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FRIDAY, JULY 1 5, 201 1
Blood in the WaterOn December 24, 2009, a 6,600-pound orca killed trainer Alexis Martnezat a marine park in the Canary Islands. Two months later, trainer DawnBrancheau was killed by an orca at SeaWorld Orlando. With the OSHAtrial on trainer safety at SeaWorld Orlando starting September 19, TimZimmermann asks: Should Martnezs death have served as a warningabout the lethal potential of killer whales being trained for ourentertainment?
By: TIM ZIMMERMANN (HTTP://WWW.OUTSIDEONLINE.COM/AUTHOR-BIOS/TIM-
ZIMMERMANN.HTML)
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Keto at Loro Parque's Orca Ocean Photo: Estel Moore
Watch Video
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Alexis Martnez and Dawn Brancheau at LoroParque, September 2006
(http://media.outsideonline.com/images/Orca_AlexisDawn_071211.jpg)
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Orca Ocean trainer Alexis Martnez with Keto
(http://media.outsideonline.com/images/Orca_AlexisKeto_071211.jpg)Estefana Rodriguez and Alexis Martnez
(http://media.outsideonline.com/images/Orca_EstefiAlexis_071211.jpg)
Orca Ocean trainer Claudia Vollhardt
(http://media.outsideonline.com/images/Orca_Keto_071211.jpg)
Kohana's injured dorsal fin
(http://media.outsideonline.com/images/Orca_KohanaDorsal_071211.jpg)
Suzanne Allee, who worked at Orca Oceanfrom 2006 to 2009
(http://media.outsideonline.com/images/Orca_MeKohana_071211.jpg)
The main show pool at Loro Parque's OrcaOcean
(http://media.outsideonline.com/images/Orca_OrcaOceanLoroParque_071211.jpg)
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AT 11:25 A.M. ON DECEMBER 24, 2009, Estefana Luis Rodriguezs cell phone rang.
Rodriguez, 25, is an earnest, friendly young woman who works as a pharmacy
technician near the coastal town of Puerto de la Cruz, on the north coast of Tenerife in
Spains Canary Islands. She glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was her fianc, Alexis
Martnez, a killer whale trainer at a nearby zoological park called Loro Parque, one of the
largest tourist attractions in the islands. Loro Parque displays everything from birds and
dolphins to sea lions and, as of 2006, four orcas it had been loaned by SeaWorld.
Rodriguez and Martnez, 29, had been together seven years, after meeting at a friends party,
and had moved into an apartment together three months earlier. She adored Martnez, who was
handsome, generous, funny, and, in his spare time, played guitar in a band, Inerte. Hed been
working nonstop with the killer whales at Loro Parques Orca Ocean to prepare for a special
Christmas show.
When Rodriguez answered, however, it wasnt Martnez on the phone. The caller was Orca
Ocean supervisor Miguel Diaz, using Martnezs phone. He told Rodriguez that Martnez had
been involved in an incident with a killer whale but that he would be fine, that he was being
Tilikum, the orca who killed Dawn Brancheauat SeaWorld Orlando
(http://media.outsideonline.com/images/Orca_Tilikum_071211.jpg)
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taken to the University Hospital in San Cristbal de La Laguna, about 20 miles away. Rodriguez
immediately called Martnezs family and then joined his mother, Mercedes, to rush to the
hospital.
In the car, Rodriguez was deeply apprehensive. For months, Martnez had been telling her that
all was not well at Orca Ocean, that there was a lot of aggression between the killer whales and
that they sometimes refused to obey commands, disrupting training and the shows. After
starting in Loro Parques penguin and dolphin displays, Martnez had begun as a killer whale
trainer in 2006. As he gained experience, according to Rodriguez, he began to fret about safety,
and he twice contemplated leaving the job. Preparing for the Christmas show only added to the
stress. Im so tired, Rodriguez recalls Martnez telling her. Thats OK, everyone is tired from
work, shed responded. He shook his head. My job is especially risky, and I really need to be
well rested and ready. With everything that is going on, something could happen at any time.
On the road to La Laguna, Rodriguez and Mercedes worked their cell phones, and their sense of
foreboding increased. Mercedess brothers and others had heard that Martnez wasnt at the
hospital at La Laguna but at Bellevue, the local hospital in Puerto de la Cruz, five minutes from
Rodriguez and Martnezs apartment. Confused, Rodriguez called Miguel Diaz. He again said
that Martnez was at the hospital in La Laguna, but a short while later he called Rodriguez back
to confirm that Martnez was at Bellevue. When Rodriguez and Mercedes finally arrived at
Bellevueat around 12:30 p.m., after about an hour of errant drivingthey found Wolfgang
Kiessling, Loro Parques president, already there, along with legal representation.
It was at Bellevue that Rodriguez and Mercedes learned that Martnez had, in fact, been killed,
by an orca called Keto, during a training session. Rodriguez was in a state of shock,
overwhelmed by sorrow and disbelief. Martnezs body had been wrapped tightly in a shroud,
and only his head and face were visible. Rodriguez says that no one from Loro Parque would tell
her much, except that there had been an accident and Martnez had drowned. In the days and
weeks that followed, she asked Martnezs fellow trainers for more information, but she says
they offered only evasive answers. Not until months later, when Rodriguez and the Martnez
family learned the details of the autopsy, did they become aware of the full extent of the trauma
and bite marks Martnez had sustained, suggesting a much more violent incident.
