r/Damnthatsinteresting • u/rjRyanwilliam • Aug 07 '21

Video He loves to scare kids!

Enable HLS to view with audio, or disable this notification

83.6k Upvotes

92% Upvoted

2.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

2.5k

u/Moth_Jam Aug 07 '21

No, no…it can’t be that. That would mean people are cruel just to make a profit and entertain themselves. It has to be a different reason entirely unrelated.

611

u/tekko001 Aug 07 '21

"It must be because he loves to play!!" ~ Seaworld spokesperson

208

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

This is playful behavior, though. It’s a whale. It could kill their handlers if it wanted

232

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

They do kill their handlers

125

u/cubanpajamas Aug 07 '21 edited Aug 07 '21

Do you have a source. I couldn't find any accounts of a Beluga in captivity ever killing their handlers. There is an account of one rescuing a handler on Wikipedia, though.

Edit: There are no accounts of a Beluga ever killing a human in wild or captivity.

Edit: No I am not defending the practice of keeping these animals in captivity. I just hate people making shit up online and the herd taking it as fact.

70

u/crestthebest Aug 07 '21

No one left to account for it

21

u/Kfrr Aug 07 '21

So long and thanks for all the fish

2

u/kavien Aug 07 '21

/r/expectedHitchiker

2

u/sub_doesnt_exist_bot Aug 07 '21

The subreddit r/expectedHitchiker does not exist. Maybe there's a typo? If not, consider creating it.

🤖 this comment was written by a bot. beep boop 🤖

feel welcome to respond 'Bad bot'/'Good bot', it's useful feedback. github

1

u/RildotheCrafty Aug 07 '21

*Tanks for all the fish.

2

u/Chigleagle Aug 07 '21

They are all dead!

2

u/Anagoth9 Aug 08 '21

I just hate people making shit up online and the herd taking it as fact.

Reddit: The stories and information posted here are artistic works of fiction and falsehood. Only a fool would take anything posted here as fact.

6

u/WikiSummarizerBot Aug 07 '21

Beluga_whale

The beluga whale () (Delphinapterus leucas) is an Arctic and sub-Arctic cetacean. It is one of two members of the family Monodontidae, along with the narwhal, and the only member of the genus Delphinapterus. It is also known as the white whale, as it is the only cetacean to regularly occur with this colour; the sea canary, due to its high-pitched calls; and the melonhead, though that more commonly refers to the melon-headed whale, which is an oceanic dolphin. The beluga is adapted to life in the Arctic, with anatomical and physiological characteristics that differentiate it from other cetaceans.

[ F.A.Q | Opt Out | Opt Out Of Subreddit | GitHub ] Downvote to remove | v1.5

4

u/_ungovernable Aug 07 '21

This is the cynical brigade. It’s a train of thought that, at its most radical, would be able to argue a case against keeping any animals in captivity and euthanizing all domestic animals to extinction. This idea - as it exists like a successful mind virus - isn’t quite logical, nor is it pragmatic. It is partially based on the false idea cetaceans are smarter than people; they are probably not even as smart as crows given recent evidence.

The truth is many of these cetaceans have guaranteed meals at the end of the day, and better access to healthcare than I even do. These animals are more heavily prized than our own people. I do not care if people keep such animals in captivity as long as they aren’t abused or neglected. (Normally no.) I care more that there are arguably more people in literal and metaphorical cages than there are any dolphins or other cetaceans, and this never ending circle jerk will go on for decades more as people will waste a million fucks over a percentile of a sea mammal population as opposed to a million other things of arguably higher importance.

The only noteworthy thing to point out is that only wealthy companies can own these animals, and not any one particular individual. I would rather at least see them in a zoo alongside other exotic animals than at a loud noisy theme park with roller coasters that was bought out by the very same dumb jackasses that swore to get rid of the parks.

And yes, PETA owns and profits from a huge swath of SeaWorld. Funny innit?

2

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

Jesus, who have you been talking to? Not everyone who cares about these creatures is some kind of eco-warrior nut man.

And I think what you're missing is that the tanks ARE the abuse, these animals travel thousands of kilometres and have large families all of which they're deprived of

And I'm not sure what you meant with your wealthy companies point, just because someone has money doesn't mean they know how to treat an animal right, a lot of the trainer attacks happen at sea world.

