a lesson of perspective

last night i experienced another lesson of perspective. yesturday at SeaWorld a killer whale(orca) grabbed and killed it's trainer. i read numerous articles and all of them said the same thing, all the reports from witnesses verified what had happened.

the video clip from a tourist camera appeared to show the trainer slipping. having plenty of experience in counter-security/counter-espionage/counter-terrorism i know that a camera will only \"see\" what is right in front of it ie: it can't see around an object. so from the camera's perspective it could appear that the trainer slipped, while from another perspective the whale grabbed the trainers forearm, causing her to slip.

i was discussing this sad event at work (i work for a newspaper) and one of my coworkers refused to believe that a killer whale would do such a thing, she insisted that she has studied them for years because she wanted to be a trainer as well. she was absolutely adamant that the trainer had slipped and the whale killed her by accident.

every article i read had said this was the 3rd time the whale had been involved in the death of a human, yet she insisted it had never been involved in a death. as i looked at her i could see that she would not accept any view opposed to her own without sufficient proof, so i simply smiled and changed tact as i didn't want to argue or fight over such a trivial thing that really did not matter.

later when the papers arrived right there on the front page was the article. i read it to see if perhaps i was wrong and again everything i had said was right there in print, as i looked up i could see her glaring at me. i simply smiled and went back to work as i knew at that point she had read the article as well.

the lesson here is that we all see what we want based on our perspectives. she wanted to believe that an orca could never kill a human for no reason, i simply understand that an orca is still a wild animal that has basic instincts for hunting.

humans are an interesting species, we dominate the foodchain not with claws or fangs but with intellect. this causes us to feel superior to the animals so every now and then nature puts us in our place as another crunchy meal.

Your last point interests me a great deal - so I pose a question to you or at least some scenarios to consider.

Imagine a pet cat or even dog suddenly finds itself 'homeless' or even in the wilderness - what will it do?

Well - generally and assuming it isnt predated itself - it will revert to instinct and hunt for food.

Drop an average city dwelling human into a jungle or even a european woodland and theyll more often than not - die.

Humans like the 'think' they are top of the heap but were oh so not.

Now back to the orca - or killer whale - the name tells you of its nature - its a predator - it hunts - thats its programming and trust me - its a smart beastie too.

Take a great White shark - I sure wouldnt swim with one in a marine tank - even if were renamed 'big grey n white fishy' - its still one of natures top predators - it does what millions of years of evolution have designed it to do.

Much like the orca.

Any animal - given the right (or wrong) signals or stimuli - will 'switch on' even your pet dog will chase a cat or sheep etc - simply because nature tells it too - your cat will leg it up a tree, your bird will fly etc etc etc

On many occasions, folk who have hand reared big cats have found themselves as 'dinner'

Im very very happy to hear that the orca will not be killed - and for the record - there are TWO positive kills for this animal and one 'not too sure' (an intruder found dead over its back in the morning)

If you swallow swords, you run the risk of internal injury, you juggle fire, you risk burns you swim with 5.5tonne whale with big teeth and a strong instinct - you run the risk of being confused with or seen as prey.

If the dead could speak - im sure the trainer would say something similar.

I have worked with animals - nothing as big or dangerous as orca but various snakes big enough to kill (and not 'pets' either) eg a pair of 14ft royal python, various poisonous frogs, lizards, spiders, ocelots, monkeys, parrots - all of them had potential to do harm - I knew the risks and I still got a couple if bite even with all the rules etc followed to the letter - I didnt make a pie from the parrots (even tho I know they bit for fun )

Scientist, especially animal behaviourists like to think they know it all - its bull (excuse the pun) - you can take the beast out of the wild, but you cant take the wild out of the beast - mother nature is a fickle lady, she can be nice and she can be ugly - but she always wins.

My final note is personally I dont agree with orca being kept in captivity (or any large animals for that matter) but thats just my point of view.

