While I understand and support the merit of educating the public, there is the question, "What are they being taught?"
We have three pods or families of orca in the Puget Sound, and there has never been a recorded attack of an orca on a diver or swimmer; however, they have harbor seals, sea lions and porpoises (their natural prey) to snack upon and humans are not on their menu. You can drop a goldfish into a glass bowl and, as long as you keep the water clean and keep the goldfish fed, it'll probably do well.
An orca echolocates, knows exactly what the confines of its pen or exhibit may be. Denied the ability to hunt, to roam, to socialize with other orca, it develops a tension that it will act out. It will become very possessive of what little space it occupies, and it will manifest aggressive behavior, as this one did (and apparently has done in the past). When you work with wild animals, you tend to anthropomorphize the animal and, since we are social creatures, we presume we have a relationship with the animal. At some level, perhaps we do, but not one that overrides the animal's natural instinct.
This incident is a tragedy. A well-intended professional was drowned. The orca did not eat her; it drowned her. These are powerful and impressive hunters, but it had nothing to practice upon to maintain and sharpen those skills, and has no accurate awareness of how fragile a human may be, or how long humans can hold their breath. Yes, it is impressive to see how powerful they are, what behaviors they can learn to execute on cue, and how well they interact with their trainers...but we are working against their nature, and there are consequences for that.
I admire much of the research done at our major aquariums, but these orca are contained for long periods to exhibit those learned behaviors for the public. We marvel, but that tension within the creature builds and they will act out. Let research continue, but this is not a creature for circus acts; as Dave mentioned, they are the apex predators of the Sound and they are perfectly adapted to their environment. There is no malice in their hunt, just an individual effort or a coordinated attack with the intent to eat, which is a basic instinct for all creatures.
As hunters, we should be able to understand. We can get hamburgers and steak at dozens of restaurants but, if you're geared to hunt, you feel a building need to do so with time. In the off-season, we may practice at the range or in the field.
There are some creatures that don't respond well to confinement. This is one of them.
Research has its benefits; capture them without harm, study them, and return them to their environment as soon as practically possible. Prolonged confinement or containment will result in incidents like this, and the price (for this experienced professional trainer) was too high to pay for public entertainment.

I wholeheartedly agree. It's hard to find people that share the opinion though. Numerous girlfriends and a wife haven't understood my boycott of the zoo or circus, saying "You kill animals." Yes, but the animals I kill live as God intended for the duration of their lives. They aren't forced into cages to defecate on themselves or be poked by city folk.

Walt Disney has poisoned America's perception of reality, nature, forever. Fast food has made us fat and lazy, and a city street is my version of being locked in a cage in a zoo.

Thanks for listening :)

To 007. I semi-retired a year and a half ago, but I continue to distort the truth in the magazine and here. I shall be sure to get everyone's opinion before I pull the plug for good, assuming I get that option.

Shaken, not stirred, please.

Some people treat their dogs like humans too, give them clothes, gourmet food, they get angry when they shower them just to have the pups run off to roll around in the woods.. makes me sick, trying to turn animals into something they're not, whether it's a Yorkie, or an Orca. People wonder why animals go 'crazy' out of no where after they've been robbed from their habitat and forced to do tricks, or be submissive... I wonder why people are amazed when the Government tries to do this to us!

Nor do I see any reason to be surprised. Let's see, by recollection, in the last year I have heard about several tots and infants killed by rottweilers and pits. A guy in Canada offed by his pet Siberian tiger. Etc. And wasn't there an incident where some family's python ate the infant? It's ugly to contemplate, but when you bring ANY animal inside your home, you accept a certain level of risk. I feel bad for most of these people (not the guy with the Siberian tigers though, that just strikes me as a Tim Treadwell Stupid Wildlife Encounter Award candidate).

A few comments.... I think zoos are ok if they try to create some habitat for the animals, and if they are a home of last chance for rescued and injured wild animals that can not be released back into the wild.
I think it is wrong and plain stupid to own wild animals for pets.Domesticated animals started out as farm/ranch animals, not playmates for "junior". If there appears to be a need to domesticate a previously un-domesticated critter, there has to be a practical reason.
I agree with a post above that an orca is not a "flipper", but a bottle nosed dolphin is not a pet either, it is a highly intelligent animal that can be tolerant to humans, can also be quite dangerous, I have witnessed them knocking large sharks out of the water while protecting their young. We do not need to have trained animal shows.

Adult chimps, being as intelligent as most PETA supporters and 10 times as strong do not make good pets, they should be respected as our distant cousins, and most likely smarter than many of mine!

