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Killer Whale Attacks SeaWorld Trainer During Performance
WFTV ^

Posted on 07/27/2004 8:32:00 AM PDT by esryle

SAN ANTONIO, Texas -- A popular whale performance at SeaWorld Adventure Park in San Antonio, Texas turned into a horror show this past Friday afternoon.

Thousands of stunned park visitors witnessed a Killer Whale attack a trainer during a sea show for several minutes - including Houston, Texas resident Justin Lecourias and his family.

"I told Crystal, I said something's wrong. This ain't right, something's going on and then it got real bad," Lecourias says.

Lecourias says the whale seemed out of control and none of the trainers could calm him down so he and his family braced themselves for the worst.

"The whale would come up and the guy would go under before he hit him so I guess it wouldn't hurt him that much and then one time he didn't come up for quite a period of time and that really freaked me out then," Lecourias explains. "I was videotaping and I told the kids to close their eyes, something was wrong and the whale was jumping and that's all he could do was take a bite out of the guy."

Trainers were eventually able to calm the whale but the show didn't go on.

"And I saw the other trainers out the corner of my eye and I looked down and they were slapping the water and blowing their whistles," says Lecourias. "The dude was coming out of the water and he was like, you know, exhausted, coming around, the trainers and everyone around him was going nuts."

SeaWorld officials cancelled "The Shamu Adventure" shows for the rest of the day.

The trainer amazingly was unhurt and says he's not sure what set the whale off. But the animal is near breeding age and that might have been the reason for the strange behavior.

Since the Friday incident they've returned to work, hoping to excite more visitors, but in less dramatic fashion.


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: themepark; yikes
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To: esryle
I can see the FOX special now: When Good Orcas Go Bad!!
41 posted on 07/27/2004 9:24:24 AM PDT by mewzilla
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To: Modernman
Add:

You take away its freedom and friends.

Then you've described my ex...

42 posted on 07/27/2004 9:25:12 AM PDT by null and void (The price of freedom is written in blood on the battlefield, not in ink by congress.)
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To: Carling
Hence the name KILLER whale.

Well, Homo Sapiens are KILLERs too. So are the "Flipper" type dolphins, who are closely related to the Orcas. They are carnivores, but they don't eat people. (Maybe people taste bad?) However they do eat the herbavoire whales, and seals and other mamamals in additon to fish. Seeing one go after a seal in the surf zone is impressive.

43 posted on 07/27/2004 9:25:54 AM PDT by El Gato (Federal Judges can twist the Constitution into anything.. Or so they think.)
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To: Bikers4Bush
Did you ever see the whales going "gulling?"

Some of the adolescent whales in Orlando would save some fish in their mouths. After the shows when everything was quiet they'd lie under the water and then spit the fish out so it came out of the water like it was jumping. If they could coax a seagull into going for the fish they'd try and catch the seagull.

We saw a whale catch a seagull this way onetime. He didn't eat it, but just kept pulling it underwater, playing with it, then letting it go, kind of like what happend to the trainer at San Antonio. Finally the gull was exhausted and the whale pushed the bird out onto the slide out. The bird just sat there, gasping for breath, probably muttering the gull equivelant of "OMG, OMG" over and over.

44 posted on 07/27/2004 9:28:03 AM PDT by Phsstpok (often wrong, but never in doubt)
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To: Phsstpok
Interesting stories. I and my family were in Orlano Sea World a few weeks ago, and saw that very whale perform. His size is truly awesome.

I always wondered, why did they call ALL the whales "Shamu"? I guess they all have individual names, but are called "Shamu" for the performance.

Are the whales normally docile, or do they "play" (in small ways) more often?

My wife was asking these questions, and I had no clue.

45 posted on 07/27/2004 9:29:54 AM PDT by Long Cut (The Constitution...the NATOPS of America!)
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To: Phsstpok

Hehe. You can judge intelligence in animals sometimes by their sense of humor, and how intricate they play. It's amazing that they didn't simply kill and eat the birds, although I'm sure it's happened.


46 posted on 07/27/2004 9:34:17 AM PDT by Long Cut (The Constitution...the NATOPS of America!)
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To: js1138
The trainer amazingly was unhurt and says he's not sure what set the whale off. But the animal is near breeding age and that might have been the reason for the strange behavior.

