Quote Originally Posted by Lord Arumen View Post
cough*Killer whales are dolphins*cough

Not that it matters, lol.

This incident is not the first (obviously) nor is it the last. The people who saw it happen are never going to think of Seaworld the same way again, and the trainers may be somewhat more afraid of him, but when you are playing with a 21ft long creature who lives in a hazardous environment, you know the risks. Setting this creature free, this creature who brings in hundreds of thousands of tourists would be the worst choice for them. Freeing this well kept and happy, albeit dangerous, creature wouldn't really be advantageous for anyone.
I beg to differ but I don't think this particular orca is too happy about being kept in confinement and being made to perform tricks for tourists. It never ceases to amaze me the incredible patience of other animal species to the mis-treatment they recieve at the hands of us naked apes, especially compared to the incredible lack of compassion and understanding and patience we show them.

Here you have a highly developed, intelligent, top line predator being forced to perform unnatural acts for the amusement of the great unwashed. Put me in that situation and I would probably try to kill my handler as well, given half a chance.