Anyone wondering why dinosaurs shouldnt be resurrected (as per Jurassic park) - this orca incident is a small taste of what will happen (sorry another sick pun)

MTFBWY - A

yep nature certainly likes to show us who's really in charge and when she does she makes a public example...likewise i don't think wild animals should be caged simply for entertainment purposes...

we(my family) breeds american pitbull terriers a dog breed known for their incredible jaw strength and (due to bad owners) aggressive tempers...i've been bitten several times by pitbulls breaking up fights...most of the time they get along just fine but every now and then they go at it,usually over food, this breed gets alot of bad press especially since the whole micheal vick incident...

many people think the pitbull was bred for fighting and the truth is that jack colby(creator of apbt's) was a farmer with several dogs and he wanted 1 dog that could do more then one job...through selective breeding with his own dogs and his neighbors he developed the modern apbt...

true the breed is often used for fighting because of their strength and ferocity however a properly bred and raised pit will not usually bite a human....i can stick my hand in the food of every pitbull we have and not get bit or growled at...the few times i've been bitten have been breaking up fights....mostly by the same dog which was given to us under false information....

despite all the training and breeding these are still to an extent predatory animals and they will if need be resort to predatory behavior...it's like that with all predators...given the right circumstances they simply follow their nature...

i'm thinking if we recreate dinosaurs it'll be population control...apparently long pig must taste pretty good otherwise the large predators wouldn't be interested :laugh:

I believe American Pitbulls are under the 'dangerous dogs act' in the UK - and illegal to own them now - if found to be on this list - a dog is destroyed by law.

Sad really - to punish the animal for the sins of dumb humans.

As for long pig - and comedy aside - i find all sharks awe inspiring - i dont use that word lightly - i find the word 'awesome' to be massively overused - anyway - ever since I caught a small tope many years ago on rod n line (dont worry, Rod agreed to be bait :lol:) - a tope is a small coastal shark - and eats crustaceans and smaller fish - a bit like a dog fish I suppose (hard to describe to someone who has different names for fish etc).

The thing with sharks is this - they do what nature designed em to do - they do it all very well. Now the problem is this, they do bite people sometimes but think of it this way (thank you Ron n Valery Taylor for this one)

Imagine your a great white shark - you find something in the water, you dont know what it is, it could be food, so you want to examine it - now as a human - we'd pik it up with our hands, we look at it, touch it, maybe smell it (if for food) and maybe even lick, or taste it

How does a GWS 'examine' a potential food item? It only has (beyond sight, smell, hearing, and the assorted other senses provided by the lateral line and nasal electro receptors) its mouth to 'hold' an item - a big powerful mouth with razor sharp teeth.

So next time a surfer gets out of the water with a scratch or two given by a shark - think about what ive put here and then wonder 'if the shark meant to kill, would this surfer be here now?'

When a GWS means business - it obliterates its preys internal organs with a hugely powerful ambush (watch seals get nabbed)

Ive also read that a study was carried out (and dont ask how they did it) to see if human flesh is 'attractive' to a shark - the outcome was no - the blood will draw them in, the sounds of splashing etc will too - in fact, urine and faeces is more attractive to a shark than human flesh - the reason being most humans do not have enough high energy blubber to warrant any interest - this too is part of the bite - a shark will do a small light bite to test a lump of meat and if its 'decent' theyll have a big go at it.

The problem with humans I think is we as a species suffer from an underlying inferiority complex - we know instinctively that we are weak compared to many creatures and its good old fashioned fear thru maleducation and misunderstanding (and films such as Jaws) that cause problems.

In many pacific tribal cultures - sharks are revered and venerated as Gods - I for one completely understand why.

MTFBWY - A

quite true about urine and feces being very attractive to sharks...i watched an episode of mythbusters and they made a mechanical dog...it contained blood, urine, and feces...the blood got their attention but the urine and feces drew in even more...

it's a shame that they destroy pits there...they really are good dogs if you breed and raise them properly...i have a picture on my myspace page of my 7year old neice playing with 3 week old pitbull puppies while the mother sat there watching...i even had one pitbull that had her puppies on my bed right next to me and everytime i put them in a crate she would take them out and put them next to me again....

in most cases where someone says they were bit by a pitbull it's actually a pitbull mix or an american bulldog which looks similar....and heres a bit of a kicker...the american staffordshire terrier is also known as a blue-nose pit...but because of the name change it gains acceptance even though it shares the same genetics...

next time rod should ask for money before agreeing to be bait....as an aside i hand-fed some nurse sharks and black-tip reef sharks when i was overseas...even a 6 foot nurse shark has impressive power in its bite...i was able to hear the \"pop\" as it closed down on the meat....