VIDEO: Whale Crashes on Boat!

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VIDEO: Details of SeaWorld Whale Attack

Whale Kills Trainer at Sea World!

A SeaWorld employee died this afternoon during an incident at SeaWorld’s Shamu Stadium.

SeaWorld, rescue personnel and the Sheriff’s Office are not revealing the identity of the victim, although a local TV station is reporting that it was a female employee who was killed after she was grabbed by one of the theme park’s whales at the start of a public show.

Park guest Victoria Biniak said that the trainer was a veteran of SeaWorld and had just finished explaining to the audience what they would see during the performance when the whale came up from the water and grabbed the woman and started thrashing her around.

She said sirens went off and everyone was forced to leave the stadium. Guests were evacuated from the area, and the whale show was cancelled. The park is not shut down.

Orange County Fire Rescue personnel arrived on scene within five minutes of receiving a 911 call for an unknown medical condition just prior to 2 p.m. The woman was dead when rescue officials arrived.

The whale involved in the incident is named Tillikum, and apparently “Tilly” has a controversial past…

[full story]

A Whale In New York Harbor!

A 20-foot humpback whale has been spotted swimming under the Verrazano Bridge in the New York Harbor! Watch it live on NBCNewYork.com or check out Gawker for some video.

Shamu Attacks and Kills Pelican!

Someone filmed this while watching the “Believe” show at SeaWorld San Diego last week (starring Shamu the Killer Whale). During the show a Pelican landed on the water and Shamu was apparently pretty hungry.

Shark Alert in Cape Town!

One of Cape Town’s most popular beaches, Muizenberg Beach, was closed after a dead whale was found floating in waist-deep water.

But it wasn’t the whale that was the problem. It was all the sharks that were feeding on it.

The 32 ft juvenile Humpback whale carcass was found at Surfer’s Corner in Muizenberg and appeared to have shark bite marks.

Local shark spotters are on high alert, and law enforcement officers are on the scene, advising people not to surf or swim at the beach.

[source]

UPDATE: A couple pics of the half-munched whale… click ‘em to enlarge.

Mass Whale Stranding in Tasmania

A pod of 65 long-finned pilot whales beached themselves on Tasmania’s far north-west coast over the weekend. Rescuers were able to return 11 of the survivors back to the sea.

[source + video]

Happy National Exploding Whale Day!

Today marks the 38th anniversary of the legendary Exploding Whale. The story goes as follows: On this same day in 1970, news reporter Paul Linnman reported on an unusual story that developed into an even more unusual incident. He traveled to the southern coast of Oregon to report on a forty-five foot, eight ton whale that had washed up on shore. The State Highway Division, who was in charge of disposing of the whale, came up with the solution to blow it up with dynamite.

The plan didn’t go as smoothly as they’d hoped. After the wild explosion, huge pieces of whale began to fall dangerously onto the curious crowd of spectators, including Linnman.

Woah.

David Sheridan was kiteboarding off Valla Beach, AU on October 26 when he had a brush with a gigantic right whale. And get this… right after the his sail-mounted camera snapped this pic, the whale flicked its tail and smacked him in the back of the head.

Good thing that camera was there, but too bad it didn’t get a shot of the smackdown.

[source]

Dead Whale Attracting Sharks to Aussie Beach

Officials are warning people to stay out of the water at Sorrento Beach in Perth, Australia as sharks have been seen circling the carcass of a dead whale.

The 45 ft whale, thought to be a humpback, drifted onto the beach last night… but I’m pretty sure the sharks are still hanging out.

[source]