As a former teacher I am reminded of the behavior 8th grade boys as the hormones begin to surge. :-)

47 posted on 07/27/2004 9:36:10 AM PDT by RobbyS
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To: NotJustAnotherPrettyFace
I took my kids to SeaWorld San Antonio two years ago and something real similar happened. The show was delayed while the trainers were in the back pool where the Orcas live. The show today would include the three teenagers with Kayla, the "old-lady" Orca getting the day off.

Well, soon after the show started Kayla started slamming the gate and the teenagers all started responding to her, not the trainers. I was getting really nervous about those young trainers, teenagers themselves probably, being put in a crisis situation with 3,000 customers wanting their "Star Show."

After getting no obedience from the younger Orcas, one trainer went back to the gate to calm down Kayla, but she just got more agitated. Finally, the trainer/announcer said that the leader of the Orca pod had decided that they weren't going to do a show that day. I admired everybodys acceptance of the obvious. Having seen the show many times, this "non-show" was actually more entertaining. Just glad no-one got hurt that time.

48 posted on 07/27/2004 9:37:02 AM PDT by DJtex
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To: All

Orca Jihad.


49 posted on 07/27/2004 9:45:03 AM PDT by BadAndy (Specializing in unnecessarily harsh comments.)
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To: esryle

> he's not sure what set the whale off

Maybe they piped in the Dem convention last night?


50 posted on 07/27/2004 9:55:12 AM PDT by Paul_B
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To: Long Cut
Are the whales normally docile, or do they "play" (in small ways) more often?

One of the big issues for the trainers was providing play opportunities for the whales. They are intelligent animals and they need stimulation. They are always looking for things to catch the whales interests, something new.

We used to have annual passes to Seaworld. When we would go down to Orlando as a family we would treat Seaworld like a park, just go and hang out.

The kids would go hit the rides or go with my wife and do some of the backstage or educational tours. I'd sit in the killer whale stadium with my "vacation book." I'd watch the shows, but just stay there reading between shows. That's how we got to know the trainers and the whales.

We got to the point that when we'd show up the whales would react to us the way they reacted to trainers who had moved away. It was really neat to "have a relationship" with an Orca!

51 posted on 07/27/2004 9:57:34 AM PDT by Phsstpok (often wrong, but never in doubt)
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To: Phsstpok

I've never seen that but we didn't have a lot of seagulls at the park.

The gulls that were around hung out in the parking lots looking for scraps. Why there I have no idea.


52 posted on 07/27/2004 9:58:16 AM PDT by Bikers4Bush (Flood waters rising, heading for more conservative ground. Vote for true conservatives!)
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To: Bikers4Bush
The gulls that were around hung out in the parking lots looking for scraps.

they always seemed to race the clean up crews to Shamu Stadium after a show to gobble up the scraps dropped by the tourists. I loved seeing them fight over an empty bag of popcorn.

The gulls disappeared when Seaworld started doing a show that involved a bald eagle flying from off stage (high up from a box) down to a trainer on the stage. All of a sudden the gulls decided that they wanted to be someplace else!

53 posted on 07/27/2004 10:13:28 AM PDT by Phsstpok (often wrong, but never in doubt)
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To: thegreatbeast

I've seen that too right out my front window...I lived in Campbell River, every year a pod of 40-->50 killer whales would boogie on through to Discovery passage/seymour narrows...The whales toss seals through the air to beat the seal out of its skin and tenderize the body...They also flop onto schools of fish and seals to stun them..


54 posted on 07/27/2004 10:24:28 AM PDT by MD_Willington_1976
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To: El Gato

Point was, killer whales are killer whales. These things happen with carnivores of this size.


55 posted on 07/27/2004 10:32:59 AM PDT by Carling
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To: Phsstpok

Actually now that you mention it we did have a "birds of prey" show at the park while I was working there so that would make sense.


56 posted on 07/27/2004 10:35:36 AM PDT by Bikers4Bush (Flood waters rising, heading for more conservative ground. Vote for true conservatives!)
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To: Modernman
Uh..you are aware that this is a Conservative forum, right?
57 posted on 07/27/2004 11:20:57 AM PDT by Windsong (FighterPilot)
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To: Phsstpok; Bikers4Bush; MD_Willington_1976; Carling; DJtex; Long Cut; thegreatbeast; ...
If it were Tillikum, the biggest one in captivity, who is down at Orlando, the trainer would be GONE. Several years ago there was a Darwin Award winner who hid out in the Orlando park till after closing (getting stoned in the bushes). He took off his clothes and climbed down into the tank with Tillikum in it. They found him the next morning, dead, on top of Tillikum's back, with the whale circling the tank keeping the guy up out of the water. Unfortunately he died of hypothermia (the tank water is 50 degrees). The whale is trained to support a swimmer in distress, but there wasn't anyone around to come help.

