Archived Footage of Killer Whales Living Up To Their Name At SeaWorld Attacking Trainers.
CNN recounts the event in 2006 where Kasatka, a female killer whale captured off the coast of Iceland, attacked and almost drown Ken Peters, a senior trainer, at Seaworld during an evening show in San Diego.
• A Sea World trainer attacked by a killer whale is hospitalized in good condition
• The whale, Kasatka, 30, pulled the trainer underwater during a performance
• The trainer was able to calm the whale and swim to the side of the pool
• Officials said there have been no prior serious incidents with Kasatka Adjust font size:
SAN DIEGO, California (CNN) -- A killer whale at the Sea World theme park grabbed a trainer by the foot and held him underwater during a show Wednesday.
The trainer escaped and was in good condition later, park officials said.
Kasatka, a 30-year-old killer whale who is a veteran of many performances, grabbed the trainer and pulled him underwater, said Mike Scarpuzzi, head trainer at Sea World. (Watch how moms and kids felt about the attack )
Other trainers were able to persuade the whale to surface, allowing the trainer a breath of air, but enacted emergency procedures in place for such instances, Scarpuzzi said.
The other trainers got a net in the pool, and the trainer, who also has years of experience, was able to calm the whale, swim to the other side of the net and get out of the pool, he said.
The San Diego Fire Department received a call that the 33-year-old whale trainer was pinned at the bottom of the tank by a whale, said dispatcher Julianna Humphries.
The caller said other trainers were attempting to retrieve the man.
Scarpuzzi said there have been no previous serious incidents with Kasatka.
"She has not done this particular unwanted behavior to this extent," Scarpuzzi said.
"She has displayed unwanted behavior to some extent. ... There are times like this. They are killer whales. She did choose to demonstrate her feelings in a way that was unfortunate."
Scarpuzzi said he was dismayed that park guests had to witness the incident, which occurred in late afternoon during the "Believe" show.
The trainer was taken to a hospital, where officials reported he was in good condition.(Watch paramedics help the wounded trainer )
"That's the good news we were hoping for," Scarpuzzi said. He declined to identify the trainer, saying he wanted to make sure his family had been notified of the incident, but said the man had 16 years of training experience, including 12 years with Kasatka.
He said it had not been decided whether Kasatka will perform Thursday. The park has seven whales and rotate them for performances, he said.
Trainers are strong swimmers and taught to develop communication and relationship skills with the whales, he said.
Using those skills, he said, the trainer was able to calm the whale and end the incident. "It turned out exactly the way we would want it if something like this were to ever happen."
Seriously? Danish Navy Working to Protect Pilot Whale Hunters in Faroe Islands.
Once again, another cruel summer opens to the horror show of evil that the Faroese call the grindadráp, which translated means “the murder of whales.”
This year the Faroese not only have the Faroese Coast Guard and the Danish Navy to defend these brutal and pitiless killers, but the whalers also have the services of the Faroese Coast Guard to find the pods of whales so they can be slain.
Bringing Harm to More Than Pilot Whales
This is the lunacy of our times. Military assets being used to help kill innocent whales in order to secure whale meat that is inedible because of the toxic levels of mercury in the bodies of the whales. They kill to feed poison to their children. These thugs certainly do look like they have severe cranial degeneration, the kind caused when mercury literally eats away the tissues in the brain.
It is amazing that in the year 2015, with the diminishment of biodiversity and with species after species going extinct, that there are still people so alienated from reality that they continue to engage in contributing to the death of the ocean. We humans are literally killing the ocean by diminishment of the life within. Many Faroese overfish, they slaughter puffins and other seabirds and they murder whales and dolphins. These are the kind of people that future generations in a world devoid of so many species, will look back upon with utter disgust.
The Faroese enjoy one of the highest standards of living in the world with the highest income per capita in all of Europe. Their supermarkets are well stocked with anything that can be bought in Copenhagen, London or Paris. They all drive cars, own computers and enjoy the luxuries of modern industrialized society, yet many claim that they need to kill pilot whales and dolphins for meat.
The Memory of the Pilot Whale
The truth is that some of them simply like to kill. They enjoy it. They need to see the blood spurting into the water. They need to smell and wallow in the blood and the sh*t of the dying animals. They need to hear their pitiful screams because these are the needs of sadistic psychopaths. Not all Faroese are cruel and not all participate in this foul obscenity. Both for those who do and for the politicians who support these despicable acts of slaughter, the evidence is that there is a rotten stench of death associated with these islands that will be angrily remembered when the pilot whales and the dolphins are no more.
To learn more about how you can help Sea Shepherd defend thousands of innocent pilot whales and dolphins, click here.
Image source: Peter Hammarstedt/Sea Shepherd
PETA Revised SeaWorld's Ads To Finally Be True. Another gem from Seaworld's Public Enemy #1; PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals)
If SeaWorld Commercials Told the Truth.
We've all seen #SeaWorld's recent commercial campaign... Can you imagine if they told the TRUTH?