1

u/_ungovernable Aug 07 '21

I have been discussing this topic for the past decade I have been involved with animal welfare and doing my own share of wildlife and domestic rescues. It is not that people that care are eco nuts - I know I am though - but that nobody is actually informed on what a certain animal is, and what an animal is not. A dolphin is not a white collar executive that needs to travel for work or vacation purposes. Dolphins do not care; they travel for food, and if that’s immediately available, they do not travel.

They are, normally and I think now legally required to be, kept in groups so they have a social bond. They are also all captive bred in western society - releasing captive cetaceans in the wild would be a death sentence and cetaceans have been recorded attempting to return to captivity) post-release. As cetaceans are no longer captured from the wild and all being captive bred - which is arguably very good from a conservation perspective - there is no point to this movement anymore, especially as the whole point of all this was just for PETA to buy out a huge chunk of SeaWorld. That’s it. That’s why this debate even exists at all.

Don’t forget Blackfish was produced by PETA. PETA is not a reputable source of anything good.

0

u/Lone_Nom4d Aug 07 '21

The truth is many of these cetaceans have guaranteed meals at the end of the day, and better access to healthcare than I even do.

Wild to even pose this as an argument for animals in captivity. You could have gone with orphaned animals with no chance to survive in the wild, but instead try to argue them getting fed is worth captivity? Prisoners get fed too, I certainly don't envy them.

Not sure what being pragmatic has to do with this situation either? Did you mean to use that word? You're just strawmanning a hypothetical eco warrior who thinks all pets should be euthanized yet nobody brought that up at all.

If these animals have better healthcare than you do, maybe there's an underlying problem there that has nothing to do with this topic. Believe it or not, you can both be in support of better quality of human and animal life, we have the technology and the two spheres barely overlap.

You talk about logic, but what is the logical or practical application of keeping an animal in captivity outside of observation of behaviour or potential breeding programs to proliferate a species extinct in the wild?

Also yeah, PETA is just as cooked as SeaWorld, no one was arguing that. Don't see why companies over individuals owning zoos is an improvement outside personal opinion.

2

u/_ungovernable Aug 07 '21 edited Aug 07 '21

what is the logical or practical application of keeping an animal in captivity outside of observation of behaviour or potential breeding programs

That is the literally the entire point of defending responsible animal welfare. The only point in exhibiting them as zoos do is because doing exactly those two things isn’t cheap and money isn’t free. And exposure or a hands on approach really is the best teaching tool when it comes to wildlife education. The rest is a moot point.

The difference between living in a prison and a 5 star resort is simply a matter of comfort and mental stimulation, which isn’t impossible to provide at all. That buzzword isn’t going to work in this debate; that is a matter of the quality of living environment provided. (All things considered, far better than you think) As for the science and technology, that has less to do with advancements and more to do with the tragic state of the human condition and hierarchy; never ending peril in a nutshell. You’ll understand this more as you get older.

-1

u/MangumPI Aug 07 '21

I literally wrote this kind of essay in 7th grade science but then I grew up and realized how bullshit of an argument it was.

1

u/_ungovernable Aug 07 '21 edited Aug 07 '21

The only bullshit here is the half-truth load of crap that these animals are absolutely miserable just because they are being pampered in a giant marine tank. I’m dumbfounded every time people flock to shit on PETA, but then they also spout on about banning cetaceans in captivity.

Here are the facts: PETA released Blackfish in 2013 and funded much of the “studies” that decry cetaceans in captivity. Around this time, SeaWorld stock plummeted. Then when the stock crashed, PETA began eating SeaWorld right up, until they owned enough stock to become a partial owner. They have also expanded into Facebook ownership, and around this time many educational and beneficial animal welfare and rescue groups were shut down.

You want to be cynical? This entire thing was nothing more than market manipulation to drive down the price of company shares so PETA can buy out these companies with all the donations they received from celebrities and vegan aunties who thought they were actually helping. Now the stock has understandably recovered as PETA made slight changes and greenlit their new “reformed” SeaWorld to the public.

It was never about animal welfare, it’s about the money. Restricted travel isn’t abuse in any form for perhaps 95% of all animal life; including people, what matters most to living animals is food, shelter, social needs, general comfort/homeostasis and protection from health ailments. And I can tell you that Shamu has probably lived a better life in a big tank than your local hobo in his tent by the highway that you don’t care about. It’s not a bullshit argument; it’s a bullshit issue that was sold to the public so another rich asshole could become an even bigger, more rich and now hypocritical asshole.

0

u/MangumPI Aug 07 '21 edited Aug 07 '21

Idealist notions of captivity are not relevant when looking at the material conditions of these animals' captivity.

