Actually, you could make a case for that philosophically speaking, but I won't. Clearly I'm not saying that. It's amazing the level of intellect required to think I am saying that. Hell, I even said twice that the captive Orcas that haven't killed should be freed. But this one has a pattern of behavior that not only means its dangerous to humans, its repeatedly lethal to humans.
Wow, that's dumb. Yes, I value human life above animals, and animals that are known man killers should be removed from their gene pool. This clearly is not the same thing as saying we should kill Bambi because he might grow antlers some day and gore some one.
Yet strangely we even kill the captive animals that supposedly can be contained with no threat once they've taken human life. And of course Orcas are known to be among the most difficult cetaceans to track, so we would have a difficult time keeping tabs on this fella. So ultimately the argument is it would be OK to have a very small risk that this particular Orca would never go after a human again in order for us to feel better about ourselves morally, correct? Even though it is just an animal and we kill millions a day for food, and will kill predators if they attack our food sources, let alone ourselves.
In an infinite universe.... [YT="Killer Whale Playing"]Bz5m5iv3FHk[/YT] Seriously, Keiko didn't kill anyone, but then, it didn't while in captivity either. It did cost $7 million to release it 'humanely', they immediately lost him, and when they did find him it was 780 miles away. People are damn near ubiquitous these days. The chance of this beastie running into people again is not negligible. Is there any previous history of release of Orcas that have killed back into the wild? Not that I know of. That's a pretty small sample to rule out the possibility. Yes, I know it's a video composite and not real, but it amuses me greatly in context of this discussion.
For some reason they have very little luck tracking Orcas in that manner. Keiko's broke almost immediately. Guess its the range of environments and the depth they travel, but I'm not really sure.
So it's settled then. This incident proves we must kill all killer whales before they kill us. We must also hunt down all manta rays because of Steve Irwin and all sharks because of "Jaws".
Actually it was a Mantra Ray - it was heard to be chanting at the time of the incident. I think it was pissed Steve interrupted.
Demiurge's rants are getting dumb in th is thread, Orca probably was just trying to play with the human.
Yes, Orca probably was just 'playing', though we don't know for sure because no one speaks Orca. It definitely reached up and grabbed her from the platform, and seaworld personnel say they couldn't rescue her because it acted aggressively once it was in the water with her. If it was 'playing', it was doing mock hunting exercises the same way it kills seals or penguins for its amusement. However, we have a pattern of behavior here - there's three dead people this particular Orca played with, and its offspring has killed as well. It plays aggressively, and that's a known issue with the breed. Is there any reason at all to think it won't show the same behavior in the future? Of course not. Oh, and the director of Sea World has spoken. Not only is nothing going to happen to it, either being put down or released, it is going to continue to be in the shows. How's that for sensing the mood of the public. Ah well, I'm sure that won't be another 'accident'. I mean, what are the odds? LOL.
Baba dumb, no? Demiurge heap big super-genius by comparison. Baba go away please please please to his own threads where he belongs. ! Demiurge's point is simple, and rational, if one believes that preserving human life is the paramount concern. [Though Leach cannot compare to teh baba's depth of moroncy, damn, he tries so hard; either example cuts pretty harshly against Demi's main argument/premise. But, what, are we supposed to just hope that the next fatality cause by the orca was a worthy candidate for culling?]
Given this insight what should us human folk do? Seems the obvious conclusion is stop forcing Orcas to perform tricks, stop people from swimming with Orcas, and most importantly stop keeping Orcas in captivity. At best this particular "Killer Whale" should be reintroduced to the wild, at the very least it should be taken out of any performance rotation.
And I've already called for that very action multiple times. No, at best it should be put down, so its repeated pattern of behavior isn't given a chance to happen again and to remove its form of aggression against humans from the gene pool. At the very least we should completely isolate it, though that in of itself is a form of cruelty to these beasties. Releasing it to the wild? If someone can point me to situations where mankillers have been released and there were no further incidents that would be fine. I'm not aware of any. Until then, it's either intelligent or it isn't. If it IS intelligent, then you should release the ones we have and put this one down, because it intended to kill. If it isn't intelligent its just another animal and should be treated as such.
Obvious isn't it? Leave em be, we've a variety of means to observe them in their natural habitat. Okay let's don our orca actuary hats and speculate on the odds of another human attack if this Shamu is freed Willy style... Gonna go out on a limb here and say zero. If for no other reason than humans just aren't part of their diet. Compared to salmon, seals, penguins, sea lions and other marine critters we are bony, blubber deficient, strangers in their environment. Besides what are the odds of encountering a Sea World employee, with a bucket of fish, standing on a platform in the middle of killer whale territory? We're not qualified to judge our own intelligence, I've little faith in our ability to gauge this marine mammal's intelligence.
Killer Whales are not whales. Killer Whales are from the Dolphin family. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delphinidae They call them killer whales because they have been observed hunting and eating whales although that is not their main diet.
Also we put down or make an effort to put down certain land animals is not because they "have a taste for human blood" but because after attacking humans the animals understand that humans are walking sacks of food who are for the most part unable to defend themselves against attack. We don't want bears, lions, tigers, or others understanding that humans are fair game. In the case of this Orca, even if it is killing for the hell of it, there is no reason to put it down. Either keep it in a tank somewhere and don't use it for the shows or release it. The odds of it killing more humans in the wild is close to zero. I mean unless some unlucky cameraman from National Geographic is down in the ocean swimming with the killer whales and just happens to run into this one no one else is going to have to worry. Me I only blame it for two deaths. One of the deaths I believe was caused by the nut breaking into the park and then getting into the water and IIRC dying from hypothermia. I think they found the guy laying on the whales back was the whales attempt to save him.
From your own link, biased and sensationalistic as it was.... :fingersnap: Darn, missed it by that much! [/maxwell smart]
Biased and sensationalistic? Because it reported previous problems? Damn the Christian Science Monitor, always trying to put a good dolphin down! LOL. So Ky is only an attempted killer. Got it. I mean, its not like there's an ongoing pattern here. It can't survive in the wild, there's no way to be certain it won't interact with humans again if it is released, and it has to interact with humans if it is kept. Putting it down is more humane. But I guess it's a killer dolphin, and we get all weepy eyed over those. I mean, they SMILE at us! But you're right, we need to protect it. It might make a contribution. Some day it might grow up and cure cancer or something.
I just thank god that no news outlet has used the "we have a whale of a tale next!" line on this one.