Rodriguez believes that Martnezs death had been obscured and covered up. Ketos attack on
Martnez occurred at 10:25 a.m. Diaz called Rodriguez an hour later, and the autopsy report
gives an estimated time of death of 11:35 a.m. They had time to talk and prepare the body,
Rodriguez says of the more than two hours that passed between the incident and her arrival at
the right hospital.
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I asked Patricia Delponti, director of communications and public relations at Loro Parque, about
the incorrect information Diaz had given Rodriguez. As soon as the accident took place, we
called his familys home but got no answer, she explained in an e-mail. Therefore, we took
Alexiss mobile phone and called his girlfriend, whose number was in the address book. This call
was made right after Alexis was taken to the hospital by emergency services.
Delponti added, This was a very difficult time for everyone, and if incorrect information was
shared with those closest to Alexis in the time immediately following the accident, it can fairly
be attributed to the nature of an emergency response.
Rodriguez is skeptical. Everyone in the family felt lied to, she says.
Estefana Rodrigu ez and A lexis Martnez Photographe r: Cou rtesy of Estefana Lu is Rodrigu ez
THE DEATH OF ALEXIS MARTNEZ was a quiet tragedy for his family and loved ones. It
received little media attention, even on Tenerife. The Martnez family received a life-insurance
payout from Loro Parque and looked into the possibility of suing over Martnezs death, but they
were told by lawyers that Canary Islands law favored a large corporate entity like Loro Parque.
Canary Islands authorities (including the police and the Ministry of Work and Immigration)
also investigated the incident; there have been no major repercussions.
But exactly two months after Martnez was killed, on February 24, 2010, 40-year-old Dawn
Brancheau, a skilled senior trainer working at SeaWorld Orlando, in Florida, was killed with
similar violence by SeaWorlds largest orca, Tilikum. This time the world noticed, and the media
jumped all over the story. SeaWorld suspended orca-show routines that put trainers in the pools
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with its killer whalesa SeaWorld specialty known as water workat all three of its locations, in
San Diego, Orlando, and San Antonio, to conduct a safety review. That suspension remains in
place, and SeaWorlds new orca show, One Ocean, is performed without trainers in the water.
I wrote about the death of Brancheau, and the life of Tilikum, in a July 2010 Outside story
called The Killer in the Pool (http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/The-
Killer-in-the-Pool.html). At the time, Id heard that another trainer had died just before
Brancheau, at a park in the Canary Islands. But I could find almost no information aside from
a brief news article. As details of the Brancheau story emerged, though, what happened at Loro
Parque began to seem increasingly importanta stark warning about the unpredictability and
lethal potential of killer whales being kept at marine parks for our entertainment.
Tilikum had been involved in two previous deaths, and SeaWorlds trainers were prohibited from
getting in the pool with him. That he managed to kill againhe grabbed Brancheau from a
shallow pool ledge and yanked her into the waterwas tragic, though not necessarily shocking.
But Keto, the whale who killed Martnez and is also owned by SeaWorld, was cleared for routine
water work. If Keto could kill, I wondered, how could any marine park orca be considered truly
safe?
That question is at the heart of a current confrontation between SeaWorld and the U.S.
Department of Labors Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), the federal
agency that oversees workplace safety. OSHA investigated Brancheaus death and cited
SeaWorld Orlando (http://www.osha.gov/dep/citations/seaworld-citation-notification-of-
penalty.pdf) for failing to protect trainers from recognized hazards that were causing or likely
to cause death or serious physical harm. In addition, OSHA said SeaWorld had willfully
ignored the dangers of working with killer whales. SeaWorld recognized the inherent risk of
allowing trainers to interact with potentially dangerous animals, Cindy Coe, OSHAs regional
administrator in Atlanta, said in an August 23, 2010, press release
(http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?
p_table=NEWS_RELEASES&p_id=18207). Nonetheless, it required its employees to work
within the pool walls, on ledges and on shelves where they were subject to dangerous behavior
by the animals.
OSHA levied $75,000 in fines against SeaWorlda small amount for a company that reportedly
earned $1.2 billion in revenues in 2010. But OSHAs stipulations on safety, conveyed in a
document titled Citation and Notification of Penalty, could have dramatic implications for
SeaWorlds future. The citation is directed against SeaWorld Orlando and stipulates that to
create a safe work environment, the park must either end water work and dry workwhen
trainers work with killer whales from the stage or on shallow poolside ledgesor adopt
significant new safety measures, such as placing physical barriers between trainers and killer
whales. If made, such changeswhich presumably would be adopted at all SeaWorlds parks
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would fundamentally alter the nature of SeaWorlds crowd-thrilling water-work shows, in
which trainers swim with and ride the killer whales, sometimes even launching into the air
from their noses.
