faeriewench

Image5 by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr

Taken 2009 IMG_1861 by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr *shudders* Spongebob always kind of creeped me out.

Taste wise...you not missing much, imo. I found it tasteless.

I'm one of those people. At least once.

I said it and thank you for saying my thoughts.

I remember when this happened really well, and it reiterates my feelings about the dolphin pools there. Bottlenose dolphins can and will bite without warning, but there are certain individuals in the Dolphin Cove pool that are quite known to be mouthy, mostly due to the fact they been teased so much by the patrons. The dolphin in this incident, if I'm not mistaken, is one of them mouthy ones, more than likely he was lunging for the tray in the girls hand rather than the girl herself. If I remember the old "Dolphin Community Pool" feedings right, they were free-for-all in comparison, very crowded, not as well supervised so you had patrons taunting and teasing the animals . I very much prefer structured supervised feedings with trainers present, really for the safety of the animals. My other issue with the dolphins there apart from the tanks is the image of these guys SeaWorld promotes. At SeaWorld, people get the idea that bottlenose dolphins are these friendly magical creatures that fart rainbows and possess healing powers to cure sick children and it is OK to approach them in the wild. Very little is mentioned about what they are actually like. The Japanese Aquariums (well the good ones like Port and Kamogawa Sea World) have no problems with being blunt with their patrons telling them exactly what the dolphins are capable of. Having seen bottlenose dolphins both in the wild and captivity, in short, they are bullies, probably more so than their orca cousins. Highly intelligent, yes, I've seen these stinkers work at trying to sneak fish behind the trainers' backs before: http://i602.photobucket.com/albums/tt109/kifaeriewench/Image1.jpg I've seen many videos on YouTube of some random people going up to wild animals (dolphins and seals/sealions) and poking them to the point they are nearly bitten (or potentially killed). One video that stands out in my mind is this guy continuously approaching a seal sunning himself on a beach (not just any seal...a BULL) and slapping him while giggling like a little school girl. Takes off running the moment the seal gets up slightly and goes right back to slapping him as soon as the seal laid back down. He should been lucky that was not a Elephant seal bull, he (the seal I mean) would have torn him up.It is videos like that that make me want to backhand people. I know SeaWorld is not intentionally teaching people to approach the animals in their natural habitat, but the show Blue Horizons has no educational value (shoot....almost half the show don't even show the dolphins...it is of the acrobats) I would not have any issues if they went back to the direction of old shows like "Dolphin Discovery" and such. That's why I am glad SeaWorld done away with Believe, One Ocean is a much better show, but not as good as Shamu Story. But taking away the shows is the worst thing anyone can do.

I tend to ignore people who say they don't want to go to SeaWorld, it is their choice. However it drives me nuts while they say they won't go to SeaWorld they got no problems going to Busch Gardens. Well...like it or not you indirectly just gave SeaWorld your money by doing the Busch Gardens parks is what I would often say. Hypocrites. If people are as against SeaWorld as they claim to be then stay away from Busch Gardens.

2013 Blood Drums at KI Haunt IMG_9108 by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr

I'm glad you addressed that, because that is the very situation I was worried about. I'd like to think that people wouldn't do that but unfortunately they probably will. Is there going to be a cut off for any of this or a way to keep this type of situation from happening? Personally I enjoyed the small crowd that attended Diamondback's.

I don't think any of them trainers knew Dawn well. Dawn first started with the orcas around the time they were fired (or "quit"). Ventre claimed he was fired for kissing Taima's tongue when in actuality he was let go for not just kissing her tongue but shoving his head into her mouth. Taima was a real temperamental girl at times, big no-no and safety issue. Hargrove left because he didn't want to work with other animals after he got booted from Shamu Stadium for breaking safety rules constantly. That was one thing I loved about Dawn, she loved ALL animals and was content working with any of them. Before she was at SeaWorld she was a Six Flags employee working with dolphins even. Orcas are not the only animals in the world. I get the feeling Dawn's family was pestered to the point of saying something, which is wrong on so many levels as far as I am concerned.