All in the name of entertainment. Captive animals are in most cases now bred from existing zoo populations and sold to other zoos or amusement parks. I don't have any real problems with having captive small animals who through economy of size can live a comfortable life behind bars or glass. Predator animals and grazing animals which have large territorial ranges are another thing entirely. You can see the despondence in their eyes and their behavior. Even if they are captive born their genes are still hard wired for their natural behavior.

A Bottlenose Dolphin is a reasonably intelligent animal, and seem to love to do tricks just like a yard dog. When they get pissed they no doubt bite and can do great damage with that chain saw mouth of theirs. But they are not hard wired to play "seal toss".

Highly regretable incident with the Orca, and I feel sorry for the trainers family...but I feel this is a case of what goes around comes around for the entertainment industry. This is the third death associated with that whale. It was showing signs of agression and was basically being given a time out according to the CBS news report, that is if you can give a 12,000 pound animal a time out. It was pissed off and it utilized its hard wired snatch a seal off the beach hunting behavior. When a 12,000 pound animal lashes out one had better stay out of reach.

No doubt the animal entertainment and bunny hugger industries have primed the pump for this kind of incident. If such animals continue to be used for money making endevors like Sea World where an adult ticket will set you back $78 you'll see more of them. yes, I think it is time to free the Willy's...

Adult male chimps don't spend much time murdering other chimps. Yes it has happened, but it's not routine conduct as you seem to imply.

But of course, there is no such thing as routine conduct for a highly intelligent mammal kept in a constrained environment and denied the social environment to which their brains have evolved. And that is your best point. The CT chimp was likely nuts from years of living in a completely unnatural environment with no other chimps around. It's just unfortunate that the chimp wailed on its owner's friend, rather than the owner. That isn't the first captive chimp that has gone ballistic on a human, and it won't be the last.

Apparently the trainer was the third person killed by that particular Orca. That whale should not have been with people. Was I a trainer there, I'd walk.

It's a sad story for the woman working with the whale but a reminder that wild animals are and always will be wild animals.

Besides, if animals had human traits, humans have a very long history as killers. How ironic is that?

Some animals can be brought into captivity, thrive and enjoy life in captivity. Chimps are to smart to enjoy being totally reliant on a human for survival. You would need a 10 mile by 10 mile tank in Alaska for a Killer Whale to be somewhat happy in captivity. Dogs, Cats (even though horrible, worthless, lazy, stinky, game killing, trespassing and stinky), fish and some other animals benefit and enjoy captivity. Find an animal that would love being your pet instead of free, and there you have a good companion.

Killer whales are beautiful athletic creatures and I was completly awestruck when I seen them at Sea World in Orlando, Their power, grace and playfullness is indiscribable. I remember watching them with their handlers and thinking to myself that if they wanted to kill a handler there would be nothing that would be able to stop them from doing it. People who choose that as a career know that this can happen at any instant. I feel bad for the trainer and her family but I can't blame the whale though, its just a animal, a captive animal that should be hunting the ocean not performing in a side show.

While I was fishing for Halibut in Kachemak bay a few years ago a 40 ft humpback swam right by the boat. Remember thinking glad he isn't pissed off. The boat was a 35 footer.

Agreed with everyone. I cannot stand zoos, wildlife parks, or any other enviroment that marginalizes an animals ability to remain free. This includes high fence slaughter farms that a lot of our country singers and famous celeb types "hunt" at....

Thank you for making this point. I'm always perplexed by the TV shows that try to analyze "why animals attack". Wild animals don't have a gentlemen's agreement on leaving humans alone. We don't get any special respect. We are meat as much as anything else, and if something is hungry, we will be treated as such.

If you read one of the stories it says that whales toss seals and sea lions in the air, but are only playing and then let them go. Its called a killer whale for a reason I can't believe the extremes they are going to to make it seem like an accident and not an animal doing what predators do.

I am in a zoo and aquarium science class. Zoo's have come a LONG way in just the past 20 years. Granted they are not the best for an animal mentally, what they do for informing the public which leads to conservation is huge. Granted outdoors men/women do more for conservation but realize zoos have come a long way and it is essential to provide enrichment to the animal and is required to be an accredited zoo.

Feeling magnanimous today: gave everyone a +1 no matter what wit, wisdom or nonsense you may have written!

And why not have a minute and fifty seconds of levity? Go ahead, click the link!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yH6sE8RMUuU

Double Naught Seven

Agreed. While John Snow is a good writer, he's not Carmichel. Keeping Petzal employed is the only reason I subscriber to both rags, but that may change given some happening on the blog recently. I can always get BS for free!

