Weddingbee boards

How awful! I love killer whales (well, animals in general) and when something like this happens it just makes me so sad.

I know a lot of people are against animals being put on display and "trained" and things like that. I don't have much of an opinion about it, unless they are being mistreated and living in harsh conditions, but I don't think that's the case at Sea World.

This sort of thing proves over and over again that you can take the animal out of the wild, but you'll never take the wild out of the animal.

The only positive thing about it is, she died truly doing what she loved.

*Sorry to be a Debbie Downer*

@ yrret - Yeah, I don't know. Makes me leary though because that particular whale has been involved in two previous deaths within the past several years.

It kind of makes you wonder. Is the animal vicious or just playful, and if it IS vicious, what do you do with it? I know if it were a vicious dog that attacked or killed someone, it would most likely be put down, but that's because it is domesticated. In the case of an ALREADY wild animal, what is to be done with it? *sigh*

@ Emshaw - ooh, that documentary sounds like it would be interesting to watch. I'm sure it would probably upset me though. I always question how circus animals are treated behind the scenes. I don't like circuses.

Sorry, but wild animals are WILD, no matter if they're "trained" from birth or not, and this sort of thing is bound to happen from time to time.  Yes, it's very sad that the trainer died, and my heart goes out to her family, but I don't understand why people never learn from these instances of wild animals attacking.  You can't train over instincts and we don't understand any animal's behavior perfectly, so I think this sort of exploitation is always dangerous and always senseless.  If people want to see whales, go on a whale watch, where they're free and acting as wild animals actually do, not doing some petty tricks so giant corporations that sponsor theme parks like Sea World can make money. 

I have to agree with veganglam. My heart goes out to this woman, her family and the people who witnessed this tragedy, but it also goes out to this animal.  People have to remember that wild animals, or any other animal, should not be put in a cage. They do not deserve to be put on display for our pleasure and pushed out of their habitats for our gluttony.

I am just HORRIFIED that they continued to keep this animal in their program after it has already killed TWO PEOPLE previously, as you said, Toffee. I read an article about it and I just cannot believe that Sea World kept using him for their exhibits when he had proven to be so extremely dangerous. If I were a member of the trainer's family, I would be filing one hell of a lawsuit right about now.

How sad for all involved, including those poor people in the audience!

That is sad, but I just want to chime in a bit about captive wild animals, since I volunteered at a zoo for a brief time in my youth.

A lot of these animals CANNOT be released into the wild. That's not always the case, but many of them were injured in such a way that they would be at an extreme disadvantage in the wild where they'd likely die. Or with others, people bought them as pets when they were younger and obviously can't handle the animal as a full grown adult (or they don't have the legal permits to). Some animals repeatedly get in the way of humans (a particular Goose at the zoo had been injured because he liked to chase cars. He got hit once, was rehabed and released, but then the same thing happened again because he was still chasing cars, so they ended up keeping him at the zoo the next time). So basically, a lot of the times the animals only other choice is death. Now, some people may think death is the better option, but that's another discussion.

Also, many of the tricks aren't for our entertainment. They give the keepers and vets the ability to look over the animal thouroughly without too much difficulty. It's much easier to train a whale to open it's mouth than it would be to try to pry it open! It just makes their jobs easier and safer and less stessful for the animal, like for instance they don't need annesthsia just so they can put some antibiotics on a small lesion that maybe became infected on the animal's belly or something.

Like I said, this obviously isn't the case for ALL animals, especially for animals outside of US captivity in poorer countries, but there is generally more to it than having an animal stuck in an enclosure for our entertainment.

I agree with captivity when it is conducive to preservation and/or rehabilitation. Unfortunately it is necessary to a certain extent due to continuous industrialization, poaching, sport hunting, etc etc.

@ KLP2010 - Yes, the loss of life was the focus of the post!

@JoesWifey: zoos and aquariums are completely different from a place like SeaWorld. SeaWorld's main purpose is to create revenue, it is a business and the animals are on display for the publics' entertainment. Zoos and Aquariums are actual research facilities and the people on staff are there to take care of, study, and teach about the animals. (Yes I know seaworld has vets on staff, blah blah blah). That is why most zoos (and I think aquariums) are nonprofit or close to it.

I feel bad for the person and the Orca. Apparently the issue with the previous deaths was that the Orca cannot realize that humans can't hold their breath as long as can. It's like a little kid picking a fish up out of the fishbowl to play with it. It's not malicious. I don't think he should be put down... they should keep him in a safe, large tank away from others, maybe just for observation from afar. They're beautiful creatures but obviously he can't be around people. Saying "he can't go back to the wild so let's kill him" is HORRIBLE!!!!!!!!!

This Orca needs a big huge tank to retire in. For sure. So sad :(