Our Descent Into Madness

A whale-trainer working at a Sea World facility in San Antonio, Texas, was attacked by a whale during a show called the Shamu Adventure. The trainer was battered and held under water while the audience looked on in horror. Spokespersons for Sea World have dismissed the whale’s attack as a surge of adolescent hormones and nothing more.

Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist for the Humane Society of the United States, has this to say about that: “To say that Ky’s actions were motivated by his teenage hormones is a bit like saying a lion’s hunting instincts are motivated by his appetite. Well, yeah, maybe that’s right. But that’s not the point. The point is humans cannot predict, let alone control, these natural behaviors. The danger in thinking we can control these animals is injury, maybe even death.”