BTW what do you do with a six-ton, intelligent man-killer who's natural habitat is the ocean?

Sad story. Let'm all go

Ed J, very well put. I would only add that these magnificent creatures are not an example of evolution, but intelligent creation.

I disagree with 007. We think that everything must be geared to our utilization. So what if hardly anyone would ever see a killer whale or a rhino if there were no zoos. Big deal. People can go to a natural museum and see one mounted and I think be just as impressed or educated. There is no natural behavior to be observed in a zoo or aquarium. It's a dog and pony show. I also do not agree with the National Park Service creating "bear viewing" opportunities in Alaska. Changing the behavior of the one animal above all that symbolizes what wilderness and nature is in North America really goes against the grain of what they are supposed to be doing (which is clearly dictated in their 1916 mandate). I have debated this point with them till I was blue in the face. A habituated grizzly IS NOT wild. Just because it's still wandering around eating and sleeping and crapping like it would be if I wasn't standing next to it doesn't mean it's wild. Plop yourself alongside a group of bears feeding on salmon in a truely wild environment and see what happens! They'll either run like hell or enjoy an appetizer that's a lot less fishy tasting! That's a WILD grizzly in a NATURAL environment. Photographing one of those bears is a rare and worthy treasure.

Reminds those fellas who milk poisonous snakes for a living.

Kinda like waking on ice. It's not a question of if your going to fall through, it's a question of when!

To 007: Thank you for the kind words. But choosing between me and Heavey? That's like choosing between Merlot and Richards' Wild Irish Rose Wine.

Ed J.

That was a masterpiece! It expresses my sentiments exactly. If I could give you a +1,000 I would, not that a man of your stature needs piddly points in the first place.

Those magnificent creatures belong in the sea whence they came, period. I too am sorry for the loss of the trainer.

I'm not a fan of big animals in a cage. However, zoos do some good work. I just read, though obviously haven't visually confirmed, that there are estimated to be more tigers in zoos than in the wild. Those captive populations might be the only hope for keeping a species going. I suspect that the tasmanian devil is going to go the same route in a heartbeat if they can't find a cure for the transmittable virus caused facial cancer they're dropping of. I bet it can be unpleasant for individual animals, but compared to the fate of the species, who knows? That being said, occupying the space of a 12,000lb beast, kept in tight quarters, who in his natural state eats mammals averaging your size doesn't seem like a great plan. Terribly sad for the trainer. On the animal crazies note, I believe it was one of the park's spokespersons who claim it was an accident and that the whales often throw seals and sea lions around in the wild in play, but don't hurt them. I've seen some video of orca bashing seals in the air with thier flukes repeatedly. Yes, the whale did seem to be playing, but in the same way a cat plays with a mouse. The overal intent and the finale were fatal.

WAM,
I know this is your AO and you're familiar with it. I was diving near the Marine Science Center at Fort Worden, near Port Townsend and just south of the Point Wilson lighthouse. I saw a harbor seal and she hastily retreated to the pilings of the pier, where a seal pup appeared. They seemed relatively unconcerned with me as I followed among the pilings, but they wouldn't venture from beneath the pier. I surfaced to reach for a camera from the pocket of my nearby safety float and saw a dorsal fin in the distance, and I understood - she and her pup were hiding among the pier pilings because the orca couldn't fit within those pilings.

Shaky;

I am all about reality. I didn't refer to "Willy", I referred to the whale IN "Free Willy:" a whale named Keiko. The story of his death is here.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3700297/

To sum up, after being in three Free Willy movies, Keiko was freed. A literal fortune was spent to get him ready for the wild. Please read the results. Once again, freeing this whale is simply not on the table. At least, it is not on the table of those who want good things for the whale.

Make that TV, not "TC". Thanks.

Dave, thanks for clarifying, I do appreciate a man of your stature leaning down to us commoners. haha. Glad you're sticking around for a while yet, who could ever replace you? Outdoor Life tried, and not very successfully, to replace Carmichael. Every month it's a toss-up whether to start with you or Heavey in the magazine and I like it that way. I do enjoy your work and your way of looking at things, so stick around a while if possible. Best regards.

A+ posting David! i understand why we put animals in zoo's, the biggest reason, is to make money. it does offer the rest of us an oppertunity to see a "wild", if you will, animal, that the majority of us would otherwise never see in our lifetimes. but for anyone to think of these as pets, is just plain rediculous. even after several generations of being in captivity, most of these so called pets still come from a long, long, bloodline of killing to eat. it take many thousands of years to alter a species. i have no idea why anyone would think that they could do it in a few years. in my opinion, unless an animal from the wild is going to a zoo, the only place it should be is in the wild. look at the mess that has been created all over the u.s. from people legally importing animals, and then either dumping them, or having a natural disaster set them free. not only can it ba dangerous, it can also make a mess out of an ecosystem. when will we ever learn? even the margerine commercials know not to mess with mother nature! lol.

