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The Orca Whale is The Pit Bull of the Sea
According to CNN Tilikum is a serial Killer Whale:
” Tilikum, weighing about 12,000 pounds, has been linked to two other deaths — he and two other whales were involved in the drowning of a trainer at a Victoria, British Columbia, marine park in 1991. Authorities said in 1999 that a 27-year-old man was the apparent victim of a Tilikum’s “horseplay” at SeaWorld. “
Wait, I don’t understand this sarcastic headline.
Are you trying to put them on par with pit bulls with this or what?
I have two theories: One is that he is innocent and thinks people can hold their breath as long as he can and is just playing with the only friends he has the only way he knows how. The other is that he’s pissed that he’s big and strong and these tiny out of water people boss him around with whistles and fish and he likes to fuck them up. Either way, I’m on his side. More power to him.
I think he’s trying to say that people should stop keeping orcas as pets, and should definitely keep their children clear of orcas in the neighborhood.
@3 just like pit bulls, no one should keep a killer whale as a pet
I feel like really orcas are more like giant cats than pit bulls, as he wanted her pony tail.
In a TV interview yesterday the trainer’s family said these animals were her “children”. She would tell them which ones were acting up and who had a particularly good training session or who needed work on a certain trick for the show.
They believe if she had lived she would have forgiven the animal and blamed herself for the incident and she wouldn’t have wanted these shows to come to an end because of this.
R.I.P. Dawn.
I hear that sports jocks are running illegal orca vs pitbull death cage matches in swampy areas in the South.
Humans: thousands upon thousands. Whales: 4.
I root for the underdog. 2010 will see the great whale uprising – your only hope is to buy assault rifles before obama makes them illegal and turns this country into some sort of whaletatorship.
They’re not called Huggy Whales.
Carnivorous animal kills human. Gee. Surprised there.
I’m going to start calling Orcas Island “Killer Whales Island”
(note: i do understand that orcas island is not named after the orca whale, but it is a fun coincidence)
Well, clearly the whale disapproves of pony tails and who can blame him? They look trashy and scream “I’m to lazy to deal with my hair!” And the whale responded as any fashion forward animal would have.
Huh, I went to the marine park in Victoria back in 1988, and one of the orcas splashed the viewing area and I totally got the impression it was trying to wash a bunch of us into the pool. Myoverall impression was that the animal was not happy, and I’ve pretty much been against keeping them in captivity ever since. It sounds like it could be the same orca.
“Humans. They’re what’s for Dinner!”
Orcas do not belong in captivity. Like chimps, they are just too damn smart for us to keep them adequately entertained, and they don’t much appreciate our meagar attempts.
Orcas are not whales, they are the largest of the Dolphins.
And Orcas island is not named after Orcas the sea animals.
@ 15 – They ARE pretty natty, in their black’n’white….
But yeah, I’m sorry she died, I’m sure she would have agreed it was a simple mistake on her part, and she wouldn’t have wanted any negative repercussions for the whale… But someone please tell me again, why THE FUCK are we keeping these animals captive??? So we can sell tickets to see them jump through big hoops, or what???
Free the motherfuckin whales already. Sheesh!
Has Sigfried and Roy commented on this?
@ 19 – You were one of those people in 1999 who was going around lecturing everyone that the year 2000 wasn’t really the start of the new millenium, weren’t you?
@ 22 I was born in 2001.
The whales should be allowed to swim free in the oceans.
There is nothing more to be said.
As soon as I heard of the tragedy and learned that she had a ponytail I immediately thought that the ponytail must have looked like a fish to the Orca.
Oh, and I wish the public/media/everyone on the planet/books would quite using the name “killer whale.”
@25 Killing one person makes me a killer, yes? Killer whales are apex predators – it’s what they do. On the other hand, killer humans do this:
Competition with fishermen also led to killer whales being regarded as pests. In the waters of the Pacific Northwest and Iceland, the shooting of killer whales was accepted and even encouraged by governments. As an indication of the intensity of shooting that occurred until fairly recently, about 25% of the killer whales captured in Puget Sound for aquaria through 1970 bore bullet scars. The U.S. Navy claimed to have deliberately killed hundreds of killer whales in Icelandic waters in 1956. — Wikipedia
Oh God. Is this the Stranger’s latest crusade? The pit bulls, the youth pastors I can live with. They both have some immediacy, some “this could happen to anyone” moral panic appeal. The killer whales? It’s just hard to muster the indignation.
@15: From Jimmy Fallon’s weekly thank-you note skit:
“Thank you, ponytails, for making the back of girls’ heads look like horses’ butts.”
Free Killy.