Brancheau was the first SeaWorld trainer to be killed by an orca, after more than four decades
of killer whale shows at the parks. (Though, as I learned while reporting The Killer in the Pool,
during that same period dozens of trainers had been involved in serious incidents with killer
whales, a number requiring hospitalization.) Naturally, SeaWorld was not happy about OSHAs
charge that it knowingly subjected trainers to undue risk, nor with the agencys demand that it
adopt intrusive safety measures. The marine park flatly rejected OSHAs conclusions, arguing in
a statement (http://www.seaworldparksblog.com/seaworld-parks-entertainment-will-contest-
osha-citation-0) that they were unfounded and that OSHAs allegations in this citation are
unsupported by any evidence or precedent and reflect a fundamental lack of understanding of
the safety requirements associated with marine mammal care.
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Til iku m, the orca who ki l led Dawn Brancheau at SeaWorld Orlando Photographe r: Cou rtesy of SeaWorld
The dispute comes to a head this September, when SeaWorlds appeal of OSHAs findings will be
heard before a federal administrative-law judge of the Occupational Safety and Health Review
Commission, an independent agency that adjudicates and issues written decisions when OSHA
rulings are challenged.
SeaWorlds rebuttal to OSHA pointed me back toward Alexis Martnez and Loro Parque.
Martnez died just two months before Brancheau. Was his death a stand-alone tragedy, or was
it relevant to the wider debate between OSHA and SeaWorld about the safety and future of killer
whale entertainment?
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As I learned, SeaWorld was a key partner in the launch of the orca program at Loro Parque,
loaning the park four killer whales to help it start Orca Ocean. SeaWorlds vice president of
communications Fred Jacobs explained it to me this way in an e-mail: Loro Parque is a highly
respected zoological institution, and we have worked with them for years. The relationship was
conceived primarily as a breeding loan and to allow Loro Parque to showcase these remarkable
animals. He added, The deal differed only in scale from the dozens of similar partnerships we
are part of at any given time. The addition of Orca Ocean, a facility that is comparable in size
and sophistication to anything found in the U.S., also provided us greater flexibility in managing
our collection of killer whales.
At the time the loan was announced in December 2005, Jacobs publicly said there was a
financial arrangement, but he declined to give details. Whats clear is this: SeaWorld would be
deeply involved in managing its killer whales from the moment they arrived in February 2006.
SeaWorld personnel oversaw their care and training at Loro Parque, and Brian Rokeach, a
senior trainer from SeaWorld San Diego, supervised the training session in which Martnez died.
To the extent that his death might be considered a precedent for what happened to Brancheau
or evidence that working with killer whales in marine parks is risky and potentially lethal,
SeaWorld was intimately aware of the details.
I asked Jacobs if Martnezs death should be considered relevant to OSHAs conclusions
regarding SeaWorld and trainer safety. Loro Parque is an independent and highly respected
zoological institution with its own protocols, he responded. Because it is in the Canary Islands,
however, it is not subject to OSHA. Because we are contesting OSHAs citations, we are unable
to discuss it further, except to reiterate that their allegations reflect a fundamental lack of
understanding of the safety requirements of caring for these animals.
SeaWorld and Loro Parque were somewhat responsive to my initial inquiries for comment for
this story, but they repeatedly declined requests for interviews with the trainers and personnel
directly involved in the tragedy, citing the OSHA litigation. Nevertheless, what emerged from
extensive reporting and detailed information from confidential documents related to the incident
is a case study of the knife edge on which orca trainers work, how easy it is for a killer whale to
suddenly go rogue, and how difficult it is to help a trainer in the water once an orca decides to
attack.
FINDING OUT WHAT GOES ON behind the scenes at a marine park is surprisingly difficult.
In my experience, SeaWorld officials are selective about allowing media access to their current
trainers. Many of their former trainers still work in the marine-park industry, where SeaWorld
has enormous influence, or are reluctant to speak openly about their work. The fact that Loro
Parque is on a Spanish island closer to Africa than to North America didnt make things easier.
Last summer, however, Naomi Rose, a senior marine-mammal scientist with Humane Society
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International, connected me with a former contract employee at Orca Ocean, Suzanne Allee.
Allee worked there from February 2006 until July 2009, leaving about six months before
Martnez was killed.
A 42-year-old Texas native, Allee ran the audio-visual department at Orca Ocean; during
shows, from a booth above the main pool, she orchestrated music and video elements to sync
with the sequences being performed by the whales and trainers. I met her last October, when
she was in Washington, D.C., to meet with government agenciesincluding the National
Marine Fisheries Service and the Marine Mammal Commissioninvolved in the export and care
of killer whales in marine parks. She hadnt intended to speak out about Loro Parque after her
contract with the park ended, but when Martnez died she decided she wanted government
officials to understand what was happening there, and she wrote a detailed report about what
shed observed.
Su zanne A l lee, who worked at Orca Ocean from 2006 to 2009 Photographe r: Cou rtesy of Su zanne A l lee
Allee now lives near San Antonio and works as an independent filmmaker and screenwriter. In
2005, she was working on a seasonal contract in the entertainment department at SeaWorld
San Antonio when she heard that SeaWorld was striking up a partnership with Loro Parque to
launch Orca Ocean. A completely new facility of poolsto be filled with millions of gallons of
seawater pumped in from the Atlantic Oceanwas being built. A full-time contract on an exotic
island sounded attractive.