A guy in my area shot and killed a crazy chimp 10-12 years ago. It was attempting to attack him and others in a car, on his own property, after escaping its owner. It wasn't the first time either. He now has a felony conviction. Local tree huggers called for death penalty. He received threats from all over. Worked with him for a short time,couple years after. Crazy story.

Opps, something happened, and I lost most of my comment.
What I was saying when I was interrupted..... We lock up people that kill once, excuse me... three times, then what? I say kill the whale, not feel sorry for him. Put him back in the ocean, that would make an example out of him, and surely deture other whales from doing the same thing.

I FAIL to see the draw to a zoo.Look at the animals.Isay save your money take your family to one of our national parks.Id bet you a dollar youd have more fun,learn more,at least see some great country we have.just my opinon.

Everyday I respect you more and more. You're exactly true, just as everyone is different, animals are different too. Especially undomesticated, top-predators like the orca.

007

No disrespect intended my friend. I have not thought of Jethro Clampett in years! LOL

I shan't address you as such in the future. Please forgive me if I offended you in the slightest.

Best regards,
WMH

PS: There are other characters hereabouts that belong on that show, but as I recall, they all had teeth on TV....

I don't know if they will euthanize the whale or not but it they do it will be becaues they can't make anymore money off it. JMO

I was reading about this in the paper today (2/26) after seeing it on one of the news channels earlier. It was reported that this orca has killed two others so this was not an isolated incident. To me, the real question is what do we do with it? If it was a dog, it would be euthanized! My feeling (based on the news reports I've seen)is that because it is a whale, it's life is considered more "worth while" than a pooch. If that's the case, I say let it go. It's reasonable to expect it to kill again.

I lived on the Oregon coast 27 of my 70 years. In that span of time, I observed a pod of orcas only once. My friend and mentor and myself were shooting sea lions on the rock from the beach when 6 or 7 of these beautiful animals showed up to share the bounty of food(wounded and dead sea lions).
The leader of the pack knocked a large sea lion out of the water about 8or 10ft.and when it came down, the next orca caught it in his/her mouth and the two shared the feast.
Were they playing? Let us be serious, folks. These are natural predators, this is what they DO. If it weren't for the orca and other predators to control the population of sea lions and seals we wouldn't have any salmon or steelhead left. Sadly, the marine mammal act has forbidden the shooting of sea lions and seals, Guess someone discovered how much fun we were having and had to stop it.
IMHO the captive orca should be returned to Pujet Sound or where ever he can join a pod, so he can eat marine mammals instead of trainers.

Dave, how about this comparison? You're the wisened patriarch that we all want to emulate, while Heavy is the slightly eccentric uncle that we don't talk about? Sorry, Bill, couldn't resist.

Kill a killer whale for killin??Sounds like a job for the raccoon samuria.

WAM, don't be chased off. Bite the bullet (again!) and stay with us. Won't do any good if you leave. Things will change, I'm sure.

Close them all now. Let PETA come get the animals and give them good homes, we then wait for the animals to attack and see how long PETA keeps its stance of "Animals are just little people with furry coats"

Seriously, zoos range from passable to horrid, shows such as Sea World are modern day freak shows. If they are to remain open, they must immediately upgrade the facilities to a reasonable fascimile of habitat for each species confined there.

I have to agree with focusfront - freeing Tilly doesn't seems to be likely. Just imagine him visiting a busy beach and seeing all those playthings in ponytails.

Dave, are you suggesting that Heavey is a ranking authority on wines with screw off tops?

focusfront; with all due respect, that was a movie. We are dealing with reality here. Free Willy was for entertainment and should be considered as such. If there is scientific evidence of the same thing happening in real life, I am unaware of it. The real reason this particular orca is still in captivity, is strictly monetary, and the value of one human life, much less three human lives, is far greater than two million bucks,IMHO. I realize the trainers make their own choice to put themselves in harms way, however, I'm considering the welfare of the orca. In fact these people will choose a dangerous profession whether it's training orcas or Bengal tigers, I'm not putting them down for their choices, but in reality, they are't the only people endangered by these predators.
And that for financial gain.

The killer whale.... Hmm aren't they one of the top predators in the ocean? And don't they have the word "killer" in their name. Maybe we should consider finding friendlier animals to keep in zoos.

