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Orca kills trainer at SeaWorld Orlando

Let's be honest. The potential danger is part of the draw. Nobody ever paid to see watch a llama tamer. No big game hunter ever stalked a cow, even if it is bigger than many tigers.
This animal will probably be a bigger asset to his owners than ever after this sad event.
I like orcas. I don't think they belong in ponds. I think they belong in the ocean.
That may be pure anthropomorphism, but I agree with Sling- it's not good for the animal to be around humans and it clearly is hazardous for humans to get too close to him. A separation would seem to be in order.
 
Soapy Sam said:
Let's be honest. The potential danger is part of the draw. Nobody ever paid to see watch a llama tamer. No big game hunter ever stalked a cow, even if it is bigger than many tigers.
This animal will probably be a bigger asset to his owners than ever after this sad event.
I like orcas. I don't think they belong in ponds. I think they belong in the ocean.
That may be pure anthropomorphism, but I agree with Sling- it's not good for the animal to be around humans and it clearly is hazardous for humans to get too close to him. A separation would seem to be in order.
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Have to agree, Sam. I doubt he can go back to the ocean, because he's been too domesticated, as has been mentioned. Maybe he can go into a kind of display tank? More on the education side, instead of the entertainment side?

I love watching the whales and dolphins, but yeah...we probably shouldn't be doing this to them. They do belong in the ocean, as you say.
 
slingblade said:
I'm thinking that's not a bad idea, although I don't know how practical it is, what other options there are, and so on.
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Killing the animal? Are you serious?

This is a tragedy on many levels but putting down an Orca like one might put down avicious dog is not a reasonable option. There are tanks and the open ocean which don't involve interactions with human trainers. What a shame to blame this animal like one would blame a vicious dog. Did the Orca try to eat the dead trainer? There is an important distinction here.
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Killing the animal? Are you serious?

This is a tragedy on many levels but putting down an Orca like one might put down avicious dog is not a reasonable option. There are tanks and the open ocean which don't involve interactions with human trainers. What a shame to blame this animal like one would blame a vicious dog. Did the Orca try to eat the dead trainer? There is an important distinction here.
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JESUS! Some of you just can't read!

Here's the post made by someone else:
Ziggurat said:
Killing him isn't the only option. You could still keep him but limit direct interaction with trainers even more. While this trainer wasn't swimming with the whale, she was still effectively in the pool with the whale. So the risks with this whale can be further reduced significantly without killing it.
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and I said:

slingblade said:
I'm thinking that's not a bad idea, although I don't know how practical it is, what other options there are, and so on.
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The highlighted part is what I was agreeing with! That it's probably not a bad idea to limit his contact with trainers, that he should be kept in a different tank, a viewing tank. Though I don't know how practical that is or what other options there are.

WHERE DID I EVER SAY HE SHOULD BE KILLED? SHOW ME!

Jeeze! GET OFF! This is really pissing me off to be yelled at because you didn't read it!
 
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rockinkt said:
Grudge Match!

Paul Watson, the best Japanese harpooner, and Tillicum, all in the same pool. Fight to the finish.

I demand 10% of the gross revenue from TV. :D
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Holy crap I would donate to see this happen. Hell, throw several Japanese harpooners and most of Watson's crew, and let's make it interesting. Or maybe have a series of rounds to wear the whale down, culminating in Watson and the best Japanese harpooner as the "boss level" where the stakes are freedom.
 
GreNME said:
Holy crap I would donate to see this happen. Hell, throw several Japanese harpooners and most of Watson's crew, and let's make it interesting. Or maybe have a series of rounds to wear the whale down, culminating in Watson and the best Japanese harpooner as the "boss level" where the stakes are freedom.
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Here you go Ginger, an actual target who is suggesting the orca be HUNTED FOR ENTERTAINMENT.

Jesus, and I'm the one who gets chewed out? Really?
 
Don't point her at me. I didn't say put the harpooners in there with harpoons. That's not a level playing field. I think they should go in with boxing gloves. That have been soaked overnight in chum. Watson and crew should probably be marinated as well.
 
GreNME said:
Don't point her at me. I didn't say put the harpooners in there with harpoons. That's not a level playing field. I think they should go in with boxing gloves. That have been soaked overnight in chum. Watson and crew should probably be marinated as well.
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Well, I gotta point her at someone! :p
 
Glenn Beck Parody Post

Canadian Serial Killer Strikes Again In Florida - Will Probably Walk(Swim) Away From All Charges - Obama Does Nothing



This is clearly an immigration issue and if we would've elected Ron Paul we wouldn't be in this mess, I'll tell you. He'd have made sure these gangs of prowling immigrant orcas weren't murdering our wimmen.

