Sea World tragedy

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Laurie

Laurie

I heart Leonard
Joined
Jan 30, 2009
Messages
4,785
Location
Racine, WI
I just felt compelled to say this. A lot of folks are talking about the tragedy of a trainer's death at sea world by a killer whale. It seems there are some mixed reports and reports the whale had killed before. I do know we have seen this trainer as she was the most experienced, and we have been to Sea World the past few years.

What really gets to me is the shock so many people seem to have.

Killer Whales are WILD animals. Just because you put them in a tank doesn't make them tame.

In fact wild animals are just that--WILD. I'm sure Roy never thought he would suffer at the hand of one of his beloved Tigers--yet he did.

While I understand man's nature to learn from animals--some of them were never meant to be pets. Chimpanzee's maul, elephants attack, tigers and lion attack--sometimes we even see horses go amuck and stampede in parades.

While man is said to have intellect sometimes I fear we think we are the know all be all in the animal kingdom and clearly this recent event shows me we are not.
 
Yes, I saw some of those reports too. I do feel a great amount of sorrow for the trainer's family, I know that it's got to be horribly painful for them. But I can't help but be a little worried for the whale - what's going to happen with him or her? It's not like this was a planned action on the whale's part, I seriously doubt that the whale just up and decided "Well, I think I'll just kill someone today". I'd just hate to see him/her punished for something that happened not because of malice, but because of the nature of the whale, and the fact that here we went, mucking with nature again. Has anything been said about what's going to be done where the whale's concerned?
 
The new report I saw said they didnt know the fate of the whale??

He is a Killer Whale. He killed. Sounds like he lived up to his name.........its just a shame it happened to a human and not another ocean creature.
But the fact is he was acting out of instinct not malice. And to put him down is not fair.
I am sure the trainer knew the risks and was willing to deal with them to have the experience she had.
 
Haven't heard of the fate of the whale. What impressed me most with Roy's tragedy was how adamant he was about nothing happening to his tiger--but he had the power to prevent that from happening.

It's very sad to think they would put the whale down instead of releasing it into the ocean as they might fear he's too domesticated to survive back in the wild.

I had heard via a friend who read her trainer's ponytail brushed the whale's nose and that's what started the whole thing--not sure. But I agree that the whale did not wake up and say today I'm going to kill someone. Actually they probably wake up and say that everyday as it's their instint--just like ours--to survive. And killing their food is how they know to survive.
 
They should rethink "dealing" with him in general... I know he's not meant to be a "pet" or anything like that, but really, if they can't handle him, wouldn't it be better and safer for all involved to for the most part, didn't include much more than necessities?
 
The link above says that she was standing in knee deep water interacting with him. Witnesses say she has been kissing and hugging him. I read in another article that nobody was supposed to be in the water with him. I think someone let their guard down.
 
Yahoo keeps changing the story on this whale. I read last night the other two attacks by this whale did NOT end in death and then apparently its changed today or they've dug up more attacks. I wasn't that tired when I read it lol. I think they should release him. He's not fit for captivity and I dont think he did anything wrong, he's a wild animal. I am sorry for the trainers family and that this happened but it's not the whale's fault.
 
VolunteerChin22 said:
Yahoo keeps changing the story on this whale. I read last night the other two attacks by this whale did NOT end in death and then apparently its changed today or they've dug up more attacks. I wasn't that tired when I read it lol. I think they should release him. He's not fit for captivity and I dont think he did anything wrong, he's a wild animal. I am sorry for the trainers family and that this happened but it's not the whale's fault.
Click to expand...
The problem with that is that he is not used to hunting for food and has been imprinted by humans. He may not survive in the wild.
 
Meanie is right. Because of the interference of human beings into this animals life he has killed a human being and will be killed himself if released into the wild. I wonder when MAN will ever learn?
 
true. well seems better that they would attempt to teach him to hunt rather than put him down or keep him isolated in a pool somewhere. not a good solution here, really.
 
Lan63 said:
Killer Whales are WILD animals. Just because you put them in a tank doesn't make them tame.

In fact wild animals are just that--WILD. I'm sure Roy never thought he would suffer at the hand of one of his beloved Tigers--yet he did.

While I understand man's nature to learn from animals--some of them were never meant to be pets. Chimpanzee's maul, elephants attack, tigers and lion attack--sometimes we even see horses go amuck and stampede in parades.

While man is said to have intellect sometimes I fear we think we are the know all be all in the animal kingdom and clearly this recent event shows me we are not.
Click to expand...

I completely agree. Wild animals are wild and humans can never take their wild nature out of them.

menagerie said:
The problem with that is that he is not used to hunting for food and has been imprinted by humans. He may not survive in the wild.
Click to expand...

I thought imprinting happens when humans rear the animals since young? If the humans take in the animals once they're teens/adults, there can be no more imprinting? Correct me if I'm wrong.
 
