Incidents between humans and killer whales in captivity
Current number of known incidents in captivity: 154
#136: Kasatka attacking Ken Peters in 2006
Several accounts of violent incidents with humans have appeared in books and news clips, with little information on the dates or details of those incidents. Other descriptions have made headlines, and some were captured on video tape (beware, those can be quite graphic). There are also anecdotal reports of incidents that were never officially documented.
Click HERE for a statistical analysis regarding the killer whales which were involved in these incidents.
To view photos of a certain orca simply click on the orca’s name!
| No. | Date | Facility | Whales Involved | Description Of Incident | Consequence | Source |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 | 1967 | Marineland of the Pacific, California, USA | Orky | "Orky is quite a handful even now," says Marineland curator John Prescott. "I'm always afraid of him when I'm in his tank. Once I was swimming around him and he started pushing. Believe me I got out of there fast. He is so huge you could be seriously hurt if he just hit you by accident." | Kingsport News, November 16, 1967. | |
| #2 | 1968 | New York Aquarium, New York State, USA | Lupa | When water level was lowered for pool cleaning, young female Lupa sent trainers scrambling from the pool, snapping her jaws threatening. | Edward R. Riciuti, , New York, Walker & Co., 1973, pp. 227-228. | |
| #3 | 1968 | Seattle Marine Aquarium, Washington State, USA | Kandu | Young female Kandu pushes her trainers around, working with her is described as too rough. | The Appleton Post-Crescent, June 13, 1968. | |
| #4 | 1969 | Marine World Africa, California, USA | Kianu | Trainer William (Sonny) Allen describes being dumped and threatened by young female Kianu, she would open her mouth wide and bare her teeth at him. | The Chicago Daily Herald, October 24, 1969 | |
| #5 | 1969 | Marine World Africa, California, USA | Kianu | Trainer William (Sonny) Allen describes another incident, where Kianu pinned Allen's leg to the side of her training pool. An assistant trainer managed to free him by pushing Kianu away with a pole. Allen recounted how the whale, "did it deliberately. She got mad when we kept doing the same trick over and over. She waited until I turned my head for a second and pinned my leg." This was likely the same incident that trainer Don C. Reed would later describe in 1990; "A trainer friend of mine was walking across a wall between the killer whale pens at Marine World. The orca reached up and grabbed his knee. The trainer held still, and so did the whale, but the teeth sank in. The trainer still carries the scars." | Presumed injury | The Chicago Daily Herald, October 24, 1969; Don C. Reed, Orca, My Favorite Whale, Boy's Life Magazine, August 1990 |
| #6 | 1969 | Marine World Africa, California, USA | Kianu | When a newly-hired diver had a brush with Kianu, he had a lucky escape. Former Marine World diver Don C. Reed said of the incident: "Kianu hadn't bitten, hit, or broken him: she had just laid down on top of him. By way of a joke or an itch or some other killer whale reason, Kianu had gently lowered her vast bulk onto the new diver, until all but his little arm disappeared. His wrist and scrub brush stuck out, still twitching, as if he was going to scrub that tank no matter what. He wasn't hurt when she lifted off, but he gathered his gear and left the park in dignified silence, and we never saw him again." | Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project | |
| #7 | 1969 | Capture operation holding pen, WA State, USA | Ramu 2 | Former trainer Ted Pintarelli had his front teeth knocked out by Ramu 2, while trying to force-feed the recently captured orca before his transfer to Australia. | Injury - loss of front teeth | Don C. Reed, , Dial Press, 1981, p. 19. |
| #8 | Late 1960s | SeaWorld unspecified park, USA | Unknown | Former SeaWorld trainer Jerry Watmore states that if captive killer whales "are provoked or frustrated, they can butt you or hit you with their tail and knock you down at the bottom of the pool. Or, they might grab an arm or a leg." | The Fresno Bee The Republican, July 29, 1970. | |
| #9 | 1970 | Miami Seaquarium, Florida, USA | Hugo | Trainer Chris Christiansen received several stitches in his cheeks after placing his head within the jaws of young male Hugo, closing his mouth on a mis-cue. | Injury - lacerations | Redlands Daily Facts, January 22, 1971; Edward R. Riciuti, Killers of the Sea, New York, Walker & Co., 1973, pp. 232-233. |
| #10 | 1970s | Unknown | Unknown | Karen Pryor writes, "I have since heard... of at least one killer whale which launched an unprovoked attack on a favourite trainer, in normal circumstances, savaged him very badly, and nearly killed him." | Presumed injury | Karen Pryor, Lads Before the Wind, New York, Harper & Row, 1976, p. 220. |
| #11 | 1970s | SeaWorld unspecified park, USA | Unknown | SeaWorld head trainer Bob Shepard received a minor wound on his head when a killer whale closed its mouth on his head, after being startled by a camera flash. The article states "Shamu" but this is most probably just the show name being used for many orcas at SeaWorld. | Injury - laceration | The Long Beach Independent, August 3, 1977; The Pocono Record, March 19, 1975. |
| #12 | 1970s | SeaWorld unspecified park, USA | Unknown | SeaWorld training director Vic Charfauros stated that "there have been a couple of cases where people have received minor injuries from animals. We had one instance in San Diego where a killer whale didn't want a female trainer to leave the tank and stopped her by taking her leg in the mouth. She got a little panicky and tried to pull the leg out. She got a bunch of stitches after her leg raked along those teeth..." | Injury - lacerations | The Odessa American, August 16, 1977. |
| #13 | 1970s | Sealand of the Pacific, British Columbia, Canada | Unknown | Killer whale researcher Graeme Ellis, a former employee at Sealand of the Pacific, said in 1975: "A captive whale has only a year, maybe two, before his mental health starts going downhill. Some get bored, lethargic. Others turn neurotic and perhaps dangerous. There was a girl at SeaWorld in San Diego bitten by Shamu, who started playing a tug-of-war with her leg. Other whales have held their trainers underwater, almost drowning them. Some of these accidents have happened when the trainers were riding the whales around the pool. In my experience, whales don't like to be ridden; they may tolerate it when they're young or new to captivity, but later, no. They still ride the whales at SeaWorld, but the whales in Canadian aquariums are not ridden anymore. When I visited the California aquariums a few years ago, I saw a big old bull at one of them that they kept in a back pool, away from the public. They said he'd killed five dolphins and taken a grab at a lady. There was a standing offer of §500 for anyone who would swim across his tank." | Erich Hoyt, Orca - The Whale Called Killer, Firefly Books, 1990, p. 125f. | |
| #14 | 1970s | Vancouver Aquarium, Canada | Skana | Trainer Doug Pemberton described young female Skana as the dominant animal in the pool. "She is capable of changing moods in minutes". He described Skana and her young male companion Hyak 2 as "moody", and recalled that, "Skana once showed her dislike by dragging a trainer around the pool. Her teeth sank into his wetsuit but missed his leg." | Cranky killer whales put trainers through their paces, The Province, May 5, 1978. | |
| #15 | 1970s | Vancouver Aquarium, Canada | Hyak 2 | Undocumented report of young male Hyak 2 breaking a trainer's leg by hitting it with his tail fluke. | Injury - broken leg | Story on internet sites but no original source known. |
| #16 | Early 1970s | Marine World Africa, California, USA | Kianu | Trainer Jeff Pulaski, accustomed to riding young female Kianu during performances, was thrown off and chased out of the tank. | Don C. Reed, Notes from an Underwater Zoo, Dial Press, 1981, p. 250;Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project | |
