet creature of the sea! the truth is that this animal lives up to its NAME. It is literally a frightening and powerful beast that will devour seals and otters in seconds in the wild. All whales and especially the dolphins which have been proven to be SENTIENT BEINGS need to be freed. In Japan they kill about 23,000 dolphins a year. FOR NOTHING.
Thank you Nancy B. -kiki :)
sleepless in bc
Whales are very smart. Wouldn't surprise me to find out that they know or have learnt, observed that we can't breathe under water.
I'd feel like drowning a few trainers if I had to preform some of those dumb tricks for people. It'd be so boring swimming round & round in those small tanks, especially as they are intelligent, that has got to be so damn dull for them. I don't know if he's one of the ones that can't be released, if he can't it'd be nice if he could be kept somewhere that he didn't have to do dumb tricks, somewhere as nice as possible for him where he can thrive as much as a captive whale can.
Ava's Mommy you are so right about them sensing things like distress, but many animals can do that & even domestic animals have been known to take advantage of it. Working with any big animal it's good to be aware, even if it's to keep from being accidently stepped on. They're big & a lot of accidents can happen, they don't mean it. However some of them can & do. Usually it's provoked in some way, but not always.
Most of my experience is with horses & cattle & you do have to watch them, we had a horse, one of the ones I grew up with, that just seemed to know when you weren't paying attention & he'd do little things to let you know he was aware of it & could have taken advantage of it, he was such a smug little shit about it.
We were taught to have the utmost respect & be extremely aware of the animals around us & what they were doing ALL the time we were near them. Especially with the horses, we were taught to treat & think of it as a partnership, a friendship, no whips, no hitting, none of the like permitted, if you wanted them to do something you had to figure out how without those kinds of things. They'll do a lot for you if you just ask nicely & you'll enjoy each other's company more. I get irritated when people think they don't have to treat them with the respect they're due because they're supposed to be "trained" & therefore should just do what they are commanded to do by their so called master.
Because they're domestic animals, doesn't mean they won't harm or kill you. People let that one lull them into a false sense of security. See a cow try to crush someone with her head, get chased across a field by a 700 pound boar pig, see a man flung around like a doll by a bull. Animals are as individual as people & they have moods that aren't all that different from people. It's good just to be aware especially when around animals much larger than you for your own safety.
Sorry for the ramble, I get passionate about these things.
You wanna see a whale? Go whale watching. Humans can be so mean.
There was a male trainer who was attacked three times by killer whales over a span of a decade or so, I can't remember exactly, but I think he was killed in the end. It might even have been the same whale.
If you go to YouTube and look up trained lions who attack their trainers or others it's easy to see that animals who can attack will attack for no apparent reason.
I think it's just in their blood, no matter how tamed and trained they get. It's instinct and it's hard to know why.
Some of these creatures can never return to the wild as they can't survive or wouldn't be able to be part of a wild group again. But I agree that the performing acts aren't natural either. They must get tired of crowds and not being able to have lots of space to exercise.
Just my two cents.
Miss Tia said:
FUCK Sea World
Nice and succinct. I agree: Fuck Sea World and their amusement-disguised-as-education agenda.
The whale should be in the ocean. If I were a slave, I'd take out as many "trainers" as possible.
I don't think any of these whales could survive in the wild as normal whales would. By that I mean as a part of a pod, hunting with the group, being accepted, and behaving normally. I live in Oregon, and loved watching the attempts to naturalize Keiko. In the end, he did live out his life at sea, but he often visited those who were stationed out there to keep tabs on him, and he never was assimilated into a pod. It was a good idea, but it didn't really work out. I think that once you sever the familial bonds, you can not necessarily rebuild them (in nature).
Good post, Christina -
I'm all for attempting to release caged animals back into the wild, but only if that release includes integrating that animal's social/familial needs.
Wolves, whales, lemurs - any animal that exists in a family unit needs to be released to the same.
Sending an orca back into the wild simply to release it from captivity isn't doing it any favors. Personally, I think it's a cruelty if that animal can't reconnect with it's own species.
It's one thing if the released captive is a solitary animal existing that way in nature - bears, sharks, wolverines, etc. If they are able to hunt, they're fine.
But why release an animal back to the wild and condemn it to a life of isolation?
Orcas, the largest species of dolphin, stay with their mothers for life (another reason why it is problematic to separate them from their families in captivity.)
http://www.examiner.com/x-/x-4002-Green-Living-Examiner~y2009m8d19-Dolphin-Facts
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