Conflict Resolution [graphic]

This video is of an orca attack on her trainer in 2006. It was obtained from the Animal Legal Defense Fund YouTube channel and has been kept in chronological order but edited from its original 15 minute length and put to music. The original video’s imagery has not been altered. The trainer survived this incident without lasting injury.

The Animal Legal Defense Fund’s description for this video is as follows: “This video shows an orca attacking trainer Kenneth Peters in November 2006. He was bitten and held underwater several times by a 28 year old female Orca named Kasatka during a show at SeaWorld's San Diego park. She bit Peters' feet and took him to the bottom of the pool for about a minute during the attack. Peters suffered a broken foot and puncture wounds. (Video contains no audio.) The footage was released to the public on July 24th 2012, during the SeaWorld v US Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis trial. Credit for the video goes to David Kirby, the author of the recently released book ‘Death at SeaWorld,’ who obtained the footage via a Freedom of Information Act request.”

I have a fascination with whales that dates back to early childhood, where factiods of these mammals would boggle my mind: the Blue Whale is the largest animal that has ever existed on this planet; the Sperm Whale stuns its prey with intensified sonar, eats giant squid, groups of them can be found sleeping in vertical alignment just below the water’s surface; there has never been a documented case of a Killer Whale attacking a human in the wild, yet they are the ocean’s undisputed apex predator. I had interpreted cetaceans as symbols of peace, strength, agility, gentleness, loyalty, intelligence and communication, and for the most part still do.

The paired recording is a cover of Brenda Lee’s “Emotions,” and is from a series of recordings that I call “Meditations” which are explained in the Sound Sketches section of this website. The recording was made in 2012 and was first time I ever sang and played an instrument at the same time and meant it. I had been borrowing a friend’s upright bass but had never played this song, and I had loved this song but had never tried to sing it, and I had of course sang many songs in my life but I had never sang for myself, with a voice I felt was mine, with a message that was personal to me, without a care of what it sounded like.

On that day I was in quite a mood and was having trouble escaping it - it had been a hard year. I was home alone and when Brenda Lee’s voice came up on the iTunes playlist it socked me in the chest. I sat and listened. When it was finished I pulled up the lyrics, opened GarageBand, grabbed the bass, took a shot of whiskey, hit the record button for this single take. This recording may not be “good,” but it’s as honest as I know how to be, and when I listen to it I can hear the moment where something inside cracked open and tore through a f**k I used to give. I have been singing ever since in a voice that I consider my own. It won’t earn any Grammy’s but at least I know it’s mine.

The imagery of this orca attack was stumbled upon some years later and very much reminded me of where I’d been at when making that recording. The conflict that had been troubling me had been long since resolved and had even managed to transform into something wonderful, thanks to communication, friendship, and empathetic understanding. Peace had been made and a new future had been built. For me.

Kasatka the orca was born free in 1976 and was captured off the coast of Iceland at less than 2 years of age. She was trained to perform for sea parks and was never returned to the ocean. This 2006 video was her 3rd live-performance related attack on Ken Peters, the others being in 1993 and 1999. She developed incurable pneumonia in 2008 and continued to perform until 2017 when she was euthanized at the age of 40.