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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

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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)

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.

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

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

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.

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?

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

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.

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

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

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

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.

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).

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

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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