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Allee arrived at Orca Ocean on February 13, 2006, a day before SeaWorlds four killer whales
were flown in on a wide-body transport plane. Keto (a ten-year-old male) and Tekoa (a five-
year-old male) came from SeaWorld San Antonio. Kohana (a three-year-old female) and Skyla
(a two-year-old female) came from SeaWorld Orlando. Killer whales are highly intelligent,
social animals, and adapting to a new environment and social order is always tricky. Both the
young females, who were expected to breed as they matured, were separated from their mothers
for the move. And Keto, who was born at SeaWorld Orlando, was headed to his fourth marine
park in seven years. (For more details on the lives of captive orcas compared with those in the
wild, see The Killer in the Pool. (http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-
adventure/nature/The-Killer-in-the-Pool.html)) Thad Lacinak, then SeaWorlds vice president
and corporate curator for animal training, had flown in to release the whales into their new
home. Mark Galan, a senior trainer from SeaWorld Orlando, was also there to receive the killer
whales and would supervise their care and training for the next 18 months.
To help get Orca Ocean going, SeaWorld had trained a group of Loro Parque killer whale
trainers at its San Antonio and Orlando parks. After it opened, SeaWorld senior veterinarian
James McBain made regular visits, and SeaWorld vets held biweekly conference calls with Loro
Parques trainers to talk about the health of the animals. SeaWorld was able to monitor its
whales remotely through the Orca Oceans video surveillance system, and SeaWorlds chief
zoological officer, Brad Andrews, made a practice of flying in at least twice a year to make
assessments.
When the assigned SeaWorld supervisor was away for any reason, SeaWorld would rotate in a
temporary replacement. In September 2006, Dawn Brancheau pulled a temporary rotation at
Loro Parque, arriving to fill in for Mark Galan. According to Allee, Brancheaus skill and artistry
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in the water with the whales impressed the Loro Parque team. Brancheau also became close to
Martnez. After his death, Estafana Rodriguez says, Dawn was the only person who really
showed her feelings about Alexis. When she died, we had to relive everything again.
A lexis Martnez and Dawn Brancheau at Loro Parqu e, September 2006 Photographe r: Cou rtesy of Estefana Lu is Rodrigu ez
AS ALLEE STROLLED THROUGH Loro Parque for the first time, she thought Orca Ocean
looked like it would be a spectacular facility, with a couple of back pools and a medical pool
fronted by a large stadium pool with a main stage and a huge video screen. It was all set against
a lush tropical background, with picturesque views of the ocean. Before long, however, Allee
started to wonder if Orca Ocean was ready for prime time. The tone was set when the whales
first arrived: as Keto was craned toward the pool, the hammock he rode in started to split while
still suspended over the concrete deck. There was a mad dash to get him back into the
[transport] water tank before he splatted all over the place, Allee recalls. The next three-plus
years at Orca Ocean only intensified her concerns. They didnt have a clue about what it took
to run an orca operation, she says.
Asked about Allees concerns, Loro Parques Delponti argues that Allee isnt in a position to make
such judgments because shes not a trained whale expert. It should be noted that Allees time at
Loro Parque never involved training, caring for, or interpreting the animals that live there,
Delponti e-mailed me. She was an audiovisual technician working under contract. We have
been caring for and displaying marine mammals for many years. Our staff is highly respected
and well trained. We worked with SeaWorld on every aspect of this program.
Orca Ocean officially opened on February 17, 2006, with a gala celebration attended by Loro
Parque president Wolfgang Kiessling; August Busch III, then chairman of Anheuser-Busch
InBev (which at the time owned SeaWorld); and Adn Martin, then president of the Canary
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Islands. The opening had originally been scheduled for December 17, 2005, Loro Parques 33rd
anniversary, but construction on the pools had fallen behind. After the opening celebration, the
complex was shut down for four weeks so that electrical work and other final touches could be
completed and, Delponti says, so that the recently arrived whales could acclimate to the pools.
The main show pool at Loro Parqu e's Orca Ocean Photographe r: Cou rtesy of Loro Parqu e
The first show open to the general public took place on March 17, 2006, but there were
problems with the new pools. They had been coated with a product called Metflex, which hadnt
adhered properly. (Metflex and Loro Parque both lay the blame on the other.) And that, in turn,
led to orca problems. Killer whales, the largest members of the dolphin family, have
sophisticated sonar and an ability to locate and exploit any flaws in their pools. They also have a
proclivity for seeking out any possible diversion in the relatively barren marine-park
environment. Keto, Tekoa, Skyla, and Kohana quickly developed the habit of using their teeth to
peel away strips of Metflex from the pool walls, like bored kids picking at loose paint.
One week after the opening, Allee says, while a packed stadium awaited, all four whales
appeared in the backstage area with strips of Metflex hanging from their mouths and pool paint
smeared across their rostrums, or snouts. Trainers rushed to wipe away the paint with isopropyl
alcohol. When the whales were finally released into the show pool, they ignored the trainers and
went back to nibbling. The show was a mess. Once again, Orca Ocean was shut down for
repairs, this time for ten weeks.
