In the wild, orcas behave benignly towards humans, and are reasonably safe
to be around, but in captivity these gentle animals can act in ways that are
dangerous to their human caretakers - as the recent tragic death of a
trainer at Seaworld illustrates. In my opinion there are three main reasons
that orcas hurt their handlers: they don't understand our frailty and
breath-holding ability, they are constantly frustrated by the one way
communication we have with them, and they experience discomfort, pain, and
fear at our hands. The orca whale "Lolita", taken from the endangered
Southern Resident orca population is no exception.
Please watch the following clip with a critical eye, and you will be able to
learn a great deal about what the life of a trained whale is like when they
are not performing. Notice how the Seaquarium seems to have controlled what
the camera is allowed to see of "Lolita's" tank (it is small and see her
only companion is a Pacific white-sided dolphin) and to turn this into a
public relations piece. Then pay attention to how the trainer keeps her
close - by giving her chunks offish.
But here is the most important thing to notice: as the interviewgoes on,
"Lolita" begins to try different behaviors to get a piece of fish. She
doesn't understand that she is supposed to sit there and be cute for the
camera, what she has been taught is that she has to do something to
get her food, but in this situation she doesn't know what it is.
Within the few minutes it took to shoot this video, the whale started to
increase the scale of her behavior, searching her repertoire to figure out
what the heck the trainer expected. I can almost guarantee that her trainer
was aware of her every second and knew exactly how long he could push her
patience. Most likely when the cameras left she was given the rest of her
food, but hopefully someone ran through a familiar routine with her to ease
her back from her annoyance level - had that gone on much longer the whale
would have done something to show her feelings, such as swimming off at
speed or slapping the water with her tail.
This orca has nothing to do all day and night except to bob in her tank
or sink to the bottom, and wait for something interesting to happen. And by
the way, one of the reasons theme parks prefer to put Pacific white-sided
dolphins in with orcas is that those dolphins are fast and agile, and are
less likely to become injured when the orcas want to play.
Below are the most widely known incidents with captive orcas - the first
entries are about orcas that hurt themselves, the second series is about
encounters that involved humans. Most of these are recounted in 'Dying to
entertain you' (linked at the end).
"Marine mammal veterinarian Jay Sweeney writes that 'aggression expressed by
killer whales towards their trainers is a matter of grave concern [and has]
included butting, biting, grabbing, dunking and holding trainers on the
bottom of pools and preventing their escape. Several situations have
resulted in potentially life-threatening situations.'
"In the 1970s, a male named Hugo broke an observation window at Miami Seaquarium, causing significant water loss and slicing off the end of his
nose.
In 1985, researcher Jerye Mooney witnessed Corky - then at Marineland in
California - break an observation window. The incident resulted in the loss
of over a third of the water in the pool.
In 1991, Kahana died at Sea World, Texas after colliding with a pool wall.
She suffered multiple skull fractures, cerebral contusions and severe
hemorrhaging.
In 1992, a young female named Samoa died at Sea World at the age of only 13.
For months prior to her death, horrified onlookers had watched her
performing bizarre, repetitive movements, hurling her body into the air and
crashing down again and again upon the hard surface of a wide shelf at the
side of her pool. Sea World staff claimed never to have witnessed such
behaviour.
Keet, the original 'Grandbaby Shamu' born in February 1993, has been
observed by visitors allegedly slamming his head and body repeatedly into
the walls of his tank at Sea World, Texas. He was taken from his mother,
Kalina, at the age of just one year, 8 months.
During the autumn of 1995, Splash, then six years old, was involved in an
incident at Sea World's San Diego park. It appears that he was interacting
with another male when he collided with the side of the pool, cutting his
chin badly and requiring stitches.
During 1997, there were even reports that Keiko - the male Icelandic orca
transferred from a sub-standard pool on Mexico to much improved conditions
at Oregon Coast Aquarium, as the first stage the habilitation and potential
release program -he was repeatedly banging his head against the viewing
window of his pool and displaying signs of aggression. The aquarium was
forced to temporarily close the viewing area to visitors, who were charged
$8.50 a head to see the famous 'Free Willy' orca.
A female caught at Taiji in February 1997 and sent to the Taiji Whale Museum
was observed in May 1997 by orca expert Dr Paul Spong to be making a
"strange twisting movement with her body every minute or two."
Aggression towards trainers:
In March 1987, at Sea World, San Diego, 21 year-old trainer Jonathan Smith
was suddenly grabbed by a six-ton orca and carried to the bottom of the
tank. He was carried, bleeding to the surface, but no sooner was he
released, than a second whale slammed into him. Both whales repeatedly
dragged him to the bottom of the pool, as if trying to drown him. He finally
escaped from the pool, but had suffered a ruptured kidney, lacerations to
his liver and severe cuts.
In June 1987, 28-year-old trainer Joanne Weber had a three-ton orca, Kandu,
land on her during rehearsals at Sea World. Joanne fractured abone in her
neck which has resulted in permanent loss of head movement.