Dawn's family released a statement. I feel bad for the family, it's been rough. Dawn would probably be rolling around in her grave with everything going on. http://dawnsfoundation.org/share-your-stories/images/dawn-brancheaus-family-statement-about-blackfish

Guess the wild orcas with flopped dorsal fins are figments of our imaginations. Yes there are flopped dorsal fins out there, more and more been spotted over the last several years its actually not completely uncommon. I often feel really feel bad for the wild orcas with the injured dorsal fins, there are a handful who do not even have a dorsal because it was sliced off by boat propellers or other man made objects. This a family friendly site so I'll post that picture ^ since it is a healed one. There are some really graphic ones when the injury was more fresh.

The Shamucam was done away with in 2012 (or 2011 don't remember just that it was long before Blackfish). The anti captivity folks would pretty much just sit on there all hours of the day and posting the crappy blue pixelated shots of how the animals are abused, it was extremely annoying and it did get old. All park cams are actually set up at the San Diego park (including the former shamu cam) and the Shamucam actually seen better days, as the camera itself had aged and the quality was horrendous compared to the turtle cam which is much newer. (I used to watch Shamu cam for fun all the way back in 2000 and 2001 to give an idea). I still have some of the screenshots I took of it on my old hard drive it was fun to do when I didn't feel like doing my homework....and now I have homework again, lol.

One of the problems with that is keeping the orcas from getting into things they should not (besides bacteria of course that can make them sick), especially so if we are talking a more natural environment. A Japanese facility has tried something similar at the Taiji Whale Museum. Nami, who lived there for a long time, used to eat the rocks, and orcas in the wild DO take in rocks. There are necropsy reports to prove just that on what they eat and things like rocks and random junk we throw in the water just remain in their bodies. They are animals, and curious ones at that and nothing stops them from trying to eat anything in sight. Which is why the shows tend to be important. The health and safety risks kind of outweigh the benefits of such a thing. Cetaceans hide illness very, very well, so once they show any signs of being sick (often in the form of loss of appetite) it is too late to save them.

I actually don't completely buy the adolescent hormones bit, even though males do get real mouthy as they go through that stage and are hard to work with (this goes for any any animal really), but in this case the Texas pod underwent many changes at the time (several new orcas moving in) and Ky clearly didn't want his trainer leaving him. Not once he opened his mouth, (when they open their mouth and/or jaw pop that is usually a sign of aggression) just prevented Steve from exiting the pool. Another thing about Tillikum, (and finally its been brought up in some articles) is that he is very possessive with his toys as in he tends to be a bit leery with returning them. Him and the females he lived with at SeaLand were not treated all that well and Tillikum didn't like his toys being taken away. He has never and will never be a "water work" whale and once Dawn was in the water, she probably became more of a novelty object rather than human. It is something to think about. Once the trainers began to freak out around him, it freaked him out too and he kept Dawn to himself.

Source: http://www.takepart.com/article/2014/01/16/oscar-snubs-blackfish-films-anti-captivity-message-will-live Good.

Oh yes, they tail slap a lot in the wild and they do go after each other if agitated, quite a few have the scratches and rakes on their bodies to prove it. It's not exclusive to captivity. Some of the other behaviors performed with the orcas (corkscrews, triple corkscrews, hula, hydro etc), part of me would much rather not be done but I do, unlike some, respect the amount of work put into them. One of those such behaviors has not been seen performed with the orcas since the day before the attack happened and that be the "Rocket Hop". Nearly all the behaviors they did that resembled "circus acts" have been long phased out since the Ohio park closed. (tho the Texas park still has the set up with the target ball but it is very seldom performed). The San Diego park tend to be the more "innovative" one with behaviors, as they come up with something new every once in awhile. There's one impressive "group behavior" that is done only there at that park occasionally, it took a long time to train it and I don't even remember the name, lol. (go figure lol)

I actually tried watching it again recently and one of my main problems with it is still the way the interview clips are ordered and presented. You get *Completely reasonable statement from Trainer A*, *Completely reasonable statement from Trainer B*, *Totally WTF statement by Trainer C*, *Another reasonable statement from Trainer B*, then *Subjective and emotional statement by Who The #$% Is This Guy?*. It goes on like as far as I am concerned. Oh, and those with the most sensational things to say were also given a whole lot more screen time.

This! This is one of my issues with the situation. Why orcas and orcas alone? What is so special about them? What about elephants? tigers? Y'know they killed far more zookeepers than the orcas have their trainers and no one says a word. Same with OSHA. They did little to nothing with elephant/cat attacks and yet they breathe down the necks of the folks at SeaWorld. Compared to a lot, if not most, animals at zoos, the SeaWorld orcas and dolphins got it made if you really think about it. I always worry for the big cats...

