Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Captive whale in this week's trainer death implicated in 1991, 1999 deaths

The nude body of a man was found at SeaWorld Orlando on Tuesday lying across the back of an 11,000-pound killer whale that was moved to Florida after it was involved in the death of a trainer.

Police were still trying to contact relatives of the 27-year-old Miami victim, whose name was not disclosed.

One expert said the 22-foot whale named Tillikum, the largest killer whale in captivity, could have mistaken the man for a toy.

If this article is true, and another one that I found indicating this same whale had issues when in a Canadian facility, I would hope that operators of aquatic zoos like this will reconsider holding animals like this in captivity.

More detail on the whale's past is now at http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-seaworld-orlando-shamu-injury-20100224,0,942688.story.

It's on a slightly different subject, but if you haven't seen The Cove, please do. The massive slaughter of marine mammals occurs as a direct result of our desire to see them perform on command in captivity.

Posted via web from Doug's posterous

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