Friday, February 26, 2010

Killer Whale

I don't normally get political. But, I can't help it about this story. Why do people pen up wild animals outside their natural habitats and expect them to act all nicey-nicey and thank their captors for giving them a roof over their heads and good wholesome food? Then those people are surprised when the poor animal turns on them. Actually, the killer whale incident that happened in Florida on February 25 was this particular whale's third murder.

I would think its captors have two choices - kill the killer animal or set it free. But, it will do neither. They say it couldn't survive in the wild. But, really they want to keep it performing on their Florida show. It will probably bring in more of an audience and more money now -- an audience willing to feed its hunger for the chance to see  more blood and gore. Here's my poem:

Killer Whale Tale
He took her long pony tail into his mouth
and pulled her into the water
and thrashed her around until she was dead.
That happened February 25, 2010
at Sea World in Florida
while lots of visitors looked on.
Supposedly she was an experienced
whale trainer.
Supposedly she knew this whale guy well.
In fact she sometimes laid on him
stroking him and cooing and singing
into his killer whale ear just for the fun of it.
But it goes to show
how little we really know
about creatures from the wild
that are penned up all day and night
outside of their natural habitats.
They can turn on us anytime.
Their agitation and anger
can override everything they’ve learned
in captivity.
These guys aren’t called killer whales
for nothing.

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