Former SeaWorld Trainer Samantha Berg talks about David Kirby's book, "Death at SeaWorld"

• published: 20 Aug 2012
• views: 33825

Recording from Fireside Books in Palmer, AK August 19th, 2012 Author David Kirby's Website: http://deathatseaworld.com/ Follow Sam on Twitter @Sam10k or @Voice_OT_orcas Interview w/ Sam re: DASW on Radio Free Palmer: http://soundcloud.com/voto4/samradiofreepalmer Sam's homepage at Voice of the Orcas (VOTO): https://sites.google.com/site/voiceoftheorcas/samanthaberg Sam Simon show interview re: 2006 attack of Kasatka on Ken Peters: http://soundcloud.com/voto3/sam-berg-and-sam-simon-dissect-kasatka-video Tim Zimmermann's July 2010 article "Killer in the Pool" featuring former SW Trainers Dr. Jeffrey Ventre and John Jett, Ph.D. http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/The-Killer-in-the-Pool.html?page=all More Tim Zimmermann articles and interviews: http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/Blood-in-the-Water-Keto.html?page=all http://timzimmermann.com/2010/09/16/did-dawn-brancheau-make-a-mistake-or-was-seaworld-taking-risks-with-tilikum/ http://www.outsideonline.com/outdoor-adventure/nature/The-Killer-in-the-Pool.html?page=all Voice of the Orcas (VOTO) Website for 4 ex-SW trainers: https://sites.google.com/site/voiceoftheorcas/home http://voiceoftheorcas.blogspot.com/ Twitter: @Voice_OT_Orcas Websites/Resources: http://withoutmethereisnou.wordpress.com/ http://theorcaproject.wordpress.com/ http://www.bluefreedomblog.org/ http://www.orcanetwork.org/ http://www.orcaresearch.org/ http://www.freemorgan.org/ http://www.earthintransition.org/2012/09/my-life-with-the-belugas/ http://www.bluefreedomblog.org/2012/08/imprisonment-for-white-whales.html Scientific paper by former SeaWorld Trainers - Dr. Jeffrey Ventre & John Jett, Ph.D about stresses that killer whales experience in captivity http://theorcaproject.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/keto-tilikum-express-stress-of-orca-captivity/ CORRECTIONS TO VIDEO: 1. It took SeaWorld 27 minutes (!!) - not 12 minutes as I said here - to relay information about Dawn to the Orange Country Sheriff's department. Great article from Digital Journal re: this issue: http://digitaljournal.com/article/320678 2. Dr. Frank Fish's study was on "Hydrodynamics" not "thermodynamics" - here's a link to his publications - his was the ONLY outside scientific study that I saw during my entire 3 1/2 years at the park: http://darwin.wcupa.edu/~biology/fish/pubs/index.html 3. I gave incorrect measurements for Zori, the false killer whale (Pseudorca crassidens) whose death I witnessed and for Tilikum the killer whale who killed Dawn Brancheau. Tilikum is 22 feet long and weights approximately 12,000 lbs Zori was probably about 12-15 feet long. Also, mature false killer whales can weigh up to 2600 lbs, but because Zori was sick, she was likely less than 2000 lbs. You can see a list of all the deceased False Killer Whales at this website - Zori's death is listed at April 16th, 1990. http://www.ceta-base.com/phinventory/historicalphins/allphins_swf.html This article talks about Jozu - the last surviving false killer whale at SeaWorld of Orlando - who was critically ill at the time the article was written and subsequently died. Jozu's parents were Hana (deceased) and Teri (deceased) - I worked with Hana and Teri at the Whale and Dolphin Stadium in Orlando from 1990-1991. http://digitaljournal.com/article/326022 4. SeaWorld claimed the "shallow ledge" Dawn way laying on was in about 4 inches of water which is what I said in the video above. In fact, if you watch the video of Dawn seconds before Tilikum pulled her in, you can see that her arm is likely already in his mouth and they are gliding along together in the water - Dawn appears to be floating. Therefore, the depth of the water is more likely to be 8" - 12" deep. SeaWorld likely lowered the estimate of the water depth because they claimed that what she was doing was NOT water work. Watch the video and decide for yourself if Dawn is in the water or not. Slow motion video (15 seconds) of Dawn drifting with Tilikum: http://youtu.be/ULWM93Ip8yA In depth analysis of Tilikum's last performance with Dawn from Tim Zimmermann and a former SeaWorld trainer: http://timzimmermann.com/2010/07/13/diary-of-a-killer-whale-tilikums-dine-with-shamu-performance/ 5. SeaWorld Vs. Osha trial occurred in September and November of 2011 - verdict was reached on May 30th 2012. Read more about verdict & the trial here: http://theorcaproject.wordpress.com/sw-vs-osha/ 6. I incorrectly reported how long it took before SeaWorld trainers returned to water work after Alexis Martinez's was killed at Loro Parque in the Canary Islands by Keto, a SeaWorld owned whale while there was a SeaWorld trainer supervising the session. SW Texas and SW Orlando trainers returned to the water after two days. It was at least 5-6 days before SW California trainers got back in the water with the whales, even though at this time the details of what happened at Loro Parque will still unavailable.