There have been several instances of captive whales being released into the wild. One of the most famous is the whale that starred in "Free Willy" - Keiko. http://www.keiko.com/about_us.html Though there was still some human interaction, he adapted to living in the wild and even swam with a pod of wild whales. The only thing is it takes money and a lot of effort.

So..it has been done, and can be done. Whales are extremely intelligent.
 
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He is a 30 year old whale, and has sired many of the "shamus" over the years. They are not going to put him down, nor are they going to release him into the wild. He's their stud, and is far too valuable for that.

I had the exact same thoughts when they were talking about how "violent" the attacks were - Duh. He's a killer whale. They cannot punish him for doing what comes naturally to him. And probably she was more careless than she should have been around him, or any of them. She was a very experienced trainer, and one becomes lax and complacent when they are good at something - not her fault either. It's human nature to feel that we have it all under control. Same as it's the killer whale's nature to kill. He wasn't being vicious. He was being a killer whale. I'm sure it was a humbling experience for everyone there.

It is a terrible shame that she had to die, but no one is really to blame. Sometimes it seems like we aren't happy unless we blame someone for anything that happens. Sometimes there isn't anyone to blame. Hopefully the other trainers will take more precautions with all of whales, and maybe that's the only thing they can do with this - learn from it.
 
Why would you put this animal back into the wild? Releasing Keiko was one thing, he was friendly, had no previous attacks on humans. Did he survive? Yes and no. He also got sick and passed away a few short months after. From what I've heard whales are "herd" animals, and males tend to stay with their familes for life. Normally they don't accept another male into the pod---so the fact that keiko was accepted was amazing.

Now, releasing an animal into the wild that has attacked people? I don't think it's such a good idea. Keiko went up to many boats and ships looking for human interaction. Again, he was friendly. This whale has a history of killing. He is imprinted on humans.. Do we really want a whale thats imprinted on humans, has thrived on human interactions for years, but has a history of killing going up to people?

Now, one thing i saw suggested by someone who has has been around the whales etc is to set him up in a cove similar to where keiko was before being released. It's fairly large, they can hunt and fend for themselves, they get very minimal human interactions....yet they are away from the public and it would greatly reduce the risk for attack. Problem is--he wouldn't have any other whales around. He would need someone else there to thrive--and we know sea world isn't going to give up to whales.



Oh--and now seaworld is blaming the trainer for her own death. Saying she "knew better" and it's her own fault. I'm sorry, I don't see how its her own fault. Management should have been overseeing it, and should have made sure interaction between this whale and trainers was not happening. But, why would a large company take the blame for a death? Lets blame it on the dead trainer, not the company who left a whale with a history interact the trainers.
 
Stack - The release did not completely work. He was contained in a netted area area in the arctic somewhere for a while, then they opened it up and he could come and go. He did swim with a pod for a while, but he always returned to the humans. He died in 2003 from pneumonia and was being cared for by marine biologists. I doubt he successfully lived in a POD if that's the case. http://www.keiko.com/history.html

This particular whale has been involved in two other deaths, and a couple of near deaths. A woman who was interviewed, who saw the entire thing (along with her young daughter) from the observation tank below swears he wasn't trying to hurt her. He never bit her, he didn't pull her ponytail (as one version said), he never grabbed her arm. She got bumped into the water and then he basically bumped her to death. For a killer whale, bumping is playing. Holding that whale responsible would be criminal. No matter how hard we try, you cannot beat, strangle, or enclose the wild out of beast that size. People can't even manage it with skunks and racoons for pete sake!
 
Hmm, guess I should have read into it more. I was under the impression that he thrived in the wild, but he kept returning to a bay where humans would continue to feed him and monitor him, so he just kept coming back. Perhaps if they released a group of orcas together it would work?? We can only speculate.

By the way, I wasn't advocating the release of this particular animal in the wild. I was just saying that there has been an attempt made to release a previously captive whale to the wild.
 
Somehow I can't help but think releasing Tilly would not have the same appeal as the story of Luna http://www.seattlepi.com/local/262611_luna11.html & look at how tragically that ended. :(


As others have said, it's an Orca - they are big, powerful, intelligent, wild animals. It's only a matter of time before they show their wild tendencies & a 1200Lb whale "playing" with a human is really only going to have one outcome - the whale will always win.
If we "superior" humans choose to try to keep these magnificent creatures in captivity & "train" them to perform for our pleasure then we have to expect consequences; tragic though they often are.

It's also my understanding that this particular whale is kept isolated from the other whales & his trainers are not supposed to get into the water with him ........... how true all this is we may never know but what does seem to be happening is that he is being "punished" by being put into a smaller tank. What has happened is not his fault. :(
 
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I feel for the trainers family but I hope they understand it isn't the fault of the whale. This isn't the whales first "attack" and this isn't the only whale that has "attacked" a human/trainer. Its a shame the trainer died but I think the trainer knew the hazards and consequences of working with an orca.
 
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