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SeaWorld Orlando (SWO) Discussion Thread

P. 276: Penguin Trek construction update!

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The life of a human > the life of a whale.

 

I respectfully disagree with that. I don't think that humans should be viewed as any better than other animals, but thats a discussion for another time.

 

 

It sucks that this tragedy happened, but these risks are definitely there when you have animals like this in captivity. My condolences to all affected.

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Just jumping into this discussion...I could only imagine how traumatizing it would be to see this, especially for the young ones (if of course the news is correct on their report). Out of curiosity, what would happen if they set the whale free? Would it survive after being captive for so long? Lastly, I'm sure these shows will now probably take some extra precautions.

 

On a side note, in regards to marine life and theme parks, I remember on my last visit to SFDK and checking out the area where you can pet the dolphins that this one guy about 30 feet from us was tormenting one of the dolphins. The dolphin in return had it's mouth open, looking like he was ready to take a bite at the idiot pestering him. I think the guy finally decided that he didn't want his hand bitten and finally left. So there are definitely risks when allowing people (especially the GP in this case) interact with wildlife.

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Has anyone here ever seen the documentary, The Cove? If no, I HIGHLY recommend it. It's mainly about a group of marine biologists attempting to uncover the dolphin slaughtering in Japan. The movie also stars the creator of the show Flipper, and his efforts to stop the deaths. I can't remember his name for the life of me, but he's the man that started the craze of marine parks in America. Now, about 20 years later, he regrets it all, and is trying to bring what is really going on to the world's attention.

 

He was the main care taker for the dolphin that starred in Flipper as well, and one night, he heard the dolphin banging against the dock (he lived in a shack on the beach where the dolphin was housed). He went out and swam with the dolphin, only to have it die in his arms. He later found out that dolphins actually have the ability to commit suicide, as all of their breaths are conscious. He believes that the reason for "Flipper's" suicide was the amount of stress it was under being caged in day after day. I guess what I'm getting at is that the event today at SeaWorld is really just another reason for wild animals NOT to be caged. They were created to live in the wild for a reason, and they should stay there, no matter how many tricks they can do.

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^ I get what you're trying to say, but let's be realistic here. There are a LOT of marine parks all over the world. More than you'd think. How many people here have even heard of Loro Parque for example? And how often do you here of these incidents, especially ones that are fatal? If this was such a huge insult to nature having these animals in captivity, I don't think the accidents would be so few and far, VERY FAR between.

 

If you're suggesting shutting down all the marine parks in the world (which I think is the point of your post) then I think you're being an extremist and very unrealistic. If you did that, I wouldn't be able to have that painting on my wall made by Shouka! That's right bitches! Killer whales in captivity can PAINT! And they do it better than I can!

 

--Robb "And besides, who created them? Darwin told me they evolved." Alvey

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In my opinion, I feel as though some people here are overreacting about this incident. How is this any different than Roy being mauled by one of his famous tigers? This was a case of being in the wrong spot at the wrong time.

 

This is what we call nature taking its course. I don't think the poor animal should die because it did something animals tend to do.

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So...animals should not suffer consequences when they commit murder...

 

But humans are put on death row? Don't quite understand that logic...

 

An animal cannot "commit murder." They act by instinct, while murder requires some sort of thought process.

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"Murder" is the intentional killing of an innocent being. Therefore, when we execute criminals who are found guilty of murder in a court of law, we are not murdering them as death penalty opponents claim.

 

Animals do not murder anyone, as they don't have the thought process to do so. Their instinct is to kill for food or to kill when threatened. In this story that I found on Yahoo! News, apparently this particular whale has been involved in previous incidents. How many times has anyone played with a cat or dog that is normally calm, only to have it suddenly strike? Sometimes a certain movement implies a threat---in nature you just never know.

 

Unfortunately, this trainer was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

 

Eric

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My condolences to the family of the trainer and Sea World for loosing a family and staff member.

 

^ They have it better off than most humans!

