Page 30 - Orca Network News Today

Terror. her left foot, gone. boats followed them, thinking weeks later, while in rehab, they were going that way, while the mothers with babies went heather got a call. it was the red sox asking her to north, but the capture teams had aircraft. they have to come up for air throw out the first pitch at the eventually, when they did, the ballparks rhode island day, her capture teams alerted the boats home state. and said, no, theyre going >> i actually used my crutches north. the ones with babies....

Trainer by the waist and started shaking her violently and her shoe, the last thing i saw was her shoe floating. and sirens started. >> reporter: crowds that gathered for the show were cleared out. the park manager at seaworld says the trainer drowned. an expert with the orca network who studies whales tells tilikum has been known to be aggressive and doesnt swim with other trainers. tilikums role in the show is to simply splash the audience, using his massive tail. howard garrett says the whale...

Has always known to be aggressive and doesnt swim with other trainers. his role in the seaworld show is simply to splash and soak the audience using his massive trail. orca networks howard garrett said the whales lack of companionship may have triggered this attack. >> when you put a highly social mammal like an orca into captivity for long periods, they have nothing. they have no stimulation. they have no companionship. and that can tend to create stress. >> reporter: in fact, parkgoers say the...

To you one way and in this case, it is to pull nut water. >> reporter: no matter what tilikum has done, the orca network believes seaworld will keep him. as the primary breeding male for all seaworld parks, he is worth millions. at a time whales are dying faster than they are being born, tilikum is seaworlds future. randi kaye, cnn, new york. >> joining us now are paula gillespie. she was there at the park with her family and watching the show with her young daughter when this happened. on the p...

He had snuck into seaworld. authorities say he was the victim of horseplay. could it be that tilly was looking to horse around, too? >> unlike a dog who wants to scratch your leg, he wants to play with you. >> they believe seaworld will keep him. as the primary breeding male for all seaworld parks hes worth millions. at a time when whales are dying faster than being born, the orca network said tilikum is seaworlds future. while theyre known as killer whales, these whales are not threats to hum...

Orca networks howard garrett said the whales lack of companionship may have triggered this attack. >> when put a highly social mammal like an orca into captivity for long periods, they have nothing. they have no stimulation. they have no companionship. and that can tend to create stress. >> reporter: in fact, parkgoers say the whales earlier shows wednesday appeared stressed and stopped obeying commands. >> weve never in the history of our parks experienced an incident like this. >> reporter: bu...

>> there was a trainer standing nearby the window and talking about the whale and people were asking questions how much does he weigh, things like that. and then the whale floated, like, upside down and the trainer out there said, oh, yeah, theyre -- he really like s that, and i could still it was, because of the huge fins. >> reporter: the whale is believed to be the largest orsca in captivity. his fins alone measure more than six feet. the eyewitness who said the trainer who was not in the wat...

Underwater eight years later, in 1999, the naked body of a man was found floating in tilikums tank. he had snuck in to seaworld. authorities said he was the victim of horseplay. could it be that tilikum, the killer whale, was looking to horse around this time, too? >> unlike your dog at home who will just scratch your leg, if a killer whale wants to play with you, hell only show it to you one way, in this case pull you under water. >> reporter: no matter what tilikum has done, they believe that ...

The eyewitness says when the trainer, who was not in the water, gave the go-ahead, the whale took off. >> just took off really fast and then he came back around to the glass, jumped up and grabbed the trainer by the waist and started shaking her violently and her shoe -- the last thing we saw was her shoe floating and finally immediately started. >> reporter: the crowd that gathered for the show was cleared out. the park manager at seaworld says the trainer drowned. an expert with the orca netwo...

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