| #17 | Early 1970s | Marine World Africa, California, USA | Nepo | Trainer Dave Worcester was dragged to the bottom of the pool by young male Nepo. | Don C. Reed, Notes from an Underwater Zoo, Dial Press, 1981, p. 250;Ric O'Barry's Dolphin Project | |
| #18 | Early 1970s | Miami Seaquarium, Florida, USA | Hugo | Trainer Mike Jax states that Hugo has "hurt a couple of people accidentally by doing things like butting them with his nose if they irritate him." | The Danville Register, September 5, 1972. | |
| #19 | Early 1970s | Miami Seaquarium, Florida, USA | Hugo Tokitae | Trainer Manny Velasco recalled both young whales Hugo and Tokitae becoming aggressive, lunging at trainers on the platform. | Edward R. Riciuti, Killers of the Sea, New York, Walker & Co., 1973, pp. 232-233. | |
| #20 | Early 1970s | Miami Seaquarium, Florida, USA | Hugo Tokitae | Trainer Chip Kirk got away with a permanent scar on his arm after being pushed around continuously by young male Hugo. Trainer Jeff Pulaski had been grabbed by Hugo, then had his wetsuit torn from him by both Hugo and Tokitae. | Injury - laceration | The Miami News, December 17, 1975; Joel Simka (story and picture appear to be the Pulaski incident). |
| #21 | Early 1970s | Marineland of the Pacific, California, USA | Orky 2 | Unidentified male trainer was seized by the leg and held at the bottom of the pool until the man almost lost consciousness by young male Orky 2. | Edward R. Riciuti, Killers of the Sea, New York, Walker & Co., 1973, pp. 228-229.; Chicago Tribune (story sounds like it's the same incident). | |
| #22 | Early 1970s | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Shamu | Kent Burgess, the director of SeaWorld's animal training department, had been responsible for training Shamu ever since SeaWorld first acquired the animal. He knew Shamu was conditioned to being ridden only by persons wearing wetsuits, and that Shamu had in the past attacked persons who attempted to ride her in an ordinary bathing suit: first a Catalina swimsuit model and then Jim Richards, one of the trainers at SeaWorld. In addition, Burgess had read training records which showed Shamu had been behaving erratically since early March 1971. This information he did not disclose to plaintiff. | Justia US Law, November 19, 1976 | |
| #23 | 1971 | Miami Seaquarium, Florida, USA | Hugo | Hugo tosses his trainers around, refusing to let them out of the water. | Redlands Daily Facts, July 7, 1971; Delaware County Daily Times, January 21, 1971. | |
| #24 | 1971 | Miami Seaquarium, Florida, USA | Hugo | Administrative director Anthony G. Toran declared that working with young male Hugo has become too risky after Hugo had "made what appeared to be direct efforts to harm the human performers". Hugo had recently closed his teeth on a raincoat worn by a trainer. | St. Petersburg Times, July 24, 1971. Rome News-Tribune, July 25, 1971. | |
| #25 | 1971/04/20 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Shamu | PR Secretary Annette Eckis, wearing a bikini, slid off the back of an orca she was riding for a publicity stunt. Shamu seized her leg and swam around the tank refusing to release the screaming woman until familiar divers entered the pool. Eckis suffered lacerations and puncture wounds. | Injury - lacerations and puncture wounds | Justia US Law, November 19, 1976; Edward R. Riciuti, Killers of the Sea, New York, Walker & Co., 1973, pp. 229-231; Mike Lee, SeaWorld San Diego suspends Shamu show, San Diego Union-Tribune, February 24, 2010;Video. |
| #26 | 1971/06/08 | Flamingo Land Resort, Yorkshire, England | Cuddles | Young male Cuddles became so increasingly aggressive, having a hold of at least two trainers, that keepers had to clean the pool from the protection of a shark cage. Cuddles also dragged keeper Don Robinson into the pool when he was at Dudley Zoo but that was possibly a PR stunt. | Florence Morning News, June 13, 1971;Edward R. Riciuti, Killers of the Sea, New York, Walker & Co., 1973, pp. 227-228; Reading Eagle, August 15, 1971; Doug Cartlidge, personal communication, March 2010. | |
| #27 | 1972 | Seven Seas Marine Life Park, Texas, USA | Nootka / Knootka / Newtka / T5 | Trainer Larry Smith got bitten in the head. | Grand Prairie Daily News, August 11, 1972. | |
| #28 | 1972 | Seven Seas Marine Life Park, Texas, USA | Nootka / Knootka / Newtka / T5 | Trainer Bob Peek suffered a laceration over the eye. | Injury - laceration | Grand Prairie Daily News, August 11, 1972. |
| #29 | January 1973 | Dudley Zoo, England | Cuddles | Young male Cuddles "misgauged its daily kiss for trainer Roy Lock. The whale put too much feeling into the gesture. Lock had to be taken to the hospital with a broken nose." | Injury - broken nose | Casa Grande Dispatch, January 24, 1973. |
| #30 | 1974 | Windsor Safari Park, Berkshire, England | Winston | Winston, then known as Ramu, attacked trainer Doug Cartlidge. There was an official report which was sent to SeaWorld and all other facilities holding orca detailing the attack. SeaWorld have video of Ramu coming out of the water and trying to pull Doug Cartlidge from the training platform. It was part of the video showing all the hand signals before he went over there. Winston also nearly had HRH Prince of Wales when he was swimming with him...but staff saw the "red eye" and got the prince out just in time. He also had a model and punctured skin on her leg...she sued but was paid off... | Injury - punctured skin | Doug Cartlidge, personal communication, March 2010; The Eagle, Bryan, Texas, March 15, 1976. |
| #31 | Late 1970s | Marineland Antibes, France | Kim | Young male Kim took a trainer in his mouth and held him at the bottom of the pool. Finally releasing him, he allowed the trainer to exit safely. | Story on internet sites but no original source known. | |
| #32 | 1978/05/02 | Marineland of the Pacific, California, USA | Orky 2 | Trainer Jill Stratton, 27, was nearly drowned when Orky 2 suddenly pinned her to the bottom of the tank and held her underwater for four minutes. | Cathleen Decker, Trainer Leaves Hospital, Isn't Angry with Whale, Los Angeles Times, May 1978. | |
| #33 | 1978/05/22 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Winston | Winston attacked trainer Greg Williams, who was treated at a hospital for several small puncture wounds. Winston took the trainer's legs in his mouth during a training session. | Injury - puncture wounds | The Chillicoth Constitution Tribune, May 26, 1978. |
| #34 | Summer of 1978 | Vancouver Aquarium, Canada | Skana | "When I was narrating a Killer Whale show with Skana at the Vancouver Aquarium in summer 1978, Skana closed her jaws on the trainer's head during a part of the show called the Kiss. Skana held his head in her mouth for a few seconds and then released her jaws. The trainer left the show immediately, blood streaming from his forehead. Skana was sending a message; she was in control. The Kiss was never done again." | Injury - lacerations | Dr. Sandra Scott, personal communication, October 2013; Lethbridge Herald, October 19, 1978. |
| #35 | 1980s | Nanki Shirahama Adventure World, Japan | Benkei | Male Benkei pinched his trainer's arm. | Story on internet sites but no original source known. | |
| #36 | 1980s | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Kotar | Veteran animal trainer Jim Horton states that "Kotar was a really aggressive whale. He hated animal care. He would lunge at us if we got too close to the side of the pool. It's like he knew when the animal care guys came down to Shamu Stadium." | Outside Online, August 19, 2014. | |
| #37 | Late 1980s | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Kotar | Former trainer Samantha Berg tells about adult male Kotar: But even when I did hear stories about the kind of stuff that happened, everybody would joke about them in a way. It was like, "Here. Take a look at Mike Boos’ side and look at that big bite mark from Kotar." And everybody was like, "Ha, ha. I remember when you got that!" "Oh yeah, they’ll take you down to the bottom just as long as they can because they know exactly how long it takes for you to run out of air, and then they’ll bring you back up. Ha, ha!" | Injury - puncture wounds | Collider, July 17, 2013; personal communication. |