November 1987, Orky, the five-ton male came crashing down upon 26-year-old
trainer John Sillick during a show at Sea World, San Diego. At the time,
Sillick was riding on the back of a female orca. Sillick suffered severe
fractures to both hips, pelvis, ribs and legs. He nearly died of his
injuries.
In February 1991, the first death occurred. Part-time trainer Keltie Byrne,
20, slipped and fell into the orca pool at Sealand of the Pacific, Canada. Sealand trainers had stopped doing in-the-water-work, so she wasn't wearing a
wetsuit. Three orcas were in the pool: Tillikum, Haida and Nootka. One of the
orcas seized her in its mouth and began dragging her around the pool, mostly
under water. Although a champion swimmer, Byrne proved no match for three
orcas determined to keep her in the pool and she finally drowned. It was
several hours before her body could be recovered. Smith, Sillick and Weber
all filed lawsuits. Despite being encouraged to go to court, all three
accepted out-of-court settlements, with confidentiality clauses ('gagorders') attached
- effectively ensuring that many pertinent details remain hidden. Keltie
Byrne's parents have so far decided not to sue.
On 12th June, 1999, at the 2.30pm show, Sea World trainer, Ken Peters, was
shaken up but otherwise unharmed after an incident at the San Diego facility
in which 23 year-old female orca, Kasatka, grabbed him by the leg.
Previously, Kasatka had been circling and had started to thrash around in
the water near Mr. Peters. Then, without warning, she grabbed him by the shin
with her teeth and tried to push him out of the pool. The incident forced
the cancellation of the show. Sea World later issued a statement that the
orca would be given "additional training to discourage aggressive behaviour".
Spokesperson Darla Davis said that "we're keeping her in the show but not
allowing any trainers in the water with her and she will be doing additional
behaviour modification." She added that "while it is unusual for a whale to
bite a trainer, Kasatka is the dominant whale in her pod (sic) and will
definitely be more aggressive than the others." This incident was the second
of its kind involving Kasatka: in 1993, she had previously tried to bite a
trainer.
On the morning of July 6th, 1999, a member of the public was found dead in
an orca enclosure. The body of Daniel Dukes, 27, was discovered naked and
draped over the back of male orca, Tillikum, at Sea World's Florida site.
Daniel, whose address was listed as a Hare Krishna temple in Miami, is
believed to have hidden in the marine park at closing time on July 5th.
Authorities say he either jumped, fell or was pulled into Tillikum's tank. At
almost 5 tons, the 14 year-old male is the largest in captivity and was also
involved in the death at Sealand in1991.
Tillikum may have played with Duke's 81kg body as if it was a toy. While
initial reports suggested that the body had no obvious injuries, the autopsy
report indicated that Dukes had been bitten in the groin after drowning in
cold water. Duke's parents initially filed a several million dollar law suit
against Sea World for pain and suffering caused at the death of their only
son. Attorney Patricia Sigman said that Sea World was legally liable as it
had portrayed the orca as human loving, and as a "huggable stuffed toy". She
went on to say that an inaccurate image had been given of this whale, when
in fact, "he is extremely dangerous." Sea World said at the time that they
would be vigorously contesting the suit. General manager, Vic Abbey, stated
that "a fellow trespasses on our property, evades our security, scales two
very clear barriers and takes off his clothes and jumps into 50 degree water
with an 11,000 pound (4,990kg) killer whale. This is an incredibly unwise
thing to do. He is responsible for his actions." In early October
1999,Duke's parents dropped their suit. Vic Abbey said he did not know why
the suit was dropped, but stressed it had not been settled.
The 1991 tragedy at Sealand has no precedent, and the full details
surrounding the 1999 death of Daniel Dukes may never be known, so it is
impossible to assess whether Tillikum played any active role in his death or
whether Dukes was unable to swim and simply drowned. However, other
incidents involving sometimes serious injury to trainers are by no means as
isolated as the marine parks would have the public believe.
So what exactly was going on in these and other incidents?
Why are the whales displaying such open aggression towards their trainers?
Part of the reason may lie in the training philosophy espoused by each
marine park. Graeme Ellis, a former trainer and now researching orca in the
wild, maintains that a good training program is one which keeps orcas
mentally healthy and interested, whilst promoting trainer safety. 'It's not
how many tricks you can train them to do in two months; it's how long you
can maintain a whale's sanity...We seem to have a limited imagination when
it comes to keeping the sea animals from becoming bored or neurotic.'
Bud Krames, a senior trainer, resigned because he didn't agree with the new
training system. He estimated that around 35 trainers also departed within
the space of one year. Some commentators feel that part of the problem has
been an over-dependence upon young or inexperienced trainers, unfamiliar
both with training signals and with the particular personality of each orca.
...Over the years, most 'accidents' have occurred at facilities which
routinely feature trainers performing in-the-water stunts such as riding the
whales around the pool or balancing upon the orca's head.".
Animals In Print
The On-Line Newsletter
5 April 2010 Issue
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