SeaWorld Trainer’s horrific death when Keto Killer Whale launched a terrifying attack and killed it

During his whole life, Keto had never been able to swim in the open sea; instead, he was locked in a swimming pool where he spent his days entertaining crowds of tourists.

Born in 1995 to her mother Kalina, who was the first killer whale to be born in a theme park Sea worldKeto also sired several captive puppies. The huge killer whale was one of the main attractions at Loro Parque in Tenerife and had also been transported around the world to entertain the crowds.

She had performed at theme parks in San Diego, Ohio and Texas before being transferred to Spain. Just three years after her last move, something at Keto broke and launched a terrifying and fatal attack on one of her trainers, Alexis Martinez.

Alexis used to work with orcas after being a trainer for several years and the 29-year-old was very knowledgeable about Keto. But, on Christmas Eve 2009, the huge killer whale reacted in ways his trainers had never seen before, and Alexis paid the ultimate price.

The trainer and the whale were working on the Christmas program in a training pool and everything seemed normal, but then the giant killer whale started behaving strangely. He was unable to execute many of his moves correctly, but seemed calm as he floated on the surface of the pool with his trainer, Alexis.

However, in the days following this horrific incident, another staff member working at Loro Parque said he noticed Keto seemed to have deliberately placed itself between his trainer and the stage.

That’s when an agreed-upon exercise came up and Alexis started swimming, and Keto started leaning towards her trainer. Another trainer used mechanisms that had always worked with orcas, but Keto refused to respond and he pushed Alexis to the bottom of the pool.

Desperate, the trainer realized how dire the situation was and tried other signals to control Keto. It seemed to work and the orca came back to the surface of the pool and took a deep breath, but within seconds he was back under Alexis.

The next horrific situation viewers saw was Keto’s resurgence against Alexis at the top of the podium. Finally, Keto freed Alexis but the 29-year-old trainer sank to the bottom of the pool, dead.

The other trainers desperately tried to lure SeaWorld-owned Keto into another pool, although he seemed to resist playing with a pond gate. It wasn’t until a net was thrown that Keto entered another pool and Alexis’ body was able to recover from the bottom.

He had suffered horrific injuries, including massive internal bleeding, and nothing could be done to save him. Alexis’ autopsy said he “died of serious injuries sustained by a killer whale attack, including multiple compression fractures, tears of vital organs, and the animal’s bite marks on its body. “

His death came exactly two months before the SeaWorld trainer, Dawn brancheau was killed in front of thousands of spectators at the attraction in Orlando, Florida on December 24, 2010.

Dawn, who had achieved her goal of becoming a senior trainer at SeaWorld at the time of her tragic death, had studied animal behavior and psychology in college.

When he graduated he spent two years working with dolphins at a New Jersey attraction before landing his job with SeaWorld. Two years after Dawn started working at SeaWorld, she became a killer whale trainer.

He made sure he was as fit and healthy as possible so he could endure the rigors of swimming with the huge beasts of the depths. Dawn was one of SeaWorld’s star coaches: He played a key role in whale shows and his face has been seen in commercials advertising Orlando Park.

Dawn had spoken of the dangers of working with killer whales. He had a special relationship with the huge killer whale, Tilikum, also known as Blackfish.

It was one of SeaWorld’s largest killer whales and had been in captivity for over 30 years. Those who worked with her said their bond was strong and based on love and trust.

John Hargrove, who was a senior trainer at Seaworld at the time of Dawn’s death, said: “We will never know why Tilikum made the decision to grab Dawn and kill her. He had a great relationship with her, and her relationship. with him. I think he loved her and I know she loved him. “

It was after one of the shows that Tilikum committed his brutal act. Tourists could watch the action while eating and Dawn was out of the pool.

She was lying with her face next to that of Tilikum, the orca with whom she had spent countless hours and who had always treated her as a trusted companion.

Suddenly, Dawn was dragged into the water. It was initially claimed that she was dragged into the pool by her hair, but later it was suggested that Tilikum grabbed her by the shoulder. What happened next was really horrible.

Tilikum not only killed his trainer, but the attack was prolonged and incredibly violent. Dawn, 40, not only drowned, her left arm was torn flat, Dawn was grazed with her hair and skin found at the bottom of the pool.

Horribly, her spinal cord was severed, while she also had broken ribs, a broken jaw, and the autopsy revealed that she died of drowning and blunt injuries. Frighteningly, the captive whale killed its trainer and then refused to release its body.

For 45 minutes, he kept Dawn’s mutilated body in the pool, despite attempts by other coaches to distract him with nets and food. Eventually, they managed to get him to a smaller medical pool, where it was easier to calm down, and he finally released the trainer’s body.

After Dawn’s death, Tilikum was sent to spend most of his days in a swimming pool rarely seen by the public. There are reports that he spent hours and hours lying on the surface of the water. Tilikum died at the Florida attraction in January 2017.

Six years after Dawn’s death, SeaWorld announced it would end its captive killer whale breeding program.