Even after the repairs, Metflex strips would show up in the pool skimmers, and the killer whales
continued to pick at it and ingest it. Toward the end of 2006, Keto, Skyla, and Kohana
underwent endoscopies to examine their gastrointestinal tracts. Endoscopy on a killer whale
requires raising the animal up out of the water using a medical pools lifting floor. While trainers
try to restrain the whale, a wooden bit is inserted into its mouth and a flexible tube with a
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camera snaked down through the bit to examine the digestive system. Allee documented the
procedures on video. This clip shows (http://www.outsideonline.com/featured-videos/Keto-
Endoscopy.html) key moments during an endoscopy that Keto underwent in November 2006.
When asked about the procedures, Delponti told me: Endoscopy is a routine diagnostic
procedure used if veterinary professionals suspect the ingestion of a foreign object. Such events
are rare, and all animals living at Loro Parque are in excellent health today. (Eventually, Loro
Parque replaced the Metflex with a different pool coating.)
The four Loro Parque killer whales also struggled to adapt to one another. In the wild, most
killer whales live in family groupings, or pods, with a well-organized matriarchal structure.
Keto, Skyla, Kohana, and Tekoa were all bred and born in marine parks, but they had been
removed from their established social structures at SeaWorld San Antonio and SeaWorld
Orlando. Without the ties of family or language, marine park whales have to sort out an ad hoc
social pecking order, often through bullying and aggression, which sometimes results in a
relatively stable grouping and sometimes not. The social structure was likely complicated at
Loro Parque because there was no mature and clearly dominant female to establish order.
During her time at Loro Parque, Allee documented some of the injuries that resulted from whale
aggression. This picture
(http://media.outsideonline.com/images/Orca_KohanaDorsal_071211.jpg) shows Kohana in
October 2006, after Keto bit her dorsal fin.
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I asked Delponti about the killer whales social structure and about any aggression, such as
raking, ramming, and biting, they might have exhibited toward one another at Orca Ocean. She
responded that the whales are a stable group. Killer whales are social animals and any group of
these animals, whether in the wild or in a facility like Orca Ocean, works out their own social
structure, including dominance hierarchy, she wrote, adding that bumping and raking ...
expressions are entirely normal in any social species and that any injury or illness in our
animals is promptly and professionally treated.
Alexis Martnez also paid close attention to the social structure and behavior of the whales. Like
any good trainer, he knew that the better he got to know each whaleits moods, its
predilections, its likes and dislikesthe safer and more effective he would be. He kept notes in
journals, recording how the whales interacted with one another and how they behaved during
training and shows. Between June and October 2009, Martnez focused his entries on Kohana
who would undergo an ultrasound in August to determine if she was pregnantand made
reference to her frequent slowness in practice and training, as well as her frequent unhappy
vocalizations. Bad vocals in Pool A (alone), Martnez noted in June. Back to feeling insecure
when separated, alone, both in shows & in sessions. In late September, he noted that Kohanas
vocalizations and attitude had improved but that she always has rises & falls in temperament
(unstable).
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In August, he summarized the complicated sexual dynamics in the pools, which also affected
the stability of the killer whale grouping. Keto is obsessed with controlling Kohana, he wont
separate from her, including shows, he wrote. Tekoa is very sexual when he is alone with
Kohana (penis out). Keto is sexual with Tekoa. On September 2, 2009, without elaborating, he
noted that Brian [Rokeach, SeaWorlds supervising trainer at Loro Parque at the time] had a
small incident with Keto the first hour of the morning, and that it was a very bad day for
Keto. On September 12, he wrote, All the animals are bad. Dry day for Kohana.
Heres a video of Martnez performing with Kohana (http://www.outsideonline.com/featured-
videos/Alexis-and-Kohana.html) in spring of 2009.
Sometimes the charged dynamic between the whales would get a very public airing. During one
show that Allee was working in the summer of 2007, Tekoa was performing when Keto raced
into the show pool, rammed him, and then proceeded to chase him. After the trainers regained
control, they completed the performance with Tekoa, even though blood was visibly seeping
from his wounds. His final display of behavior was a full-body pose on the main stage. The last
image the audience saw was the stage covered in Tekoas blood, Allee recalls.
Allee had seen intra-whale conflict during her work at SeaWorld San Antonio, but the dynamic
at Loro Parque seemed different. I never saw so many instances in which the animals were out
of control or beating up on each other, she told me. There were lots of shows I directed where
the trainers did not do water work or have control of the animals.
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO KNOW how the challenge of adapting to a new life in Loro Parques
pools increased any potential danger the trainers faced. But two years before Keto killed
Martnez, Loro Parque almost lost a female trainer, 29-year-old Claudia Vollhardt, to an attack
by Tekoa. In October 2007, Vollhardt was working a training session with Tekoa, who weighed
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about 3,000 pounds at the time, under the supervision of SeaWorld senior trainer Steve Aibel
who was attacked by an orca at SeaWorld San Antonio in 2004
(http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5530108/ns/us_news/).
