Thread: 13,000 lb whale kills trainer at Seaworld

I enjoy seeing them when I fish. One thing I like is that if I have a fish on the line they don't try to take it. Seals and sea lions love to do that. These whales are smart and they seem respectful. That plus they eat seals : )

I'm not totally unhappy that lady had a really bad day.

On a side note.. Killers in captivity have their top fin go droopy, it goes limp. Killers in the wild have tall dorsal fins. I really think they are very unhappy and that the droopy dorsal shows this, IMHO.

Lol, the whale made sure there would be no Mobi-Dick part 2.
Speaking of Mobi-Dick, anyone ever get a chuckle in Lit class when Mobi-Dick was called a great sperm whale?

Key word KILLER and whale.. i say lets give them to the capt to make fishsticks....

Originally Posted by The Situation

Key word KILLER and whale.. i say lets give them to the capt to make fishsticks....

Actually they would be mammal sticks.

Originally Posted by KelJu

Actually they would be mammal sticks.

true but your spliting hairs... but you get my point..damn you kelju (or is it doctor kilju to me)

Orlando Sentinel said this is the 3rd time this whale has been involved in a death.

3RD TIME!!

He should have been sent back into the wild a long time ago. (Or put down - isn't that what they do when dogs who haven't had their shots bite people?)

Originally Posted by The Situation

true but your spliting hairs... but you get my point..damn you kelju (or is it doctor kilju to me)

Lol, how about Mobi-Sticks.

Originally Posted by Hoglander

On a side note.. Killers in captivity have their top fin go droopy, it goes limp. Killers in the wild have tall dorsal fins. I really think they are very unhappy and that the droopy dorsal shows this, IMHO.

I looked it up. This response seems reasonable.

"Thanks for your question. I have looked at various websites and have come up with the following possible solutions. Collapsed fins occur in about 1% of wild orcas, perhaps because these whales spent lots of time in shallow bays and shallow feeding grounds during their growth spurt. Collapsed fins happen to 30-100% of captives.

http://oceanlink.island.net/ask/odontoceti.html states that tanks are usually shallow and the whales can only take a few strokes in any direction before coming to a wall, so they spend much of their time at the tank's surface. This can lead to skin problems and is the probable cause of fin collapse. This is because gravity pulls the dorsal fin over as the orca matures, because it is not supported by water. This happens to all captive males and many captive females.

http://oceanlink.island.net/ask/odon...l#anchor662263 states that the dorsal fins are supported by cartilage. When a male goes through his "growth spurt" in the early teenage years, the dorsal fin grows really tall, really fast and becomes heavy. A whale with a straight dorsal fin has spent lots of time in deep water, where the water pressure keeps the fin upright until the cartilage hardens. Orcas that go through their growth spurt in captivity have a bent fin, as the pools aren't deep enough to create the water pressure needed to support the soft cartilage in the fin, so the weight of the fin's cartilage makes the fin flop over. Once the cartilage hardens, the fin is shaped forever.
Another possible cause of collapsed dorsal fins is due to lack of exercise through turning leading to diminished muscle tone.

1995 WhaleNet Archive: Info: Why dorsal fins on captive whales curl states the following possible causes:
1) Captive orcas tend to swim in anticlockwise patterns around their pools in the northern hemisphere, so there is an uneven distribution of pressure on the dorsal fin. This hypothesis would be supported if all dorsal fins drooped in the same direction.
2) Differences in diet may cause physiological changes, which can make the dorsal fin less rigid.
3) There may be a combination of the two.

It seems that the most likely cause is that the dorsal fin is not supported by water during adolescence and that a combination of low pressure and the weight of the fin's cartilage cause the fin to collapse. As you can see, there are alternative theories.

I hope I have answered your question.'

I remember going about 2 years ago and noted that none of the trainers got in the water with that particular whale. He performed the splash the audience routine and that was it. No other whales were ever in the same tank with him either.

Originally Posted by The Situation

Key word KILLER and whale.. i say lets give them to the capt to make fishsticks....

I thought that was captain fishdicks that was killed.... thank god that fagot dick licks with my special tarter sauce is well

Originally Posted by DOMS

I looked it up. This response seems reasonable.

"Thanks for your question. I have looked at various websites and have come up with the following possible solutions. Collapsed fins occur in about 1% of wild orcas, perhaps because these whales spent lots of time in shallow bays and shallow feeding grounds during their growth spurt. Collapsed fins happen to 30-100% of captives.

How would you feel if a superior intelligent life form kidnapped you, threw you in a cage so that they could bring their ugly little kids to point and stare at you. In the meantime they make you do tricks for food to entertain these assholes all at your expense.