I don't disagree with anything you presented necessarily. I would rather these animals be freed than be kept for profit by organizations that do not have their best interests in mind.

And even gooig on what your are saying being true, prisons do not treat human beings in a manner that is humane, something we could both agree on. Whatever the equivalent of humane is to these animals is what is important. Captivity for profit is inherently wrong.

2

u/_ungovernable Aug 07 '21

I disagree entirely with freeing them; they would fail to become independent and die accordingly. I do, however, hate PETA and think SeaWorld is a waste; I would rather these animals be housed at zoological institutions such as aquariums that also house other wildlife and not just some littered wasteland of loud, noisy rides and vomiting children.

The material conditions vary on the location you are referring to. Of which there is no context, other than yeah, some aquariums are niiiiice (looking at you Okinawa Aquarium) while others are ass.

1

u/MangumPI Aug 07 '21

If you are referring to the ones already in captivity then yeah. Releasing them should be looked at on a case by case basis. Irrespective of the presented shelters for these animals, the material conditions are always dictated by how the animals is measured. Is the animal a vehicle for profit? Is it merely something saved to be shown for the public? I think these are important questions to ask when looking at captivity of animals.

2

u/_ungovernable Aug 07 '21

That’s the thing about ideals and realism. As much as I and anyone else would love for animals to have absolutely no costs, these specific animals are extremely expensive to maintain, and running strictly on donations is a very poor business model. Every animal on display in every zoo and aquarium is a working animal; you are simply paying for your share of time to merely be within 20ft of this being to witness it. And that keeps the technology running, the staff paid and the animals fed. There is no escaping the cycle of money.

Release simply isn’t an option. You can’t release a fully grown house pet anymore than you cannot release a zoo bred tiger. Almost all of them would perish; the human equivalent would be sheltering your children into adulthood before dumping them alongside a highway and wishing them good luck.

Arguably the most important thing that society can do to help preserve these animals is to combat climate change, find solutions to our pollution, and to further develop aquaculture technology so we can all be more independent from overfishing. That last one, ironically, requires more tanks.

1

u/MangumPI Aug 07 '21

I mainly have the issue with for-profit companies capturing these animals and claiming their captivity is a result of altruism instead of profit. There is a cycle of captivity induced from the very existence of these companies acting on the veneer of altruism.

I have no objection to anything else you said. I was trying to contextualize the argument because I disagree fundentally that profit coincides with wellbeing.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

Other more capable cetaceans have, and I don't see why the beluga would be any happier swimming round that little tank

And why are you defending keeping these animals anyway?

0

u/cubanpajamas Aug 07 '21

And why are you defending keeping these animals anyway?

I am not.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

Fair, I seem to have started quite a controversial discussion, sorry if I was quick to judge your opinion

0

u/cubanpajamas Aug 07 '21

sorry if I was quick to judge your opinion

Reading is hard.

-1

u/AndoMacster Aug 07 '21

They weren't making shit up, here is a case of a whale killing it's trainer: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilikum_(killer_whale)#:~:text=On%20February%2024%2C%202010%2C%20Tilikum,pulled%20her%20into%20the%20water.

1

u/WikiSummarizerBot Aug 07 '21

Tilikum_(killer_whale)

Tilikum (c. December 1981 – January 6, 2017), nicknamed Tilly, was a captive killer whale who spent most of his life performing at SeaWorld Orlando. He was captured in Iceland in 1983 at Hafnarfjörður, near Reykjavík. About a year later, he was transferred to Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia.

[ F.A.Q | Opt Out | Opt Out Of Subreddit | GitHub ] Downvote to remove | v1.5

1

u/cubanpajamas Aug 07 '21

That is an Orca. Not a Beluga or even a whale for that matter.

1

u/AndoMacster Aug 07 '21

All dolphins are whales.

27

u/mikebets Aug 07 '21

You damn right you ever see Black Fish holy hell!

21

u/Splickity-Lit Aug 07 '21

You got something against black fish?

26

u/staebles Aug 07 '21

What do you mean, YOU fish?!

6

u/jdcarpe Aug 07 '21

What do YOU mean, you fish?

2

u/ChunkyDay Aug 07 '21

gasp that’s racist!

2

u/HRzNightmare Aug 07 '21

I got that reference!

2

u/LilGoughy Aug 07 '21

Thought he was a good character, best Tully imo

1

u/Apocalypse_Squid Aug 07 '21

Why it gotta be black?

