I saw this on tv yesterday. They were questioning whether or not the whale should be put down. My reaction to that.. hell no! Whales are wild animals,they belong in the ocean,not in a swimming pool being taught to do tricks.

The death of the trainer is very sad,but these people must know the risks that they are taking when swimming with wild animals.

EmeraldSkies said:

Not to mention the fact that this trainer was probably not supposed to have been interacting with this particlar whale that way that she was.

PurpleJedi said:

lastdecember said:

whales, porpoises and dolphins are all intelligent animals that do communicate at least amongst themselves.
The whale was committing a deliberate act, not a random one. It chose it's course of action.

TheVoid said:

I saw them up close in Atlanta. Although I really have an issue with the -aquarium there. It's a bald face rip-off of Monterey Bay (except you aren't right on and under the water as you are at Monterey.)

Evvy said:

?
?

XxAxX said:

You go!

I wonder when will people learn to treat wild animals as wild animals without caging them in and other stupid stuff.

Dolphin or Whale I don't give a flyin' F&*!


The point, put your 7 to 10 ton ass in something equivalent to a fish bowel and see how you'd react.

This needs to be stopped.




=====
[Edited 2/27/10 0:04am]

Good article on how Captive Killer whales are handled in captivitiy.

http://blog.seattlepi.com...195833.asp

Why Was The Sea World Trainer Killed By Captive Orca Tilikum?

By Candace Calloway Whiting Seattle PI.

After considerable time spent researching this latest tragic death at a theme park, I am left more with the question of how captive orcas can survive mentally, emotionally, and physically than I am with any question of why this happened. Tilikum's story illustrates all that is wrong with the management of captive cetaceans, and underscores the need to increase legislation to protect these animals because those institutions have found ways to circumvent laws and eviscerate the marine mammal protection act.

But what about Tilikum? He was captured in Iceland in 1983, at the age of two years - this is about the equivalent age of a two-three year old child, an age when young orcas are still tightly bound to their mothers and other family members (whom they stay with throughout their lives).

Once captured, he was kept in a holding facility at Hafnarfjord Marine Zoo, Saedyrasafnid, in a small pool made of concrete (measuring 66 x 49ft and only 20ft deep). There are many allegations that Sea World financed the captures and holding of orcas in foreign countries to skirt the marine mammal protection act, but I have not been able to substantiate this yet.

Tilikum, still very young, was then sold to Canada's now defunct Sealand of the Pacific where he was kept with two other young orcas. The training regimen there is reputed to have included food shortage and sensory deprivation:

Walters reports that some marine mammals including seals, sea lions and orcas were kept in a permanently "hungry" state at Sealand or deprived of food if they did not perform or co-operate. In an April 1991 letter to the British Columbia Veterinary Medical Association, Walters wrote: "If the killer whales did not enter the module pool [a small, dark, metal holding pool about 20 feet (6 m) deep and 26 feet (8 m) in diameter] at the end of the day to spend the night, we, as trainers, were instructed to withhold their end of-the-day allotted food. This was usually at least 25 to 35 percent of their daily food intake."

While in the module, the three whales, one male (Tilikum) and two females, were barely able to turn around, much less escape from each other. They often cut or scratched their skin on the metal sides. Walters told me that he once saw the young male with flukes abraded and bleeding. As well, the orcas sometimes fought and suffered other injuries. Walters, now a biologist who has spent many hours observing wild orcas, said that the injuries were more severe than the usual rakes and scratches which result from orca play in the wild. On one occasion, the female, Nootka, was fighting with the others and crashed into the module, striking her head on the metal side. Her head was bleeding and blood came out of her blowhole.



Those factors no doubt contributed to the attack and drowning of an assistant trainer at Sealand in 1991 by Tilikum and his tank mates. Following that unfortunate event at least one of the three orcas - Tilikum - was slated to be returned and to be set free in Iceland, but Sea World, eager to acquire another orca, stepped in. Sea World managed to persuade the National Marine Fisheries Service and the government of Iceland that they should be able to import and keep Tilikum even though the marine mammal protection act did not allow for it as a first resort. In a letter to the government of Iceland, Sea World wrote:


The provisions of the US Marine Mammal Protection Act under which the emergency permit was granted provide that if it is "feasible" to return the imported animal "to its natural habitat" then "steps to achieve that result shall be taken." Although this provision was intended to address the rescue and release of beached and stranded animals, it was nevertheless incorporated by reference into the emergency import permit for Tilikum. The permit also stated that if Sea World's November 7, 1991 application for permanent placement of Tilikum was disapproved, then NMFS could require Sea World to release Tilikum "at the original location of capture.