When killer whales perform a behavior correctly, they are bridged (often with a whistle sound,
in essence signaling well done) and then receive reinforcement in the form of a reward, such
as a fish or a playful rubdown. When they dont perform correctly, the trainer reacts with a
three-second neutral response and withholds the reward. This is known as a least-reinforcing
scenario, or LRS. Repeated failed attemptsand the corresponding lack of rewardcan
sometimes lead to a frustrated killer whale. The question the trainer has to constantly be asking
is: Is this animal mildly frustrated but still has the ability to stay with it and work through the
problem? explains Samantha Berg, who worked as a trainer at SeaWorld Orlandos Shamu
Stadium in the early 1990s. Or have I gone beyond this animals limits and its time to cut the
losses, take a break, and start over?
Vollhardt, who had transferred to Orca Ocean from the Loro Parque dolphinarium, was having
trouble practicing a foot push, a behavior in which the killer whale presses its rostrum against
the trainers foot and propels the trainer across the pool, either underwater or above the surface.
After a few failed attempts, Tekoa grabbed Vollhardts arm and took her to the bottom of the
pool. He then dragged her toward the steel gate between the show pool and the back pools and
began banging her against it.
Allee was in the trainers office when she heard the emergency siren go off, and she ran out to a
chaotic scene. Aibel was crouching by the trough, yelling for the Orca Ocean staff to get a net in
the pool. (The whales are taught to retreat when a net is dropped into the water and pulled
across the pool.) When Tekoa let Vollhardt go for a moment, Aibel managed to haul her up onto
the pool deck. He immediately began CPR and yelled for someone to call an ambulance, even as
Tekoa continued to try to reach Vollhardt as she lay by the side of the pool. Vollhardt was
carried into a nearby office, where her wetsuit, covered in bite marks and blood, was cut away,
and then rushed by ambulance to the intensive-care unit of the hospital in La Laguna. She
eventually recovered, after surgery on her lacerated and broken arm.
Claudia is an experienced marine biologist and marine mammal professional, Delponti wrote
to me when I inquired about this incident. She was conducting herself appropriately on that
day. Our response protocol worked properly and we are gratified that she made a full recovery.
To this day, she works by her own wish in Orca Ocean.
-
Orca Ocean trainer Clau dia V ol lhardt Photographe r: Estel Moore
In a media release, Loro Parque described the incident as an accident caused by bad luck. But
both Loro Parque and SeaWorld conducted a post-incident safety assessment, which led to
improved emergency-response measures, including installing an onsite defibrillator. According
to Allee and Rodriguez, Orca Ocean trainers stopped water work for more than six months. In
addition, special protocols were enacted for Tekoa, and restrictions were placed on working with
him in the water. Our protocols are continuously evaluated and we seek to learn from incidents
like this and improve our techniques and equipment, Delponti wrote.
Skyla has shown signs of unpredictability, too. In the spring of 2009, during a public show, she
started pushing her trainer around the pool and up against the pool wall. Shortly thereafter,
special protocolslimits on water work and a mandate that only senior trainers work with her,
according to Alleewere enacted for Skyla as well. Out of the four SeaWorld killer whales at
Loro Parque, only Keto and Kohana were now considered fully suitable for routine water work.
FOLLOWING TEKOA'S ATTACK on Vollhardt, Rodriguez says, Martnez told her about the
unpredictability of the whales and how they often banged on the gates between the pools. He
said he saw plenty of small incidents that he worried could easily have turned dangerous.
Everyone at Orca Ocean treated this behavior as normal, he explained to her.
-
Martnez loved working with killer whales. Over time, though, according to Rodriguez, the
excitement and allure of working at Orca Ocean started to fade for him. The pay just wasnt
worth the risks and the exhausting work, he told her. But in 2009, with Christmas approaching,
Martnez was selected to perform in the holiday show, alongside SeaWorld San Diegos Brian
Rokeach. On the fatal day, December 24, Martnez and Rokeach, along with five other Orca
Ocean trainers, ran through a morning practice session with Keto, who worked alone in the
show pool while the other three killer whales were secured in the two back pools.
As noted, SeaWorld and Loro Parque declined to make anyone with direct knowledge of the
incident available for comment. But marine parks investigate and create formal reports after
serious incidents, and there is a confidential corporate-incident report, dated December 30,
2009, that tells the story of Martnezs death. I learned the details contained in it, but when I
asked SeaWorlds Fred Jacobs and Loro Parques Patricia Delponti for comment, they declined
to offer any, citing the OSHA litigation, and added that they would no longer be communicating
with me or Outside about the story. (Jacobs also stated that there were errors in my reporting
but declined to specify them or offer any corrections.) What follows, as a result, is based on the
details of the corporate-incident report.
According to the report, which was written in Spanish, Keto appeared in a good mood that day
and had behaved well during routine animal care and a swim session with Skyla. However, the
report notes that Keto often showed more interest in what was going on with the other whales
than in working alone in the show pool. It also alludes to a September 2, 2009, incident
presumably the same incident with Rokeach that Martnez mentioned in his journaland says
Keto was emitting vocals during a perimeter ride and then left control and took off, swimming
fast around the pool and bowing (porpoising in an agitated manner) after the trainer whod
been riding him had hopped off.
