The Marine Connection has received news that a trainer at Loro Parque in Tenerife, Canary Islands has been killed by an orca during a training session for a new show, planned to open at the beginning of January.

The 29 year old trainer originated from Puerto de la Cruz and had worked at the Loro Parque facility since 2004, the whale Keto, was 14 years old and born in captivity in the USA. Seven other trainers were present during the session when the incident happened and although there is no clear evidence so far of what actually occured, it is thought that the trainer was hit by the whale and drowned after being underwater for several minutes before he could be reached by rescuers. In the meantime, the planned orca show has been suspended for the time being. The orcas at Loro Parque came from SeaWorld - the facility also holds captive dolphins.

Orcas attacking or killing their trainers is not uncommon. In 1991 a group of 3 orcas killed a trainer at Sealand in Victoria, British Columbia where at the time employees were not allowed in the water with animals. Also, in 2006 a female orca at SeaWorld, San Diego grabbed one of her trainers by the foot holding him underwater. The trainer had worked with the orca for over 10 years and was lucky to escape with only a broken foot, after other staff were eventually able to calm the whale.

It is unclear as yet what the cause of this incident was, but follows a previous attack reported by us in 2007 (further details here).