[QUOTE=Canadiangirl]
TSeaworld, unfortunately, incorporates unnatural things into their “shows”; music, lights, loud noises.
[/QUOTE]
The most unnatural part of it all, of course, is taking a creature that, in the wild, covers hundreds of miles and lives in large social groups, and confining it to a large swimming pool.
[QUOTE=Sublight]
I searched around on youtube but couldn’t find the video. IIRC, they were pilot whales, not orcas. She was “swimming with these magnificent creatures” (i.e. pestering wild animals 50 times her size) when one grabbed her ankle, pulled her down 30-40 feet, then pulled her back up again before letting her go.
The really infuriating part is that she didn’t seem to learn anything from the experience. To her, the fact that the whale pulled her back to the surface just proved that they’re huge cuddly friends that love to have us come and play with them.
[/QUOTE]
This just showed up on Animal Planet. It was indeed a pilot whale. The incident was in May 1992. Here’s a page of the videographer, Lee Tepley, with those clips. http://www.oceanfootage.com/sellers/leetepley
The swimmer touched the whale, and Tepley said he knew at the time this could be dangerous because there are no recorded incidents of someone touching a wild pilot whale. But he opined the whale was just playing because it could have crushed her with its jaws. It couldn’t know the human might drown staying under water that long. Personally, I’ll keep all wild animals at a distance.
From the Google excerpts of subscription articles, there were apparently charges of violating some law against harassing sea life.