November 30, 2006
She's mad as hell, and she's not going to take it any more!
One of the orcas (killer whales) at Sea World attacked a trainer during a show today.
Stories originally reported it was Shamu, but the orca's name is Kasatka. More about her here (scroll down a bit), as well as lots of pictures. You can learn more about the orca program at SeaWorld here (warning: Flash). Finally, here's some (admittedly anti-captivity) info about the life expectancy of captive orcas.
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great, now they'll probably put the whale down as a rogue killer...
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This is what some cetaceans do to their unruly children.
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She's just mad because it's chilly here today.
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I like the idea of Kasatka treating the trainer as a bad kid: "Leave me alone right now, Mommy has some stuff to do!"
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Raised in captivity or not, animals will do what animals will do, regardless of how much mackerel they ram down their throats and regardless of how much tedious choreography has been trained. To a lesser extent, it reminds me of ol' Montecore, scroll down to Roy's tiger injury.
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So they are gay, right?
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She just read the previous post and realized she is on her own if she ever wants to get out of the place.
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Fucking terrorists!
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(admittedly anti-captivity)
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I was hoping there'd be pics of chicks in those sexy cut off wetsuits. How disappointing. But apart from that - Go Whaley!!!!
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Orca Trainer Incidents I would be just as happy watching orcas doing their funky shit in the wild on the Discovery Channel.
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Let's watch 'Free Willie', kids!
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I think calling them 'Killer' whales is a bit much. If she had wanted to kill her trainer, he would be dead. I reckon she was a little frisky, and her trainer was using the wrong hair care product.
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a little frisky ... the wrong hair care product Thank you for my excuse on my next date!
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'Tis a tough call whether to allow places like Sea World where the public can see and learn something about these magnificent animals, thus engendering an interest in and support for marine life, or whether to simply shut 'em all down. Because it tends to be out of sight, out of mind with human beings. Orcas belong in the seas, and I'm sure, given a choice, would prefer to be free. But the seas aren't so safe as one might suppose, either, for these very visible animals. Puget Sound's orcas have their problems, too, many of which are man-induced.
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EIGHT frickin' shows a day, 365 days a year?? That's a bit much, methinks. Anyone that tried to do that with a domestic animal such as a horse or dog would be accused of cruelty. Even circus animals have down days. Bite 'em, whale.
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They're called killer whales because they kill whales.. and seals and other things. Not because they are human killers. Although that would be fine by me, turnabout is fair play (says the guy named after a whaling magnate ancestor).
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A killer whale Christmas
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Seven orcas that regularly visit Puget Sound have died since last November — the biggest die-off in about ten years — and some experts say the dwindling populations of chinook salmon are at least partly to blame.