Keto the killer whale, who spent his whole life in captivity and fatally attacked his trainer Alexis Martínez in 2009, has died at the age of 29 in a Loro Parque in Tenerife
Keto the killer whale ravaged his trainer Alexis Martínez in an unthinkable attack.
The famous orca sadly passed away, aged 29, after ‘showing signs of discomfort in recent days’, according to Tenerife zoo Loro Parque. The 6,600lb killer whale, who was born in 1995, spent his whole life in captivity. He grew up in SeaWorld in Orlando before fatally attacking his trainer in 2009.
Keto was then moved to the zoo where he died. Over the weekend, 21 vets took part in the necropsy, although his cause of death has not yet been made public. Animal rights organisation PETA has now lashed out after Keto had to spend a “lifetime of exploitation and confinement to tiny tanks”.
The killer whale’s mother, Kalina, was the first orca to be born in a SeaWorld theme park, where Keto was also born. He did not know a life outside of manmade pools and never got to swim in the ocean. Later in life, he became one of the main attractions at Loro Parque, where he fathered several calves – several of whom had tragic endings too.
On Christmas Eve 2009, Keto acted in a way that had never been seen by his trainers before. His trainer Alexis, 29, who had worked with orcas for several years, was practising with Keto in the pool. At first, everything seemed normal, but then the giant orca started to behave strangely. He failed to perform several of his moves correctly.
When the underwater stage call came and Alexis started swimming, Keto started to lean into him. Another trainer used controls – that had always worked with the killer whales – but Keto refused to respond and pushed Alexis to the bottom of the pool using his rostrum, the tip of his snout of beak.
The trainer on the side of the pool realised the situation had become critical and used several more signals to bring Keto under control. It seemed to work and the orca returned to the surface of the pool and took a breath – but within seconds, he dived back down to Alexis. When he released the trainer, Alexis sank to the bottom of the pool.
Trainers desperately worked to lure Keto into another pool, but he seemed to resist by playing with the gate. They released a net into the pool and he swam into the neighbouring water. Then Alexis’ body was recovered from the bottom. He has sustained terrible injuries, including massive internal bleeding. Nothing could be done to save him.
A post-mortem stated he 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”. Heartbreakingly, his death came two months before SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed in front of thousands of spectators.
Dawn, who had achieved her goal of becoming a senior trainer at SeaWorld, had studied psychology and animal behaviours at university. When she graduated, she spent two years working with dolphins at an attraction in New Jersey before landing her job at SeaWorld, where she became a killer whale trainer.
Dawn was one of the star trainers – she was key to the killer whale shows and her face was seen on billboards advertising the park. Chillingly, four years before her tragic death, Dawn had spoken out about the dangers of working with orcas. She had a special relationship with the huge killer whale, Tilikum, also known as Blackfish.
He was one of the largest orcas at SeaWorld and he had been in captivity for more than 30 years. Those who worked with her said their bond was strong and based on love and trust. John Hargrove, who was a senior trainer, said: “We’ll never know why Tilikum made that choice to grab Dawn and pull her into the pool.
“He had a great relationship with her, and she had a great relationship with him. I do believe that he loved her, and I know that she loved him.” It was after one of the Dine With Shamu shows that Tilikum carried out his brutal act. Tourists could only watch the action as Dawn was dragged into the water. What came next was truly gruesome.
The attack was prolonged and incredibly violent. Dawn’s left arm was torn from its socket, and her hair and skin were found at the bottom of the pool. Horrifically, her spinal cord was severed, and she also suffered from broken ribs and a broken jaw. The post-mortem revealed she died from both drowning and blunt force injury.
Chillingly, the captive whale killed his trainer and then refused to release her body. For 45 minutes, he kept Dawn’s broken body in the pool with him, despite attempts from the other trainers to distract him with nets and food. Eventually, they managed to get him into a smaller, medical pool, where he was easier to calm down.
Following Dawn’s death, Tilikum was sent to a pool rarely seen by the public. There are reports that he would spend hours on end just lying on the surface of the water. He died at the attraction in January 2017. Six years after Dawn’s death, SeaWorld announced they would end their programme of breeding the orcas in captivity.
The attraction now partners with the Humane Society of the United States to work against commercial whaling and seal hunts. SeaWorld also campaigns against shark finning and ocean pollution and has switched its focus to rescue operations.