| #38 | 1983/06/11 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kandu 5 | Kandu 5 "took a trainer in her mouth and momentarily refused to let go." | The San Bernadino County Sun, July 28, 1983. | |
| #39 | 1983/07 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kandu 5 Kenau | Kandu 5 and Kenau disrupted shows in July 1983 by pushing trainers "relentlessly from one end of the tank to the other." SeaWorld spokeswoman Jackie O'Conner said the activity is "the kind of thing we occasionally see in the spring." | The San Bernadino County Sun, July 28, 1983. | |
| #40 | 1984 | Saedyrasafnid (Hafnarfjordur) Aquarium, Iceland | Tilikum | Tilikum attacked his trainer when he was trying to get him to move from between pools at the Sædýrasafninu sea animal park, biting a good bit out of his wetsuit and dragging him down. | Death at SeaWorld, November 26, 2013, page 925. | |
| #41 | 1984/02/23 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kandu 5 | Kandu 5 grabbed trainer Joanne Hay's head in her mouth and pinned her against a wall during a performance. A male trainer came over and punched/jammed Kandu's blowhole, prompting her to let go. | Mike Lee, SeaWorld San Diego suspends Shamu show, San Diego Union-Tribune, February 24, 2010. Desert Sun, February 24, 1984. |
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| #42 | 1984/08/12 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Unknown | Two killer whales grabbed the legs of trainer Bud Krames and pinned him against a glass retaining wall during a performance. Krames suffers bruises. | Injury - bruising | Mike Lee, SeaWorld San Diego suspends Shamu show, San Diego Union-Tribune, February 24, 2010. |
| #43 | 1984/11/02 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kandu 5 | Kandu 5 briefly grabbed the legs of trainer Georgia Jones during a Shamu show but released the trainer unhurt. The 4,500-pound killer whale took Jones’ legs in her mouth, but didn’t bite down. | Mike Lee, SeaWorld San Diego suspends Shamu show, San Diego Union-Tribune, February 24, 2010. | |
| #44 | 1986 | Marineland Ontario, Canada | Kandu 7 | There have been reports of trainers being held underwater by the mammals. In 1986, one trainer was taken to the hospital when he fell off young male Kandu 7 and was dragged by the leg around the pool during a stunt. | Enzo di Matto, Mayhem in Marineland, NOW Magazine, October 10-16, 1996, Vol. 16 No. 6.;Marineland: In Depth. | |
| #45 | 1986 | Marineland Ontario, Canada | Nootka 5 | Nootka 5 whacked one trainer in the head with his pectoral during a trick. According to a former trainer, the whale often leapt out of the water to strike trainers by the pool in the chest. | Enzo di Matto, Mayhem in Marineland, NOW Magazine, October 10-16, 1996, Vol. 16 No. 6. | |
| #46 | 1986/11/16 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kandu 5 | Kandu 5 pressed her snout against trainer Mark Beeler and held him against a wall for a few seconds during a performance before several hundred spectators. | Dayna Lynn Fried & John Wilkens, Kandu bled to death, San Diego Union-Tribune, August 23, 1989; Mike Lee, SeaWorld San Diego suspends Shamu show, San Diego Union-Tribune, February 24, 2010. | |
| #47 | 1987 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Unknown | Numerous San Diego newspapers reported on a "white paper" disclosing at least 14 trainer injuries of various severity while working with orcas within a five-month period in 1987. Only a few of the incidents have been described in the media. | Janny Scott, Waves of trouble at SeaWorld, Los Angeles Times, December 20, 1987, p. 1.;Ukiah Daily Journal, December 9, 1987. | |
| #48 | 1987/02 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Kotar? | Enzo di Matto, Mayhem in Marineland, NOW Magazine, October 10-16, 1996, Vol. 16 No. 6. | Injury - lacerations | Eyewitness Paula Desfosses, personal communication. |
| #49 | 1987/03/04 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kandu 5 Kenau | A six-ton orca suddenly grabbed trainer Jonathan Smith, 21, in its teeth, dove to the bottom of the tank, then carried him bleeding to the surface and spat him out. Smith gallantly waved to the crowd - which he attributed to his training as a SeaWorld performer - when a second orca slammed into him. He continued to pretend he was unhurt as the whales repeatedly dragged him 32 ft to the bottom of the pool. Smith was cut all around his torso, had a ruptured kidney and a six-inch laceration of his liver, yet he managed to escape and get out of the pool. Later reports indicate that the whales involved had been Kenau and Kandu 5. | Injury - lacerated torso, ruptured kidney and a six-inch laceration across liver | Erich Hoyt, The Performing Orca, WDCS, 1992, p. 32; Video. |
| #50 | 1987/06/15 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kandu 5 | Trainer Joanne Webber, 29, suffered a fractured neck when Kandu 5 landed on top of her and pushed her to the bottom of the pool during a practice session. Webber had five years experience working with orcas. | Injury - fractured neck | Ex-trainer suing SeaWorld for neck injury, San Diego Union-Tribune, June 15, 1988, p. B-3. |
| #51 | 1987/09/28 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Unknown | Trainer Mark McHugh was bitten on the hand while feeding an orca between shows. | Killer whale injures trainer, Daily Breeze, October 1, 1987. | |
| #52 | 1987/09/30 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Unknown | While working with one orca during a performance trainer Chris Barlow, 24, was being rammed in the stomach by another orca. Barlow was hospitalized with minor injuries. | Injury - minor injuries | Killer whale injures trainer, Daily Breeze, October 1, 1987; Mike Lee, SeaWorld San Diego suspends Shamu show, San Diego Union-Tribune, February 24, 2010. |
| #53 | 1987/11/21 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orky 2 | Trainer John Sillick, 26, suffered fractured vertebrae (T1 to T12), a fractured femur, and a fractured pelvis after Orky 2 breached on top of him while riding on another orca during a performance. Sillick had less than two years experience working with orcas. | Injury - fractured vertebrae, femur and pelvis | Robert Reinhold, At SeaWorld, stress tests whale and man, New York Times, April 4, 1988, p. A-1; Ukiah Daily Journal, December 3, 1987; Video. |
| #54 | End of 1988 | Kamogawa Sea World, Japan | Unknown | In May 1991, one of the trainers that swam with the orcas, told after a show that he had been pinned to the bottom of the pool by an orca and that it happened all the time. | Peter Hamilton, Lifeforce Foundation, personal communication May 1991. | |
| #55 | Between late Spring of 1988 and September 1990 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Kanduke | Former trainer Carol Ray tells about adult male Kanduke: I never had any reason to feel like I was unsafe with the exception of one of the animals we had that was particularly aggressive, but he was not a whale you got in the water with. He would lunge out at trainers. He was sort of the equivalent to Tilikum back in those times. His name was Kanduke. He was very aggressive and self-injurious, and you couldn’t get too close to him most of the time. There were periods of time watching him lunge out at trainers or hurting himself on the sides of the pools and that sort of thing that was difficult to watch. | Collider, July 17, 2013; personal communication. | |
| #56 | 1989/04/01 | Sealand of the Pacific, British Columbia, Canada | Nootka 4 | Trainer Henriette Huber fell into the whale pool after Nootka 4 closed her mouth on her hand while scratching Nootka's tongue. Several stitches were required to close the puncture wound. | Injury - puncture wounds | Barbara McLintock, Whale bit me - ex trainer, The Province, May 3, 1991. |
| #57 | 1989/04/08 | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Kasatka | Kasatka mouthed a trainer's leg. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #58 | 1989/09/30 | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Kasatka | Kasatka mouthed a trainer's feet. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #59 | 1989/10/29 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Katina | Katina mouthed a trainer's waist. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #60 | 1989 | Sealand of the Pacific, British Columbia, Canada | Nootka 4 | Nootka 4 had grabbed a tourist's camera that was lowered to water level. Head trainer Steve Huxter grabbed the camera strap and was pulled into the pool. The orca had hold of his leg while he was pulled out by hand by fellow trainer Eric Walters. | Dirk Meissner, Safety worries led to Sealand resignations, Times Colonist, February 22, 1991, p. A-1. | |
