• News
  • Film and TV
  • Music
  • Tech
  • Features
  • Celebrity
  • Politics
  • Weird
  • Community
  • Advertise
  • Terms
  • Privacy & Cookies
  • LADbible Group
  • LADbible
  • SPORTbible
  • GAMINGbible
  • Tyla
  • UNILAD Tech
  • FOODbible
  • License Our Content
  • About Us & Contact
  • Jobs
  • Latest
  • Topics A-Z
  • Authors
Facebook
Instagram
X
Threads
TikTok
YouTube
Submit Your Content
Video shows killer whale 'rag dolling' trainer before letting him live

Home> News

Published 17:26 22 Dec 2022 GMT

Video shows killer whale 'rag dolling' trainer before letting him live

Ken Peters was dragged beneath the water during a show and somehow managed to escape with his life

Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers

Killer whales are just about as terrifying a predator as there is in the world.

So you either have to be incredibly brave or touch silly to jump into a pool and swim with them for a living.

If you needed any convincing about that fact, a horrific video is doing the rounds online that shows the moment a trainer is dragged underwater by an orca and almost drowned.

Ken Peters was working at SeaWorld in San Diego back in 2006 when one of the animals, named Kasatka, grabbed hold of him.

Advert

In the video, Ken is quickly taken under by the powerful animal, dragged all the way to the bottom of the pool, as a horrified crowd watch on.

Helpless, he just goes along for the ride, holding his breath for over a minute until the whale brings him back up to the surface.

Ken was performing with Kasatka before she turned on him.
ABC News

Kasatka gives Ken a few seconds to catch his breath and then pulls him back down once again, repeating it several times.

Advert

Luckily, he eventually manages to escape her grips, patting her on her side and stroking her as he moves slowly away before swimming over to the side and being pulled out of the water by his colleagues.

Speaking at a federal hearing after the incident, Ken said he accepted the dangers that came with swimming with such a dangerous animal

"I could get killed in a car accident today, but I still get in a car," he said.

"Even when I was down at the bottom of the pool, I thought she’d let me go."

Advert

Footage of Ken's ordeal was first shown in the 2013 award-winning documentary Blackfish.

Kasatka was put down in 2017, at the age of 41.

The animal's former trainer, John Hargrove, who left the SeaWorld in 2012, claimed her death was caused by bacterial infections.

He was dragged underwater several times.
ABC News

Advert

Hargrove claims that the animals' immune systems are badly affected by the antibiotics they are given so that they can live in the parks' pools.

Speaking to the Mail on Sunday, he said: "They claim captive orcas help educate people, and for years I bought into it. But Kasatka lived in misery, in barbaric and horrific conditions, and died in agony.

"She lived out her days in a house of horrors – and I was complicit in selling the lie to the public."

Adding: "In the wild, these magnificent creatures live to 80, 100 years old.

Advert

"I have to speak out because if it stops just one person paying to go to a park where orcas are tortured to perform circus tricks, then Kasatka's death won't have been in vain."

UNILAD has contacted SeaWorld for a comment.

Featured Image Credit: ABC News

Topics: Animals, US News

Dominic Smithers
Dominic Smithers

Dominic Smithers is the News/Agenda Desk Lead, covering the latest trends and breaking stories. After graduating from the University of Leeds with a degree in French and History, he went on to write for the Manchester Evening News, the Accrington Observer and the Macclesfield Express. So as you can imagine, he’s spent many a night wondering just how useful that second language has been. But c'est la vie.

X

@SmithersDom

Advert

Advert

Advert

Choose your content:

8 hours ago
9 hours ago
10 hours ago
  • 8 hours ago

    Social Security bosses send terrifying warning about exact date America will run out of cash

    A new report has detailed a bleak-looking future unless Congress steps in

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Diddy’s former assistant alleges disturbing ‘loyalty’ test he did to ‘prove’ himself to the rapper

    Brendan Paul, Diddy's former assistant, took to the stand on Friday

    News
  • 9 hours ago

    Netflix star Sara Burack found dead aged 40 as police launch manhunt for suspect on the run

    The famous realtor was reportedly killed on the highway

    Celebrity
  • 10 hours ago

    US Air Force reveals truth behind 'doomsday plane' and why it made 'highly unusual flight' after terrifying warning

    The so-called 'doomsday plane' took an unexpected flight earlier this week

    News
  • Horrific final moments of SeaWorld trainer before killer whale 'tore organs'
  • SeaWorld faces huge fine after trainer was injured by killer whale
  • Shocking moment SeaWorld killer whale drags trainer underwater and holds him there for 15 minutes
  • 'Traumatic' moment whale defecates before splashing crowd with feces at SeaWorld