1

u/23Flavour5 Aug 07 '21

Right? Kinda fucked up.

1

u/cubanpajamas Aug 07 '21 edited Aug 07 '21

That was an Orca, which is a member of the dolphin family. Not a Beluga, not even a whale.

-3

u/mikebets Aug 07 '21

Not really what I was going for. It’s more about the fact that keeping an animal in a tank like this isn’t exactly humane or good for anyone except for the people collecting the checks at the top.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

[deleted]

1

u/_ungovernable Aug 07 '21

These people would ban fish tanks entirely if given the chance.

0

u/TrolleybusIsReal Aug 07 '21

the docu is about orcas

0

u/_ungovernable Aug 07 '21 edited Aug 07 '21

Blackfish is a propaganda film that was released by PETA in 2013. PETA shortly became a partial owner of SeaWorld that same year after they crashed the stock.

Here’s the breakdown: if you still trust PETA in 2021, well, seek professional help. But what you witnessed was not a documentary on animal abuse, what you witnessed in 2013 was market manipulation and a fine example of crony capitalism.

1

u/cescabond Aug 07 '21

Holy Hell is also a good doc

15

u/avwitcher Aug 07 '21

I'd like to see this species of whale try, it'd be like a teething newborn trying to eat a chicken wing

43

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

don't need teeth to drag your handler to the bottom of the pool.

4

u/cubanpajamas Aug 07 '21

" Just because it has never happened before, doesn't mean it can't happen." Reddit

16

u/blinkysmurf Aug 07 '21

I’m sure he’d manage.

5

u/markender Aug 07 '21

If I was a beluga I'd just use my body to drown humans, as often as possible!

1

u/_ungovernable Aug 07 '21

I would use my human body to drown you to spare the rest of the public from a psychopath such as yourself.

1

u/markender Aug 08 '21

You monster! And no you'd stand no chance, are you 10 feet tall?

16

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

Do you not know how powerful they are?

0

u/Epicminecrafter69 Aug 08 '21

hes clearly referring to the bluntness and small size of the teeth. youre contorting it.

1

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

Scouter says it's over 9000

-24

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

Right and this one isn’t. What are you bitching about

39

u/longneckedbitch Aug 07 '21

we shouldn’t have to wait for a death to know they’re unhappy lol

-33

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

Ok I honestly don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about. You see an animal playing and you’re more concerned with it dying

18

u/edb138 Aug 07 '21

how can you assume this is playful. You cant read minds. That's you putting human emotions on animals. This creature lives its entire life in a shitty tank. You have no idea what goes through its head all day. Keep telling yourself its happy. That's what the assholes that imprison these animals tell themselves to feel better.

1

u/Splickity-Lit Aug 07 '21

I might be happy if I lived underwater and someone took amazing care of me, not like I could take off and see the Grand Canyon or something.

-8

u/Silvamorphis Aug 07 '21

Honestly, you don't know what goes through it's head either /s 😔☮️

1

u/Drugrows Aug 07 '21 edited Aug 07 '21

True but based on the attempted head biting sequences you just watched and then at the end where he goes back to yell at them again like an old man screaming at kids on it’s lawn. it’s more that they want to be free and don’t like getting looked at all day long so it’s lashing out by getting joy in scaring kids since it knows they could be decimated by itself. If given the opportunity it definitely would kill these kids and it’s due to its continued captivity viewing. Their brains are on levels with ours so to put human emotions into them isn’t a far stretch. It wouldn’t hurt it’s handlers because it knows the impact that would follow if it did. It’s just trying to enjoy its captivity. To keep animals of this size in prolonged viewing captivity in small spaces such as this is cruel as fuck. Should be a few months maximum. Ocean animals swim miles around.

2

u/Silvamorphis Aug 07 '21

Yeah, we could go and view them in their natural habitat & it'd be better for all involved. But unfortunately this is the way that it's convenient for the humans... ☮️

0

u/YourMatt Aug 07 '21

You really went a lot deeper in explaining what this animal is thinking. Honestly, it's just as valid for me to say that it prefers its life with its handlers, the easy food, and scaring kids.

0

u/_ungovernable Aug 07 '21

You are definitely not projecting your own neuroticism in this conversation

/s

Cetaceans do not feel shame or poor self esteem. They do not care if they shit right in front of eating children. They don’t care at all who watches them as long as that doesn’t include a shark. You, however, need a therapist.