| #61 | 1990s | Reino Aventura, Mexico City, Mexico | Keiko | Subadult male Keiko snapped at the park’s veterinarian. | Take Part, September 24, 2013. | |
| #62 | 1990s | Reino Aventura, Mexico City, Mexico | Keiko | Subadult male Keiko took a swipe at the park’s owner. | Take Part, September 24, 2013. | |
| #63 | 1990s | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Takara | Young female Takara slams a gate as an apprentice trainer is walking across in attempt to knock her off. | John Hargrove, Beneath The Surface, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p.50 | |
| #64 | 1990s | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Kotar | Adult male Kotar turns an open jaw toward the trainers during an early attempt to collect semen. | John Hargrove, Beneath The Surface, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p.148 | |
| #65 | 1990/04/21 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid bumped a trainer's head. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #66 | 1990/07/06 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kasatka | Kasatka mouthed a trainer's thigh. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #67 | 1990/07/28 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Corky 2 | Corky 2 pushed the mid-section of a trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #68 | 1991/02/20 | Sealand of the Pacific, British Columbia, Canada | Haida 2 Nootka 4 Tilikum | Trainer Keltie Byrne, 20, slipped into the whale pool and was carried into the middle by Haida 2, and repeatedly submerged as the other two orcas, Nootka 4 and Tilikum, joined in. After futile attempts of rescue, Byrne drowned. | FATAL | SeaWorld Animal Profiles; Dirk Meissner, Whales pull trainer to death, Times Colonist, February 21, 1991, p. A-1. |
| #69 | 1991/07/31 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kasatka | Kasatka grabbed a trainer's foot (termed "jaw popped on foot" in Injury Report) and fluked a trainer's back. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #70 | 1992/04/02 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Katina | Katina bumped a trainer's hip. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #71 | 1992/10/11 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kasatka | Kasatka mouthed a trainer's foot. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #72 | 1992 | SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio, USA | Kayla | Kayla pushed a trainer back toward pool during training. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #73 | 1993/04/25 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kasatka | Kasatka tried to bite a trainer's feet and legs. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010.; Pauline Repard, Killer whale bites trainer, takes him to tank bottom, San Diego Union-Tribune, November 30, 2006. | |
| #74 | 1993/07/15 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kasatka | Kasatka mouthed a trainer's feet and legs, grabbed a knee and dunked the trainer, grabbed a foot and dunked the trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #75 | 1993/08/03 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Katina | Katina bumped a trainer's body. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #76 | 1994/02/24 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Katina | Katina bumped a trainer's hand. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #77 | 1994/06/30 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Corky 2 | Corky 2 pushed a trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #78 | 1994/08/18 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Nootka 4 | Nootka 4 snapped at trainers who tried to retrieve her stillborn calf. | Outside Online, August 19, 2014. | |
| #79 | 1994 Fall | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Tilikum | Tilikum lunged out of the water and appeared to try to grab a female trainer. | Transcript of movie "Blackfish", November 2, 2013; personal communication. | |
| #80 | 1994/10/23 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid bumped a trainer's thigh. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #81 | 1994/11/16 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Taku | Taku bumped a trainer. | Tim Zimmermann, April 15, 2013. | |
| #82 | 1995/02/09 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Katina | Katina pushed a trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #83 | 1995/07/30 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Takara | Takara swam over a surfaced trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #84 | 1996/01/25 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid opened her mouth at a trainer and mouthed a trainer's thigh. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #85 | 1996/02/09 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid bumped a trainer's thigh, bumped a trainer's body and fluked a trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #86 | 1996/07/03 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid pushed a trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #87 | 1996/07/20 | SeaWorld Aurora, Ohio, USA | Kayla | Kayla split to slide out during the show after a non-bridged behaviour. At that time, a guest tried to touch her and she thrashed her head from side to side with her mouth open. No injury occurred. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #88 | 1996/11/22 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid head popped a trainer's arm. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #89 | 1997/10/03 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Ulises | Ulises came out at a trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #90 | 1997/11/15 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid bumped a trainer's hip. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #91 | 1998/06/23 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid pushed a kayak with a trainer around. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #92 | 1998/07/16 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid was performing a hydro-hop behaviour during a night show. The trainer accidentally hit her tail flukes with his hand upon his re-entry and she responded by hitting him in the stomach with her head. She responded to a stage call calmly. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #93 | September 1998 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Keto | Keto pushed his trainer around the pool, open-mouthed. | One Green Planet | |
| #94 | 1999/03/09 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Takara | Takara came out at a trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #95 | March 1999 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Keto | Just days after his transfer from Florida, Keto swam into his trainer open-mouthed. | One Green Planet | |
| #96 | 1999/06/12 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kasatka | After her calf Takara split to a back pool during a show, Kasatka, the dominant female in the park, began to fast swim around the perimeter, grabbed trainer Kenneth Peters' leg and attempted to throw him out of the pool at SeaWorld San Diego. Peters was pulled out of the pool by another trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010; Killer whales: Other SeaWorld attacks, Orlando Sentinel, February 27, 2010. | |
| #97 | 1999/07/05 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Tilikum | A dead man's naked body was found at SeaWorld Florida in Orlando, scratched, bruised and draped over Tilikum, the largest killer whale in captivity. The 27-year-old, later identified as Daniel Dukes, apparently made his way past security at SeaWorld, remaining in the park after it had closed. Wearing only his underwear, the man either jumped, fell or was pulled into Tilikum's huge tank. A medical examiner concluded the man suffered hypothermia and drowned. | FATAL | SeaWorld Animal Profiles; Orlando Sentinel, July 6, 1999. |