Dave, our late mutual friends,
Johnny Falk and Dick Wolters, gundog experts both, taught us--if we didn't know it already--that if a pup shows no sign of having a decent nose or has a less than good temperament...get rid of him before attachment sets in. If he's downright nasty...consider putting him down. Those facts aside, yes it's true that while Disney has done a magnificent job of taming and humanizing completely all animals, The New York Times travel section has sent too many people to the banks of remote rivers and jungles ruining some of our best sporting locations? OK... there's room for everybody.

Regardless of how careful breeding, training and domestication of animals have lessened select animals 'wildness'...you really can't blame them for doing what comes naturally every so often.

Quick little-to-do-with-it dangerous animal story: I watched an old John Candy movie last night and Candy, holding a gun to the head of very funny Steven Wright, playing a Royal Mountie, said "I'm your worst nightmare". Wright, giving that some thought replied in his trademark deadpan personna, "My worst nightmare is being in the wild surrounded by a pack of rabid wolves with a bunch of rabbits who had been drinking heavily".

Focusfront:

Good points. You don't have to be an ecologist to see several problems here.
It's sad that the event happened, but it virges on predictable.
I would bet that our fiends at PETA aren't any more ammused by this than we are. There are situations where the "zoo" environment make some sense, but Killer Whales likely are not one of them... Especially when you are taking one of them, effectively, out of their gene pool.
It all depends on how you look at it; having one around for people to see makes them more visable and easier to build a case for protecting, however, the other side of that is what I stated above, you are taking one out of the gene pool for all intents and purposes.

I appoligize for the terrible typing above. I was in far to much of hurry to get the message out. The practice of capturing mammals, be it Buluga whales or Killer whales or Dolphin is inhumane and not of the stuff a civilized society should condone.
Ask the "Georgia Aquarium" how many buluga whales have died in their care. I'm sure they have a very good excuse. Ask them what they will do with the young whales they have in captivity that will eventualy outgrow their horribly close confinement. Ask them how humane is it to confine a dolphin in a concrete pen in which they will never again see the light of day, sunlight, or experience fresh air and freedom. Dolphins surface every several minutes to breath. They intermingle. They play with each other on the ocean bottom. They hunt together and care for each other.
Would you like to spend your life in the YMCA swimming pool?
Ever wonder what it is like in the Aquarium at night when the animals are herded into small confined areas and the lights are turned out?
The USA has a law. You can't capture a wild dolphin and pen it up. The operators of dolphin shows simply wait for other people in Asia or elsewhere to capture the animals, sell the young into places like Canada and eventually move them to the USA as aminals already in captivity. Since marine mammels don't do well with breeding in captivity there is no way any of the 'fun' parks can keep a stock of these pitiful creatures without going to the marketplace and buying them. It's big bucks. There are hundreds of thousands of dollars involved. That completes the circle as to why and how.
Mammals, for the most part, are very family oriented animals. The pods are usually close knit societies with aunties and cousins and sisters helping with the care of the babies. The males usually depart the pod within the third or fourth year. In Japan they herd the dolphin pods into killing zones. they slaughter the adults by stabbing their backbones so they can not move until the 'fishermen' are ready to harvest them by cutting their throats and bleeding them out.
They capture the young. the buyers are there, knee deep in water bidding on the lot. YOu can hear the screams of pain and dispair of the dolphins being slaughtered and their families being ripped apart. The wter runs red with blood.
The Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphin is considered to be second only to humans in intelligence. That is not a casual assumption. That is a conclusion reached after many years of scientific evaluation. If you ever have the opportunity to look a Dolphin in the eye, and they will only look at you with one eye at a time. You can see them thinking. It is an exprience you will never forget. If is as if they are studyhing you with intensity born of curiousity and the yearning to communicate.
They seem to have a bond to humans that is instinctive. Stories of dolphin saving humans from shark attack are, in fact, absolutely true. They have names, they communicate with each other. They are truly intelligent animals. They are not fish or jelly fish or shell fish or any one of so many forms of sea life that we can enjoy in an aquarium. They are thinking reasoning animals and we should be ashamed of ourselves for the way we have exploited them for the almighty dollar.
Today's technology in underwater photography can readily provide us with all of the magic of that world in three-D, HD or any way you want it without the inherant destruction of life and cruelty to animals that some aquariums and marine shows represent today. Leave the Belugas and Dolphins and other such magnificent creatures to their natural life and let us enjoy them form a distance, not at ringside around a concrete torture pit.

Dear Dave,
I cannot believe you are so uninformed about God's creatures. I'm going to have my friends at PETA send you copies of Bambi, Wind-In-the-Willows and Nemo (since your piece is about animals from the sea).