And where did this get Tilikum? Known to be dangerous, his public performances are limited as are his interactions with other orcas, even though it looks like Sea World allows him to 'mentor' young whales, which makes no sense whatsoever.

But Tilikum's main job these days is to breed - public sentiment is against capture of wild orcas and the captive gene pool is limited so his function as a breeding male is priceless to Sea World. The problem: actually getting him together with females is astronomically difficult since the females are in theme parks all over the world.

Sea World's answer? They trained this unfortunate, unhappy and deprived animal to give up his sperm. They tease him with estrous ('in heat") females, or excite him by putting other males in his tank, then he has to ejaculate into a specially designed container. The sperm is frozen and shipped all over, and these geniuses cross-breed Atlantic and Pacific range orcas, and unbelievably...even the meat eating "transient" type (which eat seals, sea lions, whales, dolphins, and otters) with the fish eating "resident" types.

Why did Tilicum grab his trainer, drag her around the pool, drowning her? Every one of us who works with animals knows one thing: there is always a measured risk because ultimately our ability to communicate with other species is limited. You can never let your guard down or go unconscious around even normal ones - something can trigger a reaction from an animal quicker than you can react. They have bad days, and hormonal shifts just like we do. Make an animal like Tilikum half crazy, and you have to redouble your efforts to read them, tread carefully, and never expect them to care for you.

So I ask: when do we decide to do something to stop the companies that are making so much money at such a high price?


About the Author:

Candace Calloway Whiting



My passion for marine mammals was ignited at the age of 13 when I read “The Mind of the Dolphin” by John Lilly – a book that demonstrated the intelligence and abilities of dolphins-- and has never really abated.

On my particularly circuitous route, over my life time I studied and trained dolphins, seals, and orca whales. I attended the University of California at Santa Cruz, where I obtained a B.A. in Psychobiology. There I studied Steller sea lions and participated in tagging studies of dolphins and gray whales, and aerial marine mammal censuses of the coast of California.

Following that I married, had children and worked in various fields, yet always retained and interest in, and involvement with , marine mammals. I volunteered at the Whale Museum in Friday Harbor, the Seattle Aquarium, and eventually went back to school and received a post-bac degree in Oceanography from the University of Washington, where I studied the role of sound in the aquatic environment (to better understand how dolphins and whales communicate).

I have known Dr. Ken Balcolm of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor from our days at UC Santa Cruz, where he was a graduate student while I was an undergraduate and continue to work together on this P-I blog.

???!!!

SUPRMAN said:

That was my reaction, too. Shit makes no sense.

TD3 said:

XxAxX said:

If that´s the way they truly treat them, then, they were asking for it. BASTARDS!!!!
I hate the way animals are forced to be aggressive and then blamed for it.

paintedlady said:

I'm reading it lol,. thanks 4 the info hun

SUPRMAN said:

i dont know whats so hard to understand about that- i'm speaking from experience- while in high school i took aquatic science classes at the aquarium and i would see the animals that were brought in for various reasons- nursed back to health and put on exhibit. they would be dead had it not been for those marine biologist. they have holding tanks that the public does not see- and huge care areas where the veterinarians and biologist work around the clock.

just because some aquariums adopt a money first attitude does not mean that they all do. i don't promote or be,lieve in animal abuse under any circumstances. what i saw with my own two eyes for that semester was not animal abuse.....

.....to each his own.....

Evvy said:

What I find hard to believe is not related to your experiences at a singular facility but the contention that, " most of these animals in captivity had been injured in the wild or are on the brink of extinction."

So the animals we see in shows are animals that were injured in the wild, nursed back to health and then trained to perform? I don't believe that.
Killer whales and all whales are endangered but not on the brink of extinction.
Your statement is hyperbole. I don't think you can show it is factual at all.
That's why I could only post question marks. It seemed to be an uninformed statement to me at least.

lastdecember said:

I agree with everything you said

Good job, orca. Poor audience though.

SUPRMAN said:

dude- look- visit the zoos/aquariums/museums-

ask the curators- maybe they are stretching the truth or perhaps they are uninformed or using their curatorship to mask the truth of the matter- it doesnt take much to be deemed "endangered" in this world

now an amusement park- i don't have the slightest idea where they get their animals from- it's not shocking that the money will continue to roll in even after this orca has caused 3 deaths

july said:

Evvy said:

Google L98 an Orca known as Luna.

Go read about the intelligence and desire for contact in that "killer"

I can't actually watch this because it's not viable here in Thailand,
but I think this documents some of the issues with keeping
Orcas in captivity.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/prog...s/b00q2s16

TheVoid said:

It is a beautiful documentary, I hope the rest of you can view it. We will find a way to send it to you Dan.
I want to make you cry...payback for posting a cockroach on your stupid bubble wrap thread.