During the fatal session, Rokeach worked from the show pools main stage, Martnez joined
Keto in the water, and the other Loro Parque trainers were at different locations around the
pool. According to the report, Keto started off well, but then Martnez tried a behavior called a
stand-on spy hop, in which he stood on Ketos rostrum as Keto drove his body vertically up and
out of the water. Keto had good power but was leaning slightly as he rose from the surface, and
Martnez fell off. Because the stunt had not been executed cleanly, Keto was not bridged.
A short time later, Martnez initiated another spy hop. Again, Keto came up twisting, and this
time Martnez responded with an LRS. To help get Keto back on track, he was called to a
shallow ledge across the pool from the main stage, and when he obeyed another trainer
rewarded him with two handfuls of fish. Keto, according to the report, seemed calm. Martnez
then told Rokeach and the others that he was going to ride Keto down into the pool and up onto
the stage, a sequence called a haul-down into stage haul-out.
-
On the way down Keto went too deep, and as he approached the bottom of the 12-meter pool
Martnez abandoned the haul-out and asked Keto to follow his hand with his rostrum. Together
they drifted up to the surface, and again Martnez responded to Ketos failure with an LRS.
This time, though, Keto responded oddly. According to the incident report, Keto surfaced with
Alexis and seemed calm, but appeared to position himself between Alexis and the stage. Alexis
waited for calm from Keto and requested a stage call via underwater tone. Keto responded and
swam over to Rokeach, who was standing on the stage. But Rokeach observed that Keto
appeared not committed to remaining under control and a little big-eyed. Instead of walking
back to get a fish bucket, Rokeach asked another trainer to bring it to him. Like Martnez,
Rokeach gave Keto a hand target to focus him, one of the simplest and first behaviors most
marine-park killer whales learn. When Rokeach felt Keto was under better control, he asked
Martnez, who had been waiting patiently near the center of the pool, to swim slowly toward the
slide-over (a ramp connecting the show pool to the back pools) at the edge of the main stage so
he could get out of the water. Notably, the incident report makes no mention of Rokeach
feeding Keto any fish.
As Martnez started to paddle gently through the water, the report indicates, Keto took note and
started to lean in his direction. Sensing he was about to lose control, Rokeach gave Keto another
hand target. This time Keto ignored it. He went after Martnez, driving him to the bottom of the
pool with his nose. (In his testimony to Canary Islands investigators, Orca Ocean assistant
supervisor Rafael Sanchez said, The animal in question moved towards him and hit him and
violently played with his body.)
Rokeach and the other trainers did what they could, but a powerful 6,600-pound killer whale is
the master of his domain. Rokeach slapped the water and banged the bucket on the stage, both
signals for Keto to return. He slapped the water again, and this time Keto responded, leaving
Martnez at the bottom of the poolMartnez had been under an estimated 30 seconds by then
and surfacing without him. Rokeach sounded the emergency alarm. Keto took a quick breath,
returned to Martnez, and then came back to the surface carrying Martnez limp body across
his rostrum. Rokeach called for the team to get a net in the water while others raced to corral
the other three killer whales into one of the back pools. It took almost two minutes to get Keto
out of the show pool and secure the gate between the pools (Keto slowed the process by about a
minute by interfering with the gate as trainers tried to close it).
By this point, Martnezapart from the brief moment Keto brought him to the surfacehad
been on the bottom of the pool for almost 3 minutes. Rokeach and another trainer dove in and
resurfaced with Martnez, who was unconscious and had blood coming from his nose and
mouth. A distraught Rokeach immediately initiated CPR. A defibrillator was brought out, and
Loro Parque called for an ambulance. But Martnez was never revived.
-
Loro Parque issued a statement saying Martnezs death was an unfortunate accident and that
he had likely died due to asphyxiation resulting from compression of his chest. After completing
the [exercise], the statement said, Alexis was knocked by the orca in an unexpected reaction of
the animal, adding that the study of the facts shows that the animals behavior did not
correspond to the way in which these marine mammals attack their prey in the wild, but was
rather a shifting of position.
But as with Dawn Brancheau, the autopsy report on Martnez 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 Martnez with such force that he
caved in his chest.
SO WHAT DRIVES an animal in captivity to snap? SeaWorld and Loro Parque maintain
profiles of their killer whales, which, in addition to history, physical characteristics, and health
notes, include tendencies and personality observations. These profiles are closely guarded, but I
managed to learn some of the details used to help trainers understand Keto.
Ketos profile indicates that before he moved to Loro Parque in 2006, he disliked major
environmental changes and occasionally struggled with prolonged separations from other
whales. In the aggressive tendencies section, the profile notes that Keto would sometimes
become vocal, ignore bridges, and perform behaviors incorrectly in advance of getting
aggressive. On a few occasions during his time at SeaWorlds parks, the profile shows, Keto
either came at a trainer with his mouth open, mouthed trainers feet, or, in one incident,
mouthed a trainers leg. None of the incidents, according to the profile, resulted in injury.
