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[jazzish]

The whale that killed a trainer at Seaworld? I had lunch next to it. (And even have pictures of it.) It was this stupidly touristy 'Dine with Shamu!' type thing (not my idea), where they show you how they communicate with the orcas, and they make one (Tillikum) do a couple tricks. Ugh, so creepy. This whale has killed two people, why the hell do

Comments

[misskittye]

My understanding is that they are refusing to put him down because he's a bull whale. Most of the whales at the parks are apparently female and bull whales are more prized. Ugh. Awful.

I've heard a lot of horror stories about orca shows. (Example: One orca apparently broke it's jaw before a show and started spouting blood in front of the crowd). I've seen one orca show myself, and then another involving beluga whales. It's easy to get lulled by a show that goes well. I don't think I could ever go back to it, though. Too awful to think what COULD happen.

[jazzish]

So they're just gonna keep him in the show? Poor trainers!

In that ONTD post someone said that an orca ate a pelican that landed in the water during a show. I'd be so horrified by THAT, imagine something going wrong with a person right in front of you! And yeah, you totally forget about how dangerous these animals are when they look so well-trained, and they do all these tricks at the blow of a whistle. And then this happens. It's insane.

[liiessbeth]

I've never even seen an orca in real life.

But I guess a lot of people choose dangerous jobs. Idk, I once saw this documentary where they went white shark watching, and they just sat in a cage to keep the shark out and went underwater in it. I don't get why someone would do something so dangerous.

[jazzish]

Ha, you can actually do that in Seaworld for $100, so I assume it's not that dangerous if they're letting anyone do it. At least I hope so, haha. I'd never do it though.

[tellcincinnati]

Hee, those cages are actually quite safe. The bars are close enough that sharks' jaws can't fit through them. The most common damage actually comes when the sharks ram against the cages with their bodies, which usually only happens when people purposely bait them to try and make them more entertaining for the people in the cages. So just more proof that giant effing deadly sea creatures should not be used for entertainment purposes. =/

[tellcincinnati]

Eugh, I agree. These animals are not pets in ANY WAY. I really don't think it's right to attempt to train them and use them for public amusement, and then not expect them to be instinctive creatures.

I know that a lot of the people who work at these places really love the animals and think they're doing a great thing, but there are such better ways to care for them. :(

[jazzish]

Yeah, the trainers definitely love those animals, and I can understand the shows with the sea lions and even the dolphins, but the orcas are just way too big and dangerous to work with, imo. Just leave them in the wild!

The dolphin show is more spectacular anyway, haha. The orcas just have a bigger splash zone.

[shannenb]

[jazzish]

They do still bring a kid down! They didn't get to go in the water, but they got to touch an orca (and give it fish, I think) and got a stupid "exclusive trainer necklace" that was also sold outside of the stadium, haha. I'm sure all the moms will be pulling their kids' arms down when they ask for a volunteer now.

And they call all their orcas Shamu! When we were at that "Dine with Shamu" thing, they announced the whale as Tillikum, everyone was all 'ummm, WE WANT SHAMU' and they explained that all their whales have Shamu as their last names, and they give their first names based on character. Fun fact!

[egotists]

He's a 12k+ animal. You fall in his pool and you can't expect him to tap you lightly and be like "please get out"
I mean. Man he could even accidentally sit on someone and kill them.