If you had an opening, tell me you wouldn't die for the chance to take one of them out as violently as possible.

I would.

Originally Posted by DOMS

I looked it up. This response seems reasonable.

"Thanks for your question. I have looked at various websites and have come up with the following possible solutions. Collapsed fins occur in about 1% of wild orcas, perhaps because these whales spent lots of time in shallow bays and shallow feeding grounds during their growth spurt. Collapsed fins happen to 30-100% of captives.

http://oceanlink.island.net/ask/odontoceti.html states that tanks are usually shallow and the whales can only take a few strokes in any direction before coming to a wall, so they spend much of their time at the tank's surface. This can lead to skin problems and is the probable cause of fin collapse. This is because gravity pulls the dorsal fin over as the orca matures, because it is not supported by water. This happens to all captive males and many captive females.

http://oceanlink.island.net/ask/odon...l#anchor662263 states that the dorsal fins are supported by cartilage. When a male goes through his "growth spurt" in the early teenage years, the dorsal fin grows really tall, really fast and becomes heavy. A whale with a straight dorsal fin has spent lots of time in deep water, where the water pressure keeps the fin upright until the cartilage hardens. Orcas that go through their growth spurt in captivity have a bent fin, as the pools aren't deep enough to create the water pressure needed to support the soft cartilage in the fin, so the weight of the fin's cartilage makes the fin flop over. Once the cartilage hardens, the fin is shaped forever.
Another possible cause of collapsed dorsal fins is due to lack of exercise through turning leading to diminished muscle tone.

1995 WhaleNet Archive: Info: Why dorsal fins on captive whales curl states the following possible causes:
1) Captive orcas tend to swim in anticlockwise patterns around their pools in the northern hemisphere, so there is an uneven distribution of pressure on the dorsal fin. This hypothesis would be supported if all dorsal fins drooped in the same direction.
2) Differences in diet may cause physiological changes, which can make the dorsal fin less rigid.
3) There may be a combination of the two.

It seems that the most likely cause is that the dorsal fin is not supported by water during adolescence and that a combination of low pressure and the weight of the fin's cartilage cause the fin to collapse. As you can see, there are alternative theories.

I hope I have answered your question.'

It's not a question and what you have given is nothing I do not know. I love these animals more than most people.

Originally Posted by KelJu

I would you feel if a superior intelligent life form kidnapped you, threw you in a cage so that they could bring their ugly little kids to point and star at you. In the meantime they make you do tricks for food to entertain these assholes all at your expense.

If you had an opening, tell me you wouldn't die for the chance to take one of them out as violently as possible.

I would.

So would I.

Originally Posted by Hoglander

It's not a question and what you have given is nothing I do not know. I love these animals more than most people.

It kinda sounds like you got you Internet panties in a bunch. I was curious, looked it up, and posted what i found.

Yes I did. Thanks for getting my heart rate up. I was getting bored with the Internet.

: )

SeaWorld Takes Tilikum out of Isolation

Head Trainer Says Whale Will Now Socialize with Park's Others; Trainer Interaction Will Change in Accident's Wake

(CBS/AP) The head trainer for SeaWorld says a whale that killed his trainer by dragging her underwater won't be isolated from other killer whales at the Orlando park.

Chuck Tompkins said Thursday that the whale named Tilikum plays an important role in the social group of eight whales who live at Shamu Stadium. He's the father of some whales and will continue to mate with other females.

SeaWorld says trainers will continue to interact with Tilikum but the procedures for doing so will change in the wake of trainer Dawn Brancheau's death.

The killer whale shows are on hold for now and Tompkins says they won't start again until trainers understand what happened to her.

He says the park will change safety protocols as needed but he doesn't expect drastic changes.

Tilikum had always been considered an especially dangerous animal by the staff at SeaWorld Orlando.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, trainers were forbidden with swimming with Tillikum, a 12,000-pound orca nicknamed "Tilly."

Dawn Brancheau, the trainer who was killed, was one of less than half of the park's 28 trainers who were allowed to work with the whale.

Brancheau was rubbing the whale from a platform when he grabbed her ponytail in his mouth and took her underwater.

Visitors who stayed after an afternoon show witnessed the incident.

Reports that Tilikum had been acting strangely leading up to Wednesday's tragedy were dismissed by SeaWorld Orlando's curator for animal behavior, Chuck Tompkins.

Tompkins said the whale had been very cooperative and at the time he dragged Brancheau into the water, she was rewarding him for how well he had performed that day.

"There wasn't anything to indicate to us that there was a problem," Tompkins told CBS' "The Early Show" Thursday.

He added: "We were very careful with how we worked with him."