| #98 | 1999/08/16 | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Kayla | Kayla became aggressive with a trainer during a waterwork sequence in the show after several behaviours without reinforcement, in combination with social problems between Kayla and adult female Winnie | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #99 | December 1999 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Keto | Keto snapped at his trainer during a training session. | One Green Planet | |
| #100 | 1990s / 2000s | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Taima | Young female Taima had "a history of aggression in her years of waterwork interactions", had shown "aggression towards trainers" and her "unpredictable nature" had "postponed waterwork interactions indefinitely and limited her to dry interactions only". | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, January 2010. | |
| #101 | 1990s / 2000s | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Splash | Young male Splash opened his mouth on a trainer's leg. | The Dodo, May 2, 2014. | |
| #102 | Late 1990s / early 2000s | Marineland Antibes, France | Shouka | Sometime before May 2001, young female Shouka struck trainer Lindsay Rubincam, who had to be hospitalized for internal bleeding. | Injury - internal bleeding | John Hargrove, Beneath The Surface, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p.170 |
| #103 | Late 1990s / early 2000s | Marineland Antibes, France | Valentin | Sometime before May 2001, young male Valentin swam at trainer Lindsay Rubincam open-mouthed and thrashing. | John Hargrove, Beneath The Surface, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p.170 | |
| #104 | 2000s | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Corky 2 | Corky 2 prevents a trainer from exiting the water by rostrum "blocking". | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #105 | 2000s | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Ikaika | Young male Ikaika has a history of aggression, often of a sexual nature, which began with an attempt to breed a young calf at SeaWorld shortly before his transfer to Canada. SeaWorld's veterinarians then sedated Ikaika twice daily with Valium to "try to mellow him out." "We've already seen some of the precursors (of a human attack) up there, meaning he's grabbed boots, he's grabbed targets, he's grabbed an arm before," Chuck Tompkins, a senior executive at SeaWorld and head animal trainer, said in an affidavit. Those are signs Ikaika is testing his environment and seeing what he can do, Tompkins told the court. "And if you're not aware of all the little things that killer whales do, you can get somebody really, really hurt," Tompkins said in his affidavit. "I've got grave concerns on the safety of the staff and inevitably the safety of the animal because of the lack of change." | Liam Casey, Custody of killer whale plays out in court, Toronto Star, July 16, 2011. | |
| #106 | Early 2000s | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Tuar | While a trainer was retrieving an article from the back of the mouth, young male Tuar clamped down on the trainer's arm and held tight for several moments. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #107 | Early 2000s | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Tuar | Young male Tuar was involved in one swim over a surfaced trainer during waterwork with another young male, Tekoa. He did respond to a recall after two attempts. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #108 | Early 2000s | Marineland Antibes, France | Freya | Adult female Freya aggressively pushes and mouths trainer John Hargrove for about 15 minutes. | John Hargrove, Beneath The Surface, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p.1-5 | |
| #109 | Early 2000s | Marineland Antibes, France | Shouka | Young female Shouka rams trainer John Hargrove in the back pushing him underwater and against the tank wall. She swam to the bottom of the tank mouth open but returned to protocol at Hargrove's signal. | John Hargrove, Beneath The Surface, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p.176-177 | |
| #110 | Early 2000s | Marineland Antibes, France | Shouka | Young female Shouka pulls away from the poolside and dumps trainer John Hargrove in the pool center circling him before swimming mouth-open at him. | John Hargrove, Beneath The Surface, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p.178 | |
| #111 | Early 2000s | Marineland Antibes, France | Shouka | Young female Shouka attempts to pull trainer John Hargrove into the pool by his wetsuit. | John Hargrove, Beneath The Surface, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p.179 | |
| #112 | Early 2000s | Marineland Antibes, France | Valentin | For 2 weeks young male Valentin pulls trainer John Hargrove under the water by his socks and tries to remove them. | John Hargrove, Beneath The Surface, Palgrave Macmillan, 2015, p.179 | |
| #113 | Mid 2000s | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Tuar | Since his move to Texas in April 2004, young male Tuar has opened his mouth towards trainers on a few occasions while in the water with him. This behaviour seems to present itself when sequences are predictable, and has been during solo waterwork only. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #114 | Mid 2000s | Port of Nagoya Aquarium, Japan | Ku | Female Ku lunges at trainer. | Video. | |
| #115 | 2001 | Kamogawa Sea World, Japan | Bingo | Bingo pushed his trainer through and under water during a show. | Story on internet sites but no original source known. | |
| #116 | 2001/08/01 | Nanki Shirahama Adventure World, Japan | Ran Goro | On August 1, 2001, a trainer was accidentally caught in the middle of a fight during a performance. The trainer recounted they were doing a diving segment with Goro when they noticed Ran was not clearly not focused on the signals her assigned trainer was giving her. When the trainer and Goro were about to commence a "lift walk*" (“where the trainer stands at the end of the orca's mouth and the orca looks up and slowly moves forward", as the book describes it), Ran rushed to bite Goro. While Goro turned to avoid the brunt of the bite, he accidentally hit the trainer's thigh with his pectoral fin and broke trainer's leg. Here's what the author said in their own words, roughly translated: "On August 1, 2001, at the fourth live show, during the underwater part of the show with Goro, Ran, and two trainers, I got caught in a fight between two whales and suffered a serious injury, a fracture of my right thigh. That day was the second day of the summer vacation night. It was the second day of the summer vacation night. and everyone was excited. It had been about a week since the orcas resumed their underwater activities with Goro and Ran, which they hadn't done since last winter. The reason why we hadn't done the underwater part with the two animals is because Ran started to attack Goro. I wish Goro had the manliness to fight back when he was bitten, but even though he's bigger and more senior than anyone else, he immediately runs away and gets bullied. We humans can't intervene in problems between orcas. We have no choice but to let the orcas solve their own problems. In order to repair the relationship, we spent more time with them and trained them more. And just as things were starting to go well, the accident happened. I was holding on to Goro's back in the water to perform the first act, "Opening Landing" (diving with Orca from the holding pool and appearing underwater on the stage in front of the audience), when I heard someone's voice, “Kyu-ruru,”(?) which people make when they are in a bad mood. I had a bad feeling. However, Goro was quite normal and continued with his performance. Then came Ran. When Ran came out of the pool, she usually looked up immediately in front of the trainer, but that time she didn't look up and kept floating up and down [listing?]