As Keto matured, the profile indicates, he developed into a fairly reliable water-work killer
whale. It notes, however, that Ketos reliability was influenced by the social structure of the
whales in his group and that he could be inconsistent when there was social unrest or sexual
activity. At SeaWorld San Antonio, the profile notes, SeaWorld management took the precaution
of avoiding water work with Keto when Kayla (a female killer whale Keto was interested in) was
together with Ky (another male whale).
-
Orca Ocean trainer A lexis Martnez with Keto Photographe r: Estel Moore
To further explore what might have set Keto off, I asked four former SeaWorld trainers to
analyze Martnezs interaction with him. They all cautioned that the judgments a trainer has to
make in the water are highly subjective. A trainer applying what works for one whale could
have completely different consequences during an interaction with another whale, says Carol
Ray, who worked at SeaWorld Orlando from 1987 to December 1990.
Based on the information I shared with them about the incident, no one saw an obvious error
or catastrophic decision. However, they did focus on a few facts: that Keto executed a succession
of high-energy behaviors that did not earn him a bridge or any fish, that Keto was switched
between a number of trainers during the session, and that Rokeach had asked Martnez to swim
out before giving Keto any primary reinforcement (fish) after coming to the stage.
Internally, I learned, SeaWorld personnel would focus on Rokeachs decision to direct Martnez
to the slide-over (which was the quickest way out but also brought him closer to the stage and
to Keto) instead of having him exit from the other side of the pool. Rokeachs decision to ask
Martnez to swim out before feeding Keto fish at the stagepossibly establishing better control
also drew scrutiny. (I repeatedly tried to reach Rokeach, directly and via SeaWorld, to get his
take on the incident but never got a response.)
-
What I took away was this: given the subjectivity and complexity of the interaction between a
human and a killer whale in a marine-park pool, it seems unlikely that any trainer can make
the right decision each and every time. As former SeaWorld trainer Samantha Berg puts it,
Things are happening on so many different levels that any assertion that its possible to control
all the variables is absolutely ludicrous. And you can bet the whales were often frustrated when
trainers did something that didnt make sense to them.
A frustrated killer whalewhether its struggling with captivity, social structure, sexual tension,
poor health, or training failuresis a potentially dangerous killer whale. This is not an issue
with most whales most of the time, says Ray. But in cases like Keto, Alexis, and Brian, it
might be enough [for Keto] to say, Screw you! I did my effing best to haul your human ass out
of the water the way you wanted me totwice, dammit! Just as we should expect stress to get
to any large, intelligent, confined animal with hormones who is trying to do the right thing for
the people that control its food and life.
The corporate incident report, in effect, acknowledges the imperfect understanding between
man and whale. Regarding Ketos killing of Martnez, the report drily concludes, Behavior of
the animal involved: unforeseen, incorrect. Incorrect is a wholly inadequate description of
what Keto did to Alexis Martnez. But its the unforeseen part that should make any trainer
nervous. Keto had not been designated a dangerous whale, but he sent the message that no
marine-park killer whale can ever truly be considered safeand that no trainer in the water
with one is ever truly free from risk.
Since Martnezs death, Orca Ocean has not resumed full water work with its mature killer
whales. Three of the four orcas it received from SeaWorldKeto, Tekoa, and Skylanow have a
history of incidents. Meanwhile, Kohana gave birth to her first calf, Adn, in late 2010. For its
part, SeaWorld briefly ceased water work at its three parks in the immediate aftermath of
Martnezs death as it tried to get details about what happened. But within a week, water work
was under way again at all of them. It continued for almost two months, until Dawn
Brancheaus death prompted another suspension of water work, which remains in effect.
Still, SeaWorld has said that it would like to resume water work with its whales, and the park
has been exploring the installation of fast-rising floors in some of its pools to quickly raise a
whale and a trainer in trouble out of the water. Other safety measures that have been
considered include personal air systems for trainers and the deployment of underwater vehicles
that could distract the orcas in case of an emergency. That certainly suggests that SeaWorld
understands there are inherent risks that arise when humans get in the water with one of the
oceans most powerful and intelligent predators.
-
In the end, Martnezs death offers the most compelling testimony possible on this point. In its
report, the Canary Islands Ministry of Work and Immigration notes that the main risk is
precisely in the interaction with an animal that weighs more than three thousand kilos and is
also in its natural environment (water). The report concludes that Martnez was engaged in an
inherently risky activity and that the only preventive action is a simple one: prohibition of the
activity.
Ultimately, the question of whether performing in the water with killer whales at SeaWorld
should be ended or severely constrained by safety measures will be decided by the OSHA
proceedings. If, after the legal proceedings are resolved, water work becomes a distant memory
for marine-park fans, that will be fine with Rodriguez. Martnez is never far from her mind, and
his ashes are interred in a spot near their home, beneath the protective canopy of a Canary
Islands Dragon Tree that overlooks the sea.
If one demonstrates that there is no safety due to the unpredictable behavior of killer whales,
this type of show should be ended, she says. Too many people have died, and this should not
happen again.
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