Killer whale at Sea world

[Salt4Us]

Anyone see the footage this morning on Good Morning America? Don't understand why they didn't show the trainer calming him down like they do on the web. Here's the footage online http://www.wftv.com/newsofthestrange/3581469/detail.html

 

[William]

I would advise against installing real player to view that, however.


real player is almost as bad as a virus, IMHO.

 

[lmw80]

Wow, that's crazy! OF course the news wouldn't show the whale being calmed down...then it's not as controversial...

 

[Atari]

Does the whale open its mouth at any point? I couldn't tell from the video.

 

[fish_doc]

From the looks of things the whale never opened his mouth and if you look the trainer was actually grabing around his mouth. If the trainer felt in extreme danger at any point he would have left the tank at his first chance instead of hanging around until he was calm. Feeling there is a chance of being injured and feeling in danger are two different things.

 

[lando]

Wow, amazing link. Thanks

 

[shawmutt]

Man, just goes to show that no matter how much we "tame" them they are still wild animals. Like the tiger attack in Vegas.

 

[oscarbreeder]

Thats nuts!!

 

[Toirtis]

Orca don't seem to understand that we can just hold our breath for 5+ minutes like they can....the orca was not trying to harm the trainer, though...if it had been, it simply would have bit him in half...orca don't screw around when they are cranky.

 

[ferret]

Man, just goes to show that no matter how much we "tame" them they are still wild animals. Like the tiger attack in Vegas.

Er... I'm not sure I agree. "wild" vs "tame" isn't quite the same as simply not being able to fully comprehend us the way we might communicate with each other. Like Toirtis said, they don't understand we can't hold our breath just like them.

As for the tiger.. Well. Wasn't the guy hitting him on the nose or something trying to punish him for doing something wrong? I don't think that proves the animal any less tame. If I hit my brother in the back of the head a few times he'll get angry and swing around at me too

Sometimes, especially with the tiger attack, I think we get too caught up in our "superiority" and forget what we're dealing with.

 

[Atari]

That's why I asked if it opened its mouth at any time. To me it just looked like the whale wanted to play. Unless ofcourse the whole thing was staged somehow but that's just my cynical side coming out.

 

[newaridiar]

Thanks for the link

The trainer himself just said the whale was probably "frisky" because of hormones. Ahhhh... to work with teenageer orcas. My cousins and I have done worse damage to each other rough-housing, the dolphin is just ALOT bigger.

I wouldn't call it an attack, I mean the guy would be dead, if it was attacking him it woulld bit him or crushed him against the side of the tank

 

[sumphead]

Regardless of the intentions of the orca (which we can only speculate), I give sincere kudos to the trainer for remaining calm and insistantly staying with and calming the animal. It shows he truely cares.

R-

 

[Toirtis]

As far as the 'tiger attack in Vegas', I am assuming that you were referring to the 'attack' on Roy Horn by his stagemate, Manticore? What appears to have happened, and is strongly supported by Horn himself, is that the tiger got nervous when Horn fell, felt that Horn was in danger, and attempted to drag him offstage.....grabbing him by the 'scruff' the way a parent felid would grab a baby....but in this case, Horn's neck being considerably less resilient than a tigers....you get the picture.