What I'm concerned about is that no one tells us where the two gangsta b's from his Vancouver posse went. Vancouver SeaWorld closed down. They may have sent the girls down to San Diego, for all we know. They could be organizing other illegal swimming felons into a west coast gang (The Drips?), while Tilli incites the marine mammals in Central Florida.

If this government had any backbone, they'd ship 'em all back to Vancouver and make those fluffy tree huggers deal with their own murderers.

:spjimlad::spjimlad::spjimlad:
 
Skeptic Ginger said:
Killing the animal? Are you serious?

This is a tragedy on many levels but putting down an Orca like one might put down avicious dog is not a reasonable option. There are tanks and the open ocean which don't involve interactions with human trainers. What a shame to blame this animal like one would blame a vicious dog. Did the Orca try to eat the dead trainer? There is an important distinction here.
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I haven't seen a dog kill and eat a human yet. I don't think dogs attack because they are hungry. Like the poor animal of the OP, they have just had an unfortunate upbringing.

slingblade said:
Well, I gotta point her at someone! :p
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I'm ready. Put up your dukes Ginger. :)
 
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The Orlando reaction - "Aww, heck, everything's fine" is just as unacceptable to me as "Snuff him!".

Everything's not fine with the current set-up. This animal needs to be removed from any possible contact with people - and by that I mean ANY POSSIBLE. If you've seen Nat'l Geo, you've seen them flopping their bodies up onto the beach to get to seals, and they are taught to do that at SeaWorld as a "cute behaviour"! Some poor unsuspecting schlub with a bucket of herring might be in a for a rough time in a year or so.

And that would appear to be the thing. "In a year or so..." This isn't the legend of the man-eating tiger that develops a taste for humans and so has to be put down. This critter has proved to be unruly and proved that he doesn't have a value system like ours (if at all). But it's not "habitual", as in attacking every day... the three events are spread over 19 years!

I see no indication that anyone in Orlando is even remotely considering putting the animal down. But, IF (and it's a huge if, so let's not throw me under the wheels of the life-saving juggernaut when you still have Sling to pick on, okay) they're talking about putting him down? Would it then be cruel to just let him go free and see whether he can learn hunting on his own? Maybe start taking him out and training him like they've done with cheetahs and other big cats? He might have a slight chance of survival, but a "slight chance" is surely better than a bolt to the brain.
 
elgarak said:
Pray tell, which animals DO?
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This one?

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Skeptical Greg said:
There is no evidence this whale ' killed ' anyone ..

It appears three people died while trying to play with a 12,000 lb carnivore ...
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Sentinel

In 1991, Tilikum was one of three killer whales that drowned a trainer at the now-closed Sealand of the Pacific aquarium near Victoria, British Columbia.

SeaWorld acquired Tilikum after another fatal incident. In 1991, Tilikum and two female killer whales dragged trainer Keltie Byrne underwater, drowning her in front of spectators at Sealand of the Pacific, a now-defunct aquarium in British Columbia, Canada.
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Dragged Keltie underwater and drowned her. That isn't "killed"?


The show has been suspended since Wednesday, immediately after Tillikum, the 12,000-pound killer whale, had pulled veteran trainer (Dawn) Brancheau, 40, by her ponytail into his tank and killed her.

Orange County Sheriff's Office investigators on Thursday listed Brancheau's cause of death as "multiple traumatic injuries" and drowning.
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Dragged Dawn off of a ledge and then underwater and drowned/trauma her. That isn't "killed"?
 
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This type of behavior seems to be common among not just orcas, but other species of toothed whales as well:



Dolphins have been known to be very aggressive. A sperm whale sunk a whaling ship in 1820. Seems like we ought to just accept that these things will happen when we're dealing with these animals, and not act surprised when they do.

Elephants, tigers, orcas, platypuses... they're gonna draw blood every now and then.
 
Buckaroo said:
This type of behavior seems to be common among not just orcas, but other species of toothed whales as well:
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Wrong word. It's uncommon. I dare you to find an account of an orca killing or injuring a human in the wild.


Seems like we ought to just accept that these things will happen when we're dealing with these animals, and not act surprised when they do.
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For orcas, the problems seem specific to captive animals. No wild orca has ever done what Tilikum did on Wednesday.
 
William Parcher said:
Sentinel



Dragged Keltie underwater and drowned her. That isn't "killed"?
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I've seen a different version that said they ' bumped ' her into the water.
Sounds to me like they were trying to play; just like they had been trained to do, and like they do with each other .
' Kill ' implies intent ..

Dragged Dawn off of a ledge and then underwater and drowned/trauma her. That isn't "killed"?
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Again, there is no reason to believe he intended to kill her. Looks to me like he was trying to play, the way he had been encouraged to do all those years ...

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The whales have no reason to believe their captors cannot bump and play under water ( for extended periods ), just like they do..

If they intended to kill these people, they would have torn them to shreds ..
 
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