Show goes on for SeaWorld orca after trainer attacked

SAN DIEGO — Officials at the SeaWorld theme park ordered a "complete" investigation Thursday into the incident in which a 5,000-pound orca injured a veteran trainer and dragged him to the bottom of a 36-foot-deep pool Wednesday at Shamu Stadium.

Held underwater, trainer Ken Peters persuaded Kasatka to free his foot from her mouth by stroking her back.

As several hundred horrified patrons watched, Peters, 39, swam to the surface. He was taken to the UC San Diego Medical Center, where he is being treated for a broken left foot.

The show resumed Thursday, but no trainers approached Kasatka or any of the other orcas.

Kasatka has been at SeaWorld for 25 years. Two of her offspring are among the park's seven orcas.

The incident Wednesday occurred at the end of the afternoon show, when Peters and Kasatka descended to the bottom of the 3.2 million-gallon pool to perform what it is usually a showstopper: the whale rocketing to the surface with the trainer diving off her nose.

Instead, the whale kept Peters at the bottom of the pool for about a minute, surfaced with Peters in tow and then descended for a second time and again held the trainer at the bottom of the pool.

Mike Scarpuzzi, vice president of zoological operations at the park, said the review will be conducted by trainers from SeaWorld's parks in Florida, Texas and San Diego. Among other things, they will go over Kasatka's behavior before the incident.

"The nature of working with animals is that you don't know what they're thinking, but you do know how they're acting," said Scarpuzzi, a former whale trainer.

Kasatka's behavior has been good, but she did attempt to bite Peters in 1999, Scarpuzzi said.

"Some mornings they just wake up not as willing to do the show as others," said Ken Balcomb, director of the Center for Whale Research in Friday Harbor. "If the trainer doesn't recognize it's not a good day, this will happen."

Peters has 16 years of experience as a trainer, including 12 years at Shamu Stadium.

The Humane Society of the United States, which has often criticized SeaWorld, said the incident is proof that orcas should not be kept in captivity and made to perform tricks.

"The risk of a tragic outcome is too great — for the trainers and the whales," said Naomi Rose, marine-mammal scientist for the Humane Society.

Scarpuzzi rejected Rose's claim and said that the public's concern for the welfare of large marine mammals comes in large part from shows and research at SeaWorld parks.

He noted that even though the whales are trained, they remain wild animals.

"They are killer whales. Even though we've had thousands and thousands of good interactions, we are going to have some that don't go well," Scarpuzzi said.

Material from The Associated Press is included in this report