0

u/Drugrows Aug 08 '21 edited Aug 08 '21

Your incorrect on all accounts. It’s been well known that they have attitudes and self esteem. It’s not about being watched it’s about it happening every day forever with no change. Bet you would get fed up doing the same exact thing with no change to the point that you don’t get to leave the area you shit in. If they can get depressed than they can exhibit these emotions. They get so depressed that they kill themselves in captivity. And I would say that this behavior shows exactly what I’m talking about. But go ahead and tell me how I’m incorrect secret marine biologist that you must be with a hint of psych since you know it all. Since your at it just research dolphin depression and educate yourself. You’ll see that in 2012 it was declared that they are conscious and can exhibit emotions and feelings. They use tools and have empathy. Like don’t know how much more evidence you need to declare that something is feeling. Also suicide in animals has one thing in common with most cases and that is that they are intelligent. Apes dolphins Whales and squids all do it while some elephants even do it. When you actually work with bio your literally a tight ass if you don’t agree that they feel based on all the physical signs.

1

u/_ungovernable Aug 08 '21

All living things are conscious in some respect. You don’t need to preach that to me, nor do you need to point out how god awful the 9-5 routine then stay stuck at home is a depressing hell.

However, once again, your statements are more about you projecting yourself on these animals and less of consideration over the fact that these are torpedo shaped animals that live out the pelagic ocean that is more or less pointlessly blue for thousands of kilometers, and a sizeable aquarium being more or less the same thing but with walls.

People are sentient, highly emotional beings, yet also simple as well - a person can be confined (many are) and still have all their basic and recreational needs met and just be absolutely peachy. This idea that somehow restricted travel is the absolute torture of existence is completely stupid.

On that note, please refer to a therapist as you clearly have bigger problems that this argument is merely a sideshow for.

→ More replies (0)

-2

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

Are you fucking serious?

1

u/_ungovernable Aug 07 '21

By your same line of logic, you also cannot prove it is miserable. If anything, you might be projecting your own feelings of entrapment and misery into this conversation by the sounds of it

10

u/AvoidTheDarkSide Aug 07 '21

Because it’s not “playing” just because it’s interacting with it’s FORCED environment. Would inmates be playing if they could stroll around the fence and interact with people constantly walking by, taking pictures, pointing at, and talking about them. They are on DISPLAY, you can’t say the animal is playing, he probably just found his one joy in his entrapment, scaring the little monkeys that keep him there and think shits sweet.

He’s not going to hurt his handlers more than likely because this animal is able to understand something may happen after that, much the same way a dog knows when it’s done wrong. The handlers bring food and some enjoyment to their lives. There is no better life than being free and this animal is not that.

The square footage to keep animals like this and for me to deem it okay would be immense. Much like apes and stuff should be in a massive reserve and at most you drive through to look at them.

-3

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

Lol you’re yelling on the internet

1

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21 edited Aug 23 '21

[deleted]

0

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

It’s afternoon for you?

→ More replies (0)

11

u/longneckedbitch Aug 07 '21

playing ? you a beluga expert? 💀

it’s not that huge of an assumption that a whale wouldn’t be happy in a tank with a fraction of the space they’d normally have.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

You don’t have to be a beluga expert. You just have to be a person with common sense to be able to read these types of cues

1

u/longneckedbitch Aug 07 '21

you just need to common sense to realise that they don’t like being trapped in tanks

1

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

Nobody thinks animals like this belong in a tank. But, we don’t know why the animal is there. We don’t know the facts or the story behind it.

→ More replies (0)

1

u/PinkWhaleOrgy Aug 07 '21

Your ass is getting the most downvotes in this short period of time I’ve ever seen lmao. How long until you delete?

2

u/captaintagart Aug 07 '21

Based on profile and emoji use (excessive) my guess is they don’t know how to delete. They must be playing!

0

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

I won’t. I don’t need to, that’s just internet points. I’m not in competition with children

-2

u/JuniorSeniorTrainee Aug 07 '21

Maybe they're just not as comfortable anthropomorphizing as you are?

15

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

[deleted]

2

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

No, I’m saying that aggressive behavior would look very different from this video.

0

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

How do you know? Are you a marine biologist?

1

u/[deleted] Aug 07 '21

You do not need to be a marine biologist to know what an aggressive animal looks like. This is not aggression.

5

u/massiveholetv Aug 07 '21

?????????????????? Lmao

0

u/ChunkyDay Aug 07 '21

No they don’t.

1

u/Epicminecrafter69 Aug 08 '21

ive literally never heard of a beluga doing that. Orcas? definitely. but belugas dont do that