Killer Whale Incident at Sea World

A trainer was injured by a female killer whale named Kasatka, this past Wednesday during a performance at Sea World in San Diego. Kasatka apparently grabbed the trainer's foot and held him underwater a couple times. Thankfully the trainer was able to swim away and was treated at a hospital for a foot injury. You can read the entire story at: CNN.com

Killer Whales (a.k.a. orcas) are the largest member of the dolphin family and can weigh as much as 5000 pounds. As gentle as they may be toward humans, they still pose a risk to anyone who gets close to them because of their magnitude and strength.

In 1999, the British Columbian government listed orcas as a "threatened" species. Killer whales have had a 20% reduction in their population in the Puget Sound region of the United States and Canada since 1996, because of pollution and a decline in the number of salmon in their habitat. It's very important that we do more to protect these amazing animals and the waters that they grace.