. It was a sign that she was not concentrating. I felt it was strange to watch them from the side, but eventually they started to calm down, and the underwater part started with the two orcas and us two female trainers. First, the two orcas did a twist dance together. The audience applauded. Next was the lift walk (where the trainer stands at the end of the orca's mouth and the orca looks up and slowly moves forward). Goro was moving with me on the surface of the water near the main stage to get to the position for the next act. That's when Goro's movements slowed down, and I could see that he was getting nervous. "It's dangerous! Let's get up to the stage!” I'm not focused on me at all. I tried to tell Ran’s trainer that I was going on stage, but I was in the middle of a lift walk, so I thought I would call out as soon as the performance was over. It was the moment when the lift walk was over-- Ran came to bite Goro. Goro tried to escape at a glance. At that time, his chest fin [pectoral] hit my right thigh and broke. It was a tremendous shock. I couldn't breathe and was caught in a stream of water that Goro escaped, and I sank. Everything looked like slow motion. Ran opened her mouth wide and was biting around the base on the right side of Goro's tail fin, and Goro was trying to avoid it by rotating his entire body. "If nothing is done, you will get caught up in two heads.(?)" I desperately dived into an underwater tunnel connecting the nearby live pool and holding pool, and emerged after the two disappeared. I felt it for a very long time, but it was just a momentary event. When I tried to go up to the stage, I couldn't move because my right foot wasn't strong enough. After that, of course, there was no reason to be able to live, and it ended there. "I've done it ..." I blamed myself for making an earlier decision. I felt regret and no pain. Goro stepped back a little and ran past my right side. I'm sure this was a consideration not to hit me. At that time, I was staring at Goro trying to avoid me and running on a stretcher after the live show, which made me feel "quick and healthy". It seems that he is saying… I was seriously injured, but it made me want to come back again." Information translated and provided by anonymous. | The book "Someday, Orca" by Kazuhisa Taniguchi and Yoko Oide. | |
| #117 | 2002 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Ulises | Ulises was doing a waterwork session in "A" pool. His trainer was on his back and wanted him to move closer to the acrylic by giving him the cue to "steer" him in a directional way. Ulises did not know this behaviour. Instead, he took this as a finger roll, the trainer fell off and Ulises began to go on a descent. He ignored the trainer on the porch trying to receive him and turned around to go back towards his trainer in the water. He turned ventral and scooped her up, and then started to become erect. She was able to get off at the porch and reinforce him. He was calm. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #118 | 2002/07/31 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid was given the opportunity to rehearse pulling a trainer into the water by her bootie (sic!). After placing a foot in Orkid's mouth several times Orkid pulled the trainer in the water and pulled the bootie off. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #119 | 2002/08/07 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Splash Orkid | A female SeaWorld trainer was hospitalized and recovering from a broken arm after an incident at Shamu Stadium on Wednesday. The 28-year-old Tamaree was doing poolside training with Splash and Orkid. "She was playing with the whales, talking to them," said SeaWorld spokeswoman Darla Davis. "The next thing we know, as it appears from the video, she was pulled into the water." The park has its own video from a pool camera, and it also reviewed a video taken by a visitor who was recording his children nearby. Park officials said the trainer swam out of the water on her own. She was taken to a local hospital, where a pin was put in her arm. Doctors also are monitoring scrapes for possible infection. | Injury - broken arm | Shanna McCord, San Diego Union-Tribune, August 8, 2002. |
| #120 | August 2002 | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Keto | Keto swam into his trainer open-mouthed. | One Green Planet | |
| #121 | 2003 | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Kayla | Kayla had refused multiple separations prior to the show opening. She proceeded to perform abnormally high bows on a fast swim cue, came back and received an LRS(* see below), performed another set of bows on the fast swim. She was then asked for a line up, tactile was applied and she lined up with a slight lean. As the trainer backed over the wall, she then came out of the line up towards him with her mouth open. No contact was made. She then performed a head bobbing behaviour and split to the front pool. After several minutes staff attempted control and they were able to separate her to the back pool to continue the show. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #122 | 2003/08/01 | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Kyuquot | During a portion of the show, Kyuquot refused to let a trainer exit the pool. He did not become aggressive, but refused callback tones and slaps, and would not allow the trainer to leave the pool. The trainer was able to get close enough to the glass to pull himself out very quickly, and Kyuquot then proceeded to fast swim around the pool, followed by sliding out at stage. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #123 | October 2003 | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Kayla | After the opening segment of a show, Kayla refused to separate into the back pool for the ballet. She had been holding under control in the back during the "trainer intro", began dipping her head under the surface, and then became "big-eyed". It was decided then not to use her for waterwork during that show. She then refused separations to the back pool in a variety of contexts. During attempts to separate any of the animals for the show, she fluke splashed a trainer, and later motioned her head (mouth open) towards a trainer's hand. No injury occurred. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #124 | 2004/05/17 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid bumped a trainer's thigh. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #125 | 2004/07/27 | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Kyuquot | Kyuquot repeatedly slammed trainer Steve Aibel underwater during a show. Aibel, who was uninjured, had trained Kyuquot for 10 years. Kyuquot refused a rocket hop during a show, then repeated it well. However, Kyuquot then refused to allow the trainer to exit the pool. He then proceeded to swim over the trainer, blocking any exit from the pool for two to three minutes. He refused several callback attempts, including tones, hand slaps, and attempts at control by trainers in various positions around the pool. Once the trainer was close to the middle of the pool, Kyuquot then calmed down, finally drifting close to the stage, where the trainer was able to quickly exit. During the whole incident, Kyuquot never once opened his mouth on the trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010; SeaWorld San Antonio Killer Whale Trainer Has Close Call, KSAT San Antonio, July 27, 2004. | |