 

I sorta do and don't agree with you. While I'd get free food and get to do whatever I want with toys and tricks, I'd have a hard time living in the small tanks that the whales and dolphins live in. (Not to distract from the current topic, but I just wanted to say that)

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Oh, ok. When I was up on a whale watching trip up in the San Juan Islands I heard from a lot of guides that had visited some Sea World parks that the whale tanks were small. Then again, I'm getting this information from people who may not have seen the whole tank complex and, obvously being on a whale trip, are probably whale animal rights activists, so, really, what do I know?

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Humans, unlike animals, are not born with an instinct to kill.

 

While murder was definitely a wrong word choice, I still don't see how this justifies an animal not being punished for performing an act that would be punishable by death if it were done by a human.

 

I mean, the whale apparently jumped out of the water, attacked the trainer, and slung her around in the water until she had drowned...how can you simply mark that up as an, "oops, that wasn't lucky..." and continue on about your day as if the animal hadn't done anything significant?

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Anybody who works with dangerous animals has to know something like this can happen at anytime.She loved her job and loved working with the whales and had to know the risks,what happened is a rare occurrence that can happen in this field,didn't a tiger kill a trainer at Busch Gardens a few years ago,these things happen every now and then.These animals don't have a grudge or intent to kill anyone,I view these incidents as accidents,you have to be careful anytime you're around them and even if you are you know something like this can still happen at any time even if you're being careful.This whale pulled her underwater and it could've been an instinct or to play and they for sure don't understand you can't hold your breath for a long time.I knew an elephant trainer who got fired because another trainer didn't have confidence in her when they were around the elephants,so as you can see safety is a huge concern when dealing with animals.

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Humans, unlike animals, are not born with an instinct to kill.

 

While murder was definitely a wrong word choice, I still don't see how this justifies an animal not being punished for performing an act that would be punishable by death if it were done by a human.

 

I mean, the whale apparently jumped out of the water, attacked the trainer, and slung her around in the water until she had drowned...how can you simply mark that up as an, "oops, that wasn't lucky..." and continue on about your day as if the animal hadn't done anything significant?

 

How is killing the whale by any means the proper "punishment"? First of all, does it need to be "punished"? Like what was previously said, it didn't think out and plot the death of this woman, and killing it isn't going to teach it a lesson. It just went with its instinct at the time. If the whale wasn't in said tank, it wouldn't have had this opportunity in the first place. (Not that I'm all "set them all free") But it could always just be let go rather than be killed.

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To address one of the topics brought up, I'm not sure I agree with the idea that the animals have it so good. I think it's quite easy to look at an Orca in captivity through a human lens and say it's a good life. No predators to worry about, fed every day, relaxin' the day away in a big tank. It definitely sounds good to me...as a human. However, does an Orca actually prefer being fed rather than being able to satisfy its natural instinct to hunt for its prey? Is an Orca happy in the biggest of tanks as opposed to the vastness of the ocean? While the conditions an Orca (or any animal, for that matter) live in might look good to us humans, the animal might not feel the same way. Captivity is captivity, and we don't really know just how it affects animals.

 

Still, no matter how you look at it, this is a tragedy. I can't even imagine how it was for the people who had to witness such a horrific spectacle, nor the family and friends of the trainer. I hope healing comes to all of them as soon as possible.

 

-Doug

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Humans, unlike animals, are not born with an instinct to kill.

 

While murder was definitely a wrong word choice, I still don't see how this justifies an animal not being punished for performing an act that would be punishable by death if it were done by a human.

 

I mean, the whale apparently jumped out of the water, attacked the trainer, and slung her around in the water until she had drowned...how can you simply mark that up as an, "oops, that wasn't lucky..." and continue on about your day as if the animal hadn't done anything significant?

 

On a random note, do killer whales kill other killer whales by any chance? That would be more equivalent to a 'murder' than a whale killing a person...wouldn't really be any different than what us humans have been doing for ages - hunting animals, killing insects, slaughter houses...Personally, I don't think killing that whale would be the best idea, maybe having him/her used more for exhibit purposes instead of major human interaction to prevent any further accidents.

 

Aside from that, it is very unfortunate that this happened, not sure what triggered the whale to do such a thing. Could have been stress, could have just been pure bad luck.

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