She is doing a spyhop here with the extra of presenting her pec to the trainer to give you the "high five" (or hand shake lol) sometimes seen in shows. Katina by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr

It is basically like that. Why they do, it allows them to be able to see their surroundings above water, so they do that even when not cued too. Same for tail slap. Tail slap tend to be a sign of multiple different things, mainly the animal is agitated and he/she is warning everyone around them that they are not in a good mood so they should stay away, other times they seem to do it to signal other pod members they found food (they also breach a lot when they find food too). I've seen captive mother orcas tail slap when they feel like the baby is threatened by the other pod members. That's why SW trainers tend to be selective who all is present in the tank with a newborn, like with Corky at the San Diego park, she just badly wants to mother something as she can be a bit over bearing so she is often the last to meet the babies.

Majority of the behaviors, yes, mimic what they been observed doing in the wild. The bows, tail slaps, sideways breach, spyhop, zippers and the sliding out, all can be seen in the wild. Here are pictures some of them behaviors performed at SeaWorld that have been seen in the wild: (sorry there are multiple pictures) The common bow Kasatka by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr I'll tell ya'll a interesting story about this behavior. ^ Awhile back someone stumbled on a picture of 4 "wild" orcas doing a bow behavior side by side and in perfect unison...many people, myself included, thought for sure that picture was the work of photoshop. And also we figured the orcas in the picture were the orcas at Marineland Antibes in France that been photoshopped into the wild, because the only time everyone has ever actually seen the behavior performed in perfect unison like that have been at the parks. But sure enough...the picture was real. The zipper Ikaika by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr spyhop Keet by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr a sideways breach Kalia by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr tail slap Corky by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr the slide out (but here with an extra kick, what he is doing here is referred to as the "thrash" slideout) Keet by ki_faerie_wench, on Flickr One of the best documented cases involving "slide out" in the wild is if you look up videos of the wild Argentine orca pods, in particular of the male named "Mel", some of that footage is fantastic of them sliding up on the beaches snagging sea lions. On the topic of catching Tillikum a certain time of day....I can see that. Prior to the attack, Tillikum was a regular to just about every show. Immediately following the attack Tillikum was put on a hiatus and he remained backstage for several months, and finally went back to shows during the fall that year. From that moment on...Tillikum does what Tillikum wants, that includes whether or not he takes part in shows. For a good while after getting back to shows, he decided he had enough and refused to perform for a few months and reappeared again. He is a diva.

Thank you! I am glad to hear someone is doing their own research. Most are not doing that. It baffles me beyond belief when someone calls the animals performing slaves and to free them all. Try to follow up that question with something along the lines of "how do you plan on enrichment to replace the shows?" and often times in response you just get a blank stare from that person and then they stammer again about how terrible the shows are and "free the whales!" Some people can not grasp that something like the "hula" behavior, as silly as it looks, takes many hours to train and many extra hours into refining it. That is many hours the animals are actually using their noggins and thinking about something else other then how they can eat the tank or get into something they should not like any curious animal. If people don't want shows then that is fine but completely taking away shows and the training for shows is a detriment to the animals. As pointed out, the shows are exercise and the training is mental stimulation, and if you don't want a show, then you better have a great idea as to how you are going to replace that mental and physical activity. Animals left to do their own thing allllll day long...we're talking bored animals that can get over 18 feet long, weigh in at several tons, and are obviously pretty smart. You would probably hear more stories of attacks taking place because they'd be bored outta their minds.

Blackfish for the longest time (at least as far as I am aware) was mainly used to reference Pilot whales. So anytime I hear "Blackfish" I actually think of those guys instead. But there was a time us humans would mistaken orcas from pilots or false killer whales....especially false killer whales (also known as pseudorca)

I may have seen that, and that would be Trua. He seems to been a good thing for Tillikum, as he has been a lot more playful at the viewing glass, especially with Trua present. It is very important, as I said, for the male orcas and just about all species of dolphins to have access to other males. Lone males with a bunch of busy females can and do drive the females nuts resulting in separations. (see the situation at Kamogawa SeaWorld in Japan...Earth, a juvenile, is separated from his mom, aunt and little sister and has been for some time)