A heartbreaking footage that witnessed the unthinkable attack of Spanish orca trainer Alexis Martinez disturbed many.
The 28-year-old had been working with orcas at Loro Parque’s Orca Ocean in the Canary Islands.
Alexis Martinez was killed by the orca named Keto during a Christmas show rehearsal on December 24, 2009.
He tragically died two months before an orca attacked and killed Dawn Brancheau, a trainer of 14 years.
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According to Martinez’ partner, Estefanía Luis Rodriguez, he showed concerns over the behaviour of the killer whales just weeks before the attack during which he lost his life. She said that according to him, the whales were becoming disobedient, disruptive, and aggressive.
Keto, which has never seen the ocean, is a 6,600lb male killer whale born in captivity in 1995 in a SeaWorld park. At the time of Martinez’ death, Keto was on loan to Loro Parque from SeaWorld.
The tragedy happened when Martinez tried to perform a stand-on spy hop where the trainer balanced on the killer whale as he rose out of the water.
But Keto leaned on one side, and according to another trainer, the orca seemed to have deliberately positioned himself between his trainer and the stage.
Alexis Martinez and Dawn Brancheau/ Estefanía Luis Rodriguez
Martinez was instructed to slim slowly to another pool, while other trainers used controls that had always worked with killer whales, but Keto refused to obey. Instead, he used hi rostrum – the tip of his beak or snout – to push Martinez to the bottom where he violently played with his body.
Eventually, they managed to regain control over the orca and retrieve Martinez’s body, but he suffered serious injuries, including internal bleeding, that claimed his life.
The post-mortem stated that Alexis Martinez, the orca trainer, had “died due to grave injuries sustained by an orca attack, including multiple compression fractures, tears to vital organs, and the bite marks of the animal on his body.”
Following Martinez’s death, SeaWorld temporarily stopped in-water interactions with whales at three of its parks.
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