Tilikum had a marked history, however. The whale, along with two female killer whales drowned Keltie Byrne, a trainer, in 1991 at a British Columbia park and in 1999, Tilikum killed a man who had sneaked into the SeaWorld tank after hours to swim with whales.

Russ Rector, an animal-rights activist, tells the Sentinel that Tilikum did not belong at a theme park.

"Tilikum is a killer," Rector told the paper. "If this had been a dog that killed Keltie Byrne, it would have been put down."

Sounds to me like that whale showed some hustle.

And why are we picking on the whale by mentioning his weight in this thread title? You don't think he's self conscious enough already about being a 13,000 pound whale?

At that weight, he should be wondering around Disneyland.

Death of Sea World trainer: Do 'killer whales' belong in theme parks?

By Daniel B. Wood Daniel B. Wood Wed Feb 24, 8:18 pm ET

Los Angeles – The death of a veteran Sea World trainer in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday has spotlighted the campaign of several major animal rights groups to keep marine mammals out of theme parks altogether.
Dawn Brancheau was killed when a 12,300-lb. male orca “killer whale” grabbed her in front of an audience at the Orlando theme park.
Now, animal rights activists say that many questions should be asked in the wake of Ms. Brancheau's death. Sea World has said that the very same orca is responsible for human deaths in 1991 and again in 1999. The Humane Society of the United States has long campaigned for marine mammals to be removed from theme parks.
“These behemoths are denied all of their natural, instinctual inclinations, and we humans tend to think, ‘Well, this is just a bad animal.’ But it is a wild animal, used to running free in an entire ocean, but now confined to a very small space,” says Joyce Tischler, founder of and general counsel for Animal Legal Defense Fund. She compares an orca’s life in captivity in a tank to keeping a human being in a bathtub for his entire life. She says most Americans have romanticized notions of sea life perpetuated by such TV series as “Flipper.” But even dolphins are known to aggressively run their teeth down the backs of humans in hundreds of incidents that are not reported outside the conservation community press, she says.
SeaWorld closed its Orlando park immediately after the tragedy, and suspended its orca show in San Diego. “We've initiated an investigation to determine, to the extent possible, what occurred,” SeaWorld President Dan Brown said in a brief statement to reporters. Ms. Brancheau had worked at the park since 1994. Mr. Brown said no SeaWorld park had ever before experienced a similar incident and pledged a thorough review of all of the park's standard operating procedures. “This is an extraordinarily difficult time for the SeaWorld parks and our team members. Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees, guests, and the animals entrusted to our care," Brown said. “We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends of the trainer and will do everything possible to assist them in this difficult time.”
The orca is the largest member of the dolphin family and is known as a favorite at Sea World. Killer whales are a highly social species.
But “the vast majority of the orca whales in captivity would be far better off to be returned to the wild. Orcas are unbelievably ill-suited to life in theme parks and can be successfully returned to the wild. We know, because we have done it,” says David Phillips, director of the International Marine Mammal Project for the Earth Island Institute, who led the effort to rescue, rehabilitate, and release the killer whale Keiko, made famous in the movie “Free Willy.” “Orcas deserve a better fate than living in cramped pools.
Mr. Phillips recalls that Keiko went from languishing in small pool in Mexico City all the way to swimming with wild whales in his native waters in Iceland. He ended up swimming to Norway and living there in a bay with some human care until he died. Phillips says the public would be better served by seeing orcas in the wild and ensuring their protection there.
“This isn’t the first time that stressed-out orca whales have injured or killed people, and unfortunately, it is not likely to be the last,” says Phillips. “It is high time that the marine park industry get out of the captive orca business.”
Tischler takes on the argument most often given by defenders of such captivity: That it is educational and spotlights the need for conservation and protection of such creatures: “The people who run these theme parks are not interested in conservation or protection, they are interested in making money,” Tischler says. “I would be asking, ‘Why was this animal kept after the first death?’ ”
“This is a giant warning sign that society needs to rethink this question of holding large predators in captivity,” says Chris Palmer, author of “Shooting in the Wild,” a book about wild animals in captivity, who also teaches at American University. “Having a trainer killed this way can’t justify whatever benefits we get from conservation or protection.”

Originally Posted by I Are Baboon

And why are we picking on the whale by mentioning his weight in this thread title? You don't think he's self conscious enough already about being a 13,000 pound whale?

lol.....

Originally Posted by KelJu

Lol, how about Mobi-Sticks.

Now thats change i can believe in save me a fin please dr kelju

Originally Posted by pitman

I thought that was captain fishdicks that was killed.... thank god that fagot dick licks with my special tarter sauce is well

Man your funny but full of anger. qustion did they kick u out of the DRSR?

just wondering