An onlooker said ‘blood soaked the water’ following the incident
SeaWorld has responded to footage that shows the moment killer whales appear to attack each other at one of its parks.
Footage captured by a visitor at the SeaWorld park in San Diego went viral after it was shared by animal rights group PETA earlier this week.
The video shows one of the killer whales – also known as orcas – beaching itself on the side of the pool to escape the attack.
The organisation quoted an eyewitness as saying that the attack left “blood soaking the water” and that this caused their daughter to start crying.
They continued: “We would see bite marks and fresh wounds all over the side of the whale. Every couple seconds two more orcas would jump out of the water to continue attacking the hurt orca.”
You can see the footage below.
https://www.instagram.com/p/Cg5cMG6p-hX/?hl=en
PETA has since filed a complaint about the incident to the US Department of Agriculture after seeing the footage.
But SeaWorld has now responded, labelling the clip as “misleading.”
The theme park chain told the Daily Star: “The video released by PETA is misleading and mischaracterised.
“In fact, it shows common orca behaviours exhibited by both wild populations and those in human care as part of natural social interactions.
“During the interaction, one of the orcas sustained some minor and superficial abrasions that pose no serious health risk.
“Numerous scientific papers have been published about these behaviours among wild orcas.
“The papers include documented physical evidence in orcas that resulted from these same types of interactions in the open ocean.”
This follows the news that an orca at the park had died as a result of an infection.
Nakai passed away last on August 5 and had reportedly been kept in a tank where he was bullied by other whales for 20 years.
BREAKING: Nakai the orca, just died at @SeaWorld. He was born in captivity, kept in a tiny tank for 21 years, & was attacked by two orcas in 2012, causing him to lose a large chunk of his jaw 😔
He didn't deserve any of this. pic.twitter.com/i7uje6rESm
— PETA (@peta) August 6, 2022
PETA’s Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said: “In two days, one orca has died and another has been attacked by other frustrated, closely confined orcas, resulting in a serious injury.
“And young children were witnesses to the carnage.”
In a statement, the organisation said marine parks cause orcas “extreme stress and frustration” and that keeping “incompatible animals” in tiny tanks means they have nowhere to escape conflicts.
Related links:
- Gordon Ramsay TikTok prompts PETA calls for his kids to ‘disown’ him
- Thomas Müller accused of animal cruelty by PETA
- Some of Michael Jackson’s zoo animals suffered horrific fates, documentary finds
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