That same whale was involved in another fatality in Canada in 1991 (does that make him a "serial Killer Whale"?) From a Frontline episode about the incident:

On February 20, 1991, University of Victoria marine biology student and part-time trainer Keltie Byrne, 20, slipped and fell into the orca pool at Sealand of the Pacific. She had just finished a show with the three orcas. Since Sealand trainers stay out of the water, she was not wearing a wetsuit. One whale took her in its mouth and began dragging her around the pool, mostly underwater. A champion swimmer who had competed at the international level, she was no match for three huge orcas determined to keep her in the pool. At one point she reached the side and tried to climb out but, as horrified visitors watched from the sidelines, the whales pulled her screaming back into the pool.

"I just heard her scream my name," said trainer Karen McGee, 25, and then I saw she was in the pool with the whales. "I threw the life-ring out to her. She was trying to grab the ring, but the whale, basically, wouldn't let her. To them it was a play session, and she was in the water." McGee and other Sealand staff tried to distract the whales by throwing them fish, banging on the water with steel buckets and giving them hand and voice commands. Nothing worked. Byrne came up screaming one more time and then, as the whale swam round and round the pool with Byrne in its mouth, she finally drowned. It was several hours before her body could be recovered.

She had ten tooth marks on her body, the largest on her left thigh, but was otherwise untouched. The whales had stripped her clothes off. "It was just a tragic accident," Sealand manager Alejandro Bolz told newspaper reporters. "I just cannot explain it."

The article provides hints as to possible contributing factors, including hunger, sensory deprivation of the whales, and unfamiliarity with people in the water (the trainers worked from land at that park). Perhaps the whales didn't even understand that people could drown so quickly.

Another incident from the same article, involving different killer whales at a different park, severely injured a trainer. From the video (warning, high wince factor), it's amazing he lived at all:

In August, the "accident" rate escalated. About a dozen accidents later, on November 21, 1987, Orky the mature five-ton male came crashing down on 26-year old John Sillick during a show in San Diego. At the time Sillick was riding on the back of a female orca. It was a crushing blow. Sillick almost died. He had severe fractures to both his hips, his pelvis, ribs and legs. After six operations in fourteen months, according to Sillick's lawyer, he was "reconstructed" with some three pounds (1.4 kg) of pins, plates and screws, including a permanent plate inserted in his pelvis and all his thoracic vertebrae permanently fused. He can walk today but his activity is limited.
And as long as we're on the subject of extreme Killer Whale incidents, anyone who wants to see an amazing but disturbing photo of a Killer Whale shooting a twenty foot plume of blood can click this link -- I won't include it in the thread. It's from this incident:
Sea World, California (1989): August 21 - During an afternoon show performance, "Kandu V" initiated aggressive behavior towards the larger orca "Corky", opening her mouth very wide and striking Corky broadside. As "Kandu" returned to the north back pool, she took her first observed breath exhaling large amounts of blood. The impact had fractured her upper jaw and lacerating arteries. The hemorrhage persisted for 45 minutes until death. (Sea World's necropsy report filed with NMFS dated September 11, 1989.)

58 posted on 07/27/2004 11:39:58 AM PDT by Ichneumon ("...she might as well have been a space alien." - Bill Clinton, on Hillary, "My Life", p. 182)
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To: isthisnickcool

LOL! Shot the cigarette right outta my mouth and onto the keyboard. (Turning it over and shaking out the ashes)


59 posted on 07/27/2004 11:40:32 AM PDT by 7.62 x 51mm (• Veni • Vidi • Vino • Visa • "I came, I saw, I drank wine, I shopped")
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To: stainlessbanner
One of them got smashed against the pool wall by an orca a few years ago, IIRC.

That sounds like this incident, unless the one you're thinking of is more recent than 1986:

Sea World (1984 & 1986): "Kandu V" reportedly took two female trainers in her mouth on two occasions in 1984, then pinned a male trainer against a wall at Shamu Stadium in November 1986.
-- From this link
Note that this is the same whale which bled to death in the incident described in my previous post.
60 posted on 07/27/2004 11:49:32 AM PDT by Ichneumon ("...she might as well have been a space alien." - Bill Clinton, on Hillary, "My Life", p. 182)
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