| #126 | 2004/08/22 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Ulises | Ulises was doing a Scuba session with his trainer in "A" pool (a spotter Scuba diver was also at the bottom), when he looped around, became erect, and then swam on top of his trainer. He ignored a hand slap and tone before responding to a second tone. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #127 | Summer 2004 | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Kayla | During a night show, Kayla had performed the first two songs of the show acceptably, and then did two ventral squirt bow cues. She responded well to both LRS (* see below) that occurred, and then received a primary reinforcement for the second LRS. She was then asked for a fluke splash to the back, and then asked to separate to the back pool. During the separation attempt, she lunged at her trainer, although no contact occurred. After several minutes, she separated into the back pool, allowing the show to continue. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #128 | 2004/10/18 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kasatka | A trainer was attempting to Scuba dive in "E" pool with Kasatka and her calf Nakai. The trainer did not have approval to swim with fins. He may have brushed her with his fins and she became aggressive, mouthing fins and Scuba gear. She eventually responded to a hand slap stage call. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #129 | 2005/04/01 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Taku | A SeaWorld Orlando trainer is expected to return to work soon after being injured by an "overly excited" killer whale, a theme-park spokeswoman said Sunday. Taku, one of nine at the park that go by the stage name Shamu, swam rapidly past the trainer and circled back, bumping him repeatedly during the Shamu Adventure show at 12:30 p.m. Friday, spokeswoman Becca Bides said. "The trainer maintained control of the animal," Bides said, and the show continued uninterrupted. The trainer, supervisor Sam Davis, was taken to Sand Lake Hospital for unspecified minor injuries and released the same day, she said. Additional eyewitness account: "The trainer and Taku were about to slide on the slide out at the end of the show when Taku completely stopped and started "bumping" the trainer. The trainer was male and he finally swam out of the tank. I knew something was wrong because none of the whales except Kalina wanted to perform. Then they finally got Taku out to splash people at the end of the show, when this incident took place." | Injury - minor | Christopher Sherman, Killer whale jolts trainer, Orlando Sentinel, April 4, 2005. |
| #130 | 2005/04/14 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | During a two whale - one trainer interaction, Orkid initially responded to a stage call but quickly reached back and pulled a trainer by her ankle to the bottom of "A" pool. Orkid responded to the call back tone. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #131 | 2005/05/06 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid grabbed a trainer's foot and dunked the trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #132 | 2006 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Corky 2 | After a good playtime session including waterwork in "A" pool, while sitting at stage with a few trainers next to her, Corky 2 began to mouth a trainer's ponytail. She corrected quickly once asked by a trainer on stage to sit "heads up". | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #133 | October 2006 | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Kayla | After performing a sequence in the show, Kayla was in the stage slide out with her trainer receiving secondary reinforcement. As the trainer attempted to point her back in the water, Kayla lunged at him with her mouth open, contacting him and throwing him several feet. She immediately came back to control, separated to the back pool perfectly, and was very good behaviourally the rest of the day. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #134 | November 2006 | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Kayla | After performing a med pool separation well, Kayla was receiving various secondary reinforcers while the gate closed when she pulled away from the wall. She was asked to come back to control, which she did. After a whistle bridge, the trainer went to feed her. Kayla lunged at her, knocking a bucket off the wall. No injury occurred. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #135 | 2006/11/15 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | A SeaWorld trainer was injured when Orkid grabbed senior trainer Brian Rokeach by the leg, pulled him to the bottom of the pool and held him under water for about 26 seconds. Orkid released Rokeach after Peters repeatedly slapped the water, the signal for the animals to return to the front of the Shamu Stadium stage. Rokeach suffered a torn ankle ligament but was not hospitalized. In response to the incident, SeaWorld increased to five the number of trainers who must be available during live performances and other times when trainers are in the water with the whales. | Injury - torn ankle ligament | <a href="http://SeaWorld Animal Profiles; Terry Rodgers, Marine park cited after whale attack, San Diego Union-Tribune, March 4, 2007; Video. |
| #136 | 2006/11/29 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kasatka | Kasatka attacked Kenneth Peters, SeaWorld San Diego's most experienced trainer, during a show at Shamu Stadium. Kasatka grabbed the trainer's foot and dove to the bottom of the 36-foot tank. They surfaced less than a minute later, but she ignored other trainers' signals to draw her to the side. The orca dove a second time with the trainer for about a minute. Peters only escaped after other trainers worked a large safety net between the two. He suffered puncture wounds and a broken left foot. That's the second reported attack by Kasatka on Peters. | Injury - puncture wounds and broken left foot | SeaWorld Animal Profiles; Pauline Repard, Killer whale bites trainer, takes him to tank bottom, San Diego Union-Tribune, November 30, 2006;Killer whale attacks SeaWorld trainer, CNN, November 30, 2006; Tony Perry, Killer whales endanger park staff, state says, Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2007; OHAS report; 10 News video; Death at SeaWorld. |
| #137 | 2007/04/06 | SeaWorld San Antonio, Texas, USA | Tuar | Tuar opened and closed his mouth around a trainer's leg after a dive in prior to the ballet sequence of the show. No injury occurred. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #138 | 2007/04/10 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid was doing an Artificial Insemination session. She had been a bit vocal but was asked for the roll over behaviour for an ultrasound. The trainer then asked Orkid to perform a slide-out behaviour. She refused this behaviour and then swiped her head making contact with the trainer which resulted in the trainer falling over the wall. She did perform the slide-out behaviour after this. The 35-year-old trainer was taken to a hospital for examination and was found to have suffered minor injuries after the bump from the 5,900-pound whale. | Injury - minor | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010; KFMB-CBS, San Diego, April 11, 2007. |
| #139 | 2007/10/06 | Loro Parque, Tenerife, Spain | Tekoa | A trainer at the Loro Parque theme park on Tenerife is in hospital after she was injured this weekend during a training session with Tekoa at the centre in Puerto de la Cruz. The Canarias 7 newspaper says the incident happened at the pre-show warm up on Saturday, when the orca crashed into the trainer, injuring her right lung and breaking her forearm in two places. She was rescued by two colleagues after the marine mammal dragged her down to the bottom of the pool. The trainer is now said to be stable after surgery on Saturday. Later it becomes know that the injured trainer is 29-year-old biologist Claudia Vollhardt from Germany, who has worked at the park since 2003. OME News write that it was a male orca that hit the trainer and dragged her down after the impact. Then that same animal grabbed the trainer by the arm and brought her back up to the surface. | Injury - damage to right lung and broken forearm | Trainer attacked by killer whale at Loro Parque theme park on Tenerife, Typically Spanish, October 7, 2007. |
| #140 | January 2008 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Takara | Takara hit a trainer with her tail fluke, who was smacked off the slide-out. | Video. | |
| #141 | 2008/03/18 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kasatka | Kasatka came out at a trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #142 | July 2008 | Marineland Antibes, France | Valentin | Not further detailed incident between Valentin and trainer Nico, not officially reported. | Story on internet sites but no original source known. | |
| #143 | 2008/09/09 | Marineland Antibes, France | Freya | Freya pushed a trainer through and under water (not as part of the training or show). | Video. | |
