Thank you for this excellent post. I often see 'Ocean Sun' (official designation L25 and Lolita's probable mother) among the endangered southern resident orcas, when I am giving boat-based naturalist talks. People are stunned when they learn that the iconic southern resident orcas, which inhabit the inland waters of Washington State between May and September, lost a third of their population during the capture era of the '60's and '70's. Many of them went to SeaWorld.
My guess is that someone has fooagte of what happened. And, it's probably the family that has released the fooagte of what happened moments before the attack. At the very end of this video which was taken in a restaurant right by the water where the attack started, EVERYONE in the place gets up at exactly the same time and you can tell that something is wrong. I don't think it's morbid at all to see what happened, and quite frankly as a member of Joe Q. Public who might someday want to take her future children to Sea World, I want to see what I could be getting myself into. The whale that attacked and killed her trainer, Tilly is the father of some of the whales who do in fact swim in the shows. I have no problem with people who want to go live with wild bears, and say that they love them and the feeling is mutual, until one of them gets too old and hungry to eat salmon and turns on the man-bear to eat him for dinner. I wasn't there to see it, and neither were any children. It's quite a different story when this violence occurs in front of children and adults who paid a hefty price for admission. It's just a matter of time before it happens it again. It might take 30 years, but it will happen again. Someone has the fooagte, and if they do, they probably just won a small fortune because there is absolutely NO WAY Sea World is going to allow the public to watch it. By the way, I have just re-watched the video minutes before her death and they all mysteriously end before you see the horrified people in the restaurant who look like the place has just been set on fire. As of yesterday, the final seconds of the video showed the whale with Dawn in its mouth, swimming away, not underwater yet, but you can kind of tell that Dawn knows something is wrong yet doesn't want to alarm anyone. It then shows the scene of the restaurant and everyone is rushing as if something has gone terribly wrong. And, at this moment these people just shut off their video camera? I'm having a hard time buying that. If anyone has video, it is the public's right to see it. Sea World should release their video too. The PUBLIC has a right to see it. And, in those first seconds after the attack why was the thing not stunned or shot? Why is their safety protocol a net? It reminds me of the Titanic, where the lifeboats aren't needed so why have them? Something went wrong with the safety protocols of Sea World that it took over 20 minutes to get her out of its mouth. How does that happen? Why was Tilly not stunned/ tranquilized at from the very beginning? Maybe, Dawn would be here today if it weren't for lax safety protocols. I would like to see this investigated
These attacks hpapen all over the world on trainers! Here in the US it has also hpapened frequently over the last 10 years! They don't want you to know about it and will down play or put out false information to protect millions of dollars. It makes me sick they they didn't value human life enough to have safety measures in place to immediately stop the situation from continuing. In defense of the poor woman who suffered a horrific death that whale should have been killed instantly she was attacked. Not to mention this whale killed a trainer and a tourist before this incident. How much body count are they going to let this whale keep raking up as long as they can make a profit?
Courtney: Mitchell Voydat here. I'm coming back to help WDCS. I might not have the money but I can help with writing letters of support for WDCS.
Sea World says "Trainer Error" WRONG!! Abduction, Stealing, Whalenapping is what Sea World is doing when they take an Orca away from it's family in the open ocean and jail them and lock them up in a Sea World. Were the Orcas doing anything wrong, were the Orcas commiting any harm? ABSOLUTELY NOT. They are stolen from their family, they are locked up, they are given poisonous foods and medicines, they are put out front and center for ENTERTAINMENT purposes to make money, without complete caring for the Orcas. The very friendly, loving, caring, Orcas need RIGHT NOW to all be taken back to their homes in the ocean where they belong and where their families are. I really hope Sea World is cited.
Mitchell Voydat