…this reminds us that animals are animals, and it’s impossible to entirely change that.
Here’s more on the Wednesday incident where a 40-year old Sea World employee was attacked and killed by a killer whale, as well as information about other attacks. Condolences to the family
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With apologies to Chris Rock,
people will say that the whale went crazy. The whale didn’t go crazy, the whale went whale.
The whale went crazy when it let some woman stand on its back while it dragged her ass all around the tank.
Wild animals performing tricks for over-weight tourists is not a life for these creatures.
Let them go. Study the suffering in the world and find a solution to despair and poverty, not the mating habits of some sea creatures.
I stopped going to these kinds of things the last time I went to a zoo — in Wichita, in the ’80s. I brought my little boy there to see the tigers and they looked so bored and so un-tigerlike and it hit me how awful must be their lives. I’d never thought about it before, though I’d stopped going to rodeos years before (that was quite the thing to do in my town, go to rodeos) because the way they make those horses buck and jump is really, really cruel. I don’t consider myself a particularly PETA-like person, but animals have their limits and I do, too.
Wife loves horses, or so she thinks.
I love seeing wild horses swooping across the central plains, running free.
She likes strapping a leather seat to their backs and letting them carry her (I almost said it) around the woods.
And races. She loves to watch little people sit on the leather seats and beat them with some kind of leather stick to make them go faster in the hopes that some losers will win money.
I may eat them (no, not horses) from time to time, but I don’t like to see them in cages.
I used to own a horse and yes, I rode her on multiple trail rides, so I guess I’m not entirely consistent here. I’ve had mice, hamsters, gerbils, fish, dogs and cats, too.
Very sad. How awful for that woman, her family, and for all that witnessed this. I wonder if they’ll stop kidnapping whales for these places. I read somewhere that this one was taken from waters near Iceland when he was a youngster.
And he had a history of being aggressive but then, he’s a killer whale. I don’t think the species is particularly aggressive but then, neither am I unless you throw me in a tank and make me stay there for years and years.
We don’t even know if the behavior was a aggressive according to the whale, do we? i.e. Did the whale intend to harm the woman or did he treat her as he would treat another whale? (unfortunately we can’t handle what another whale can handle)
Good questions. There was some talk on animal rights blogs giving Sea World credit for not immediately killing the whale.
I had heard years ago that “killer whale” wasn’t really appropriate for these critters (which aren’t really whales, sez Wiki, but the largest of the dolphin family) but it was attached and then stuck.
Wiki also tells us that there HAVE been other attacks on humans while the Orcas were in captivity, but not in the wild (no shark-like attacks apparently).
So keeping them in captivity might change their behavior. That makes sense.
Some animals tolerate domesticating well. Some animals do fine in captivity, especially when born there. Sometimes the things we learn from the animals in captivity will help us ensure their survival. But this isn’t the norm, especially for larger animals.
I read that orcas, being pod animals, can find their families 25 years after being taken. 25 years later, they can find them. The only excuse for captivity of these animals would be healing one that is injured and then releasing him.
I wonder if zoos/Sea World-type places ever did a study on which exhibits bring in more people? I would bet it’s the big guys because they’re beautiful and awe-inspiring — and those are the ones who suffer the most from captivity.
I am so far right of PETA it would make your head spin…but it Sea World killed this killer whale for being a killer whale…that’s just wrong on so many levels. I feel horrible for the trainer, and I hope she didn’t have children, but certain jobs are very dangerous and I am fairly confident that the trainer knew that going into her line of work. Not trying to sound like an old fuddy-duddy but if you have children, that should preclude you from certain types of jobs and activities. One of my friends at work told a story about her first pregnancy, after she talked about her due date and other things-she said “and I told Al, he has to sell his Harley.” Makes very good sense to me.
This may sound like sacrilege, coming from me, and forgive me if I have told this story before (I’m old and I forget stuff), but: I was hugely pregnant and working at the Wichita Eagle-Beacon (now just the Eagle; I guess they turned the Beacon off) and the editor sent me into a parking garage where sheriff deputies thought they’d cornered an armed bank robber. It was raining, which rendered my pregnancy mu-mu see-through, and I was trying to angle my large belly behind a deputy’s shield. That way, if there WAS an armed robber in there and shots were fired, at least I wouldn’t take it in the baby. As I was angling, I thought, “This is horseshit,” those very words, and before I got back from my maternity leave, I angled myself into features. And I’ve been there every since. I was hard-news and investigative stuff all the way, and then I stepped aside. And you know what? I’m more of a writer than I am a reporter, and features ended up suiting me. And I got home in time for dinner almost every single night. The end. By me.
I think there are plenty of animals that like being domesticated – to the point where there arent any wild ones really left. (I’m looking at you , cows. ) Regular food, lack of predators etc. And what I know of killer whales is that they like to play with their food, which is sounds like this animal was fixing to do with the trainer. She knew the risks, just like a helicopter pilot. So while she has my sympathy its like most other on the job accidents in an extremely dangerous profession. That said – how many of this kind of incident have happened?
I’m sorry, I can’t get over “I’m looking at you, cows.” Why does that strike me as funny?