| #144 | 2008/09/10 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Kasatka | Kasatka came out at a trainer. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #145 | Spring 2009 | Loro Parque, Tenerife, Spain | Skyla | In the spring of 2009, during a public show, Skyla started pushing her trainer around the pool and up against the pool wall. Shortly thereafter, special protocols (limits on water work and a mandate that only senior trainers work with her) that had been standard practice for Tekoa after the incident in 2007 were enacted for Skyla as well. | Tim Zimmermann, Blood in the Water, Outside Magazine, July 18, 2011. | |
| #146 | 2009/07/17 | Marineland Antibes, France | Wikie | Wikie pushed a trainer through and under water (not as part of the training or show). | Eyewitness account on internet site. | |
| #147 | September 2009 | Loro Parque, Tenerife, Spain | Keto | Incident between Keto and trainer Brian Rokeach, noted by fellow trainer Alexis Martinez. No further details. | Tim Zimmermann, Blood in the Water, Outside Magazine, July 18, 2011. | |
| #148 | 2009/12/24 | Loro Parque, Tenerife, Spain | Keto | A Loro Parque trainer has been killed by one of the whales during a training session. The trainer was 29-year-old Alexis Martínez, and the accident occurred at 10.30 am this morning during the first training session for the Christmas Special planned for the New Year. The other 7 trainers were also present in the training session. As far as can be determined right now, Alexis was hit by Keto, and his death was caused by drowning because he was under the water unconscious for several minutes before he could be rescued. The autopsy report on Martínez was telling and states bluntly that his was a "violent death." It describes multiple cuts and bruises, the collapse of both lungs, fractures of the ribs and sternum, a lacerated liver, severely damaged vital organs, and puncture marks "consistent with the teeth of an orca." It concludes that the immediate cause of death was fluid in the lungs (i.e., drowning) but that the fundamental cause was "mechanical asphyxiation due to compression and crushing of the thoracic abdomen with injuries to the vital organs." In other words, at some point Keto probably slammed into Martínez with such force that he caved in his chest. | FATAL | Trainer dies in accident at Killer Whale park in Tenerife, Typically Spanish, December 24, 2009;Tim Zimmermann, Blood in the Water, Outside Magazine, July 18, 2011. |
| #149 | 2010 | SeaWorld San Diego, California, USA | Orkid | Orkid has been sliding out in various slide-out areas on her free time which has resulted in possibly dangerous scenarios for guests at the Dine with Shamu area. Changes are (were?) being made to the areas to help decrease the frequency of this behaviour in areas where person might be injured. | SeaWorld Animal Profiles, Revision June 2010. | |
| #150 | 2010/02/24 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Tilikum | A veteran animal trainer was killed Wednesday at SeaWorld Florida when one of the show's killer whales dragged her underwater. SeaWorld said that Tilikum pulled Dawn Brancheau, 40, into the orca's tank about 2pm. Witnesses told that the animal suddenly grabbed Brancheau by the upper arm, tossed her around in his mouth and pulled her beneath the water as dozens of tourists looked on in horror. The coroner catalogued a fractured neck, a broken jaw, and a dislocated elbow and knee. | FATAL | Jason Garcia and Susan Jacobsen, Animal trainer killed at SeaWorld, Los Angeles Times, February 25, 2010;Tim Zimmermann, The Killer in the Pool, Outside Magazine, July 30, 2010. |
| #151 | July 2012 | Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, California, USA | Shouka | Shouka repeatedly lunged at a trainer. | Without Me There Is No You (Blog incl. video). | |
| #152 | December 2012 | Miami Seaquarium, Florida, USA | Tokitae | Tokitae snaps at visitor. | Video. | |
| #153 | September 2015 | Moskvarium (Москвариум), Moscow, Russia | Narnia Nord Naja | The three orcas in Moscow thrashed their tails at trainers after one of the trainers fell into the water on top of one of the orcas. Not a deliberate attack but it shows how quickly a situation can get out of control | Video. | |
| #154 | On or around 2022/06/15 | SeaWorld Orlando, Florida, USA | Malia | Malia gently closed her mouth on a the wrist of a trainer while they were cleaning her mouth after debris(paint and food chips) were "among her teeth and roof of her mouth." | Injury - multiple fractures on the right forearm and wrist | Chloe Greenberg, PETA calls out SeaWorld Orlando after obtaining records of dolphin and trainer injuries, Orlando Weekly, April 7, 2023 |
SeaWorld’s behavioural profiles (June 2010):
Document 1: Details behavioural profiles for Katina, Kayla, Malia, Nalani, Tilikum, Trua, Keet, Kyuquot, Sakari, Takara, Tuar and Unna
Document 2: Details behavioural profiles for Corky 2, Kalia, Kasatka, Nakai, Orkid, Ulises and Kalina
Document 3: Details behavioural profiles for Taima, Katina, Tilikum, Kalina, Takara, Kayla, Trua, Nalani and Malia (many of these are repeated with small revisions).
Helpful Terms / Information Regarding Orca Behaviour in Captivity:
Least Reinforcing Scenario (LRS):
To eliminate undesired behaviour, SeaWorld trainers have developed a training technique called the Least Reinforcing Scenario (LRS). The LRS follows an undesired behaviour. If a trainer requests a particular behaviour and the animal responds with inappropriate behavior, the trainer must be careful not to reinforce the response. The trainer delivers an LRS – they stand still and do nothing. This way, they are least likely to deliver a reinforcer. Source: Animal Training at SeaWorld & Busch Gardens, Application of Philosophy: Training Techniques
Marine Mammal Veterinarian Jay Sweeney:
“Aggression expressed by killer whales toward their trainers is a matter of grave concern. Show situations involving water behaviours with trainers and orcas have become popular in recent years. Aggressive manifestations toward trainers have included bumping, biting, grabbing, dunking, and holding trainers on the bottom of pools preventing their escape. Several situations have resulted in potentially life-threatening incidents. In a few such cases, we can attribute this behaviour to disease or to the presence of frustrating or confusing situations, but in other cases, there have been no clear casual factors.” Source: Marine Mammal Behavioural Diagnostics, L. Dierauf (Ed.). 1990. Handbook of Marine Mammal Medicine, pp. 53-72.
OSHA Report on the Kasatka Incident in November 2006:
“The contributing factors to the accident, in the simplest of terms, is that swimming with captive orcas is inherently dangerous and if someone hasn’t been killed already it is only a matter of time before it does happen. The trainers recognise this risk and train not for if an attack will happen but when.” Source: Occupational Safety and Health Administration report, March 2, 2007
SeaWorld Response to OSHA Report:
“‘We have proven over 40 years that we are very safe,’ said Mike Scarpuzzi, vice president of zoological operations at SeaWorld San Diego and a former whale trainer.” Source: Los Angeles Times, March 2, 2007; under pressure from SeaWorld the OSHA report was rewritten and the harsh critique was eliminated.
New Scientific Paper on Orca Aggression in Captivity:
“Simple Summary: Orca behaviours interacting with humans within apparent friendship bonds are reviewed, and some impediments to the human evaluation of delphinid intelligence are discussed. The subsequent involvement of these orcas and their offspring in aggressive incidents with humans is also documented and examined. This is particularly relevant given that the highest recorded rates of aggressive incidents have occurred among orcas who had previously established unstructured human friendship bonds prior to their inclusion within oceanaria performances. It is concluded that the confinement of orcas within aquaria, and their use in entertainment programs, is morally indefensible, given their high intelligence, complex behaviours, and the apparent adverse effects on orcas of such confinement and use.” Source: MDPI Animals 2016