IMO --- The animal was doing what comes naturally. It saw a ponytail in the water which probably looked like a fish. As a trainer, she had to know that the whales respond to signals. It's just like Sigfried & Roy with their tigers. One reason they are able to train the animals in the first place is by using visual cues. In this case, the cue was a ponytail.
July 22nd 2009...blond with ponytail...performing at seaworld....
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dj0NIYdgALg
A “wild” animal in captivity is not exactly a wild animal. Naturally a dog breed that has been in captivity for hundreds of generations is less wild than an Ocelot cub that was born wild but pure Ocelots do make good pets and they are only two and a half times larger than a house cat so they are not as dangerous as a Cheetah or other larger cat.
Remember that domestic animals were not always domestic animals. Remember too that wild animals can be dangerous even if they are vegitarians like Africa’s Cape Buffalo.
When I remarked to my South African game guide (photo expeditions) that the least interesting of the Big Five was Cape Buffalo because it appeared not much more than a
“domestic bull” he went ballistic. He said that they will circle back and blind side charge a pursuing party with regularity. “They are dangerous”. And of course domestic bulls can still be dangerous too.