Orca Unna gives birth to dead baby during show.

Whilst looking for a Bridgette Pirtle interview for another article,  I came across this one, which paints a horrible picture of the way Unna was treated at Seaworld. Even though she had miscarried on the slide out, the trainers had seen it, yet the show continued, with the trainers having to dive in after the show to pick up the pieces of calf fetus!! There is no excuse for treating an orca like that.

Unna was one of the orcas who was taken from her mother Katina.  Although Seaworld deny separating any of them, the evidence is there as both are still alive in different tanks.

Unna was born on December 27, 1996 at SeaWorld Orlando. Her parents are Katina (mother) and Tilikum. She is Katina's fourth calf and also Tilikum's, and was the second calf to be born to the pair. Unna lived with her mother, father, siblings, and other whales at her birthplace in Orlando for the first six years of her life. 
In August 2002, Katina gave birth to her fifth calf, a male named Ikaika. Unna was there to assist her mother during the labor.

 In December 2002, Unna was transferred to SeaWorld San Antonio because the park only had three whales at the time: two males who were fighting over one female. Kayla, Keto and Kyuquot. She was half sister to Kyuquot and Aunt to Keto.

 In late April 2006, Unna gave birth to a stillborn calf, unless she was Ai'd that would have been another inbred calf.  Her animal profile states  Her health was compromised after this event and she has been on medication since.

Were there 2 other pregnancies as Pirtle says or was the one that came out during the show the pregnancy referred to?

 She is only allowed to work with the most experienced trainers after showing discrimination between trainers and aggression towards other whales especially to the older males in the group. Separation can be a challenge for Unna, especially after the med pool for injections, endoscope etc. She needs to be reinforced effectively to gain her trust.

John Hargrove also witnessed some frightful behaviour with Unna. Unna used to destroy her face picking at the paint in the show pool. The trainers lobbied Seaworld for years to have the floor repainted but it never was. It made the shows difficult for them and it obviously wasn't good for Unna, but again Seaworld did nothing!!

The stereotypical behaviour was not just limited to Unna.  Hargrove in particular remembers Sakari, a young calf at SeaWorld Texas. “She would go down and hit her head on the bottom of the pool, over and over to the point where her jaw would be bloody and bruised,” Hargrove says. Once, according to Hargrove, the damage was so bad that Sakari stopped eating for a few days because it was painful for her to open her jaw. “Once they got to the point where the jaw was bloody and badly bruised you would think they would stop,” Hargrove notes. “But they wouldn’t stop.”

We all know the outcome of Keto's behaviour when he was moved on to Loro Parque.

As for Kyuquot he expressed his frustration in the only way he could.

Will Seaworld answer to this? - Probably not

Should Seaworld answer to this? - they definately should as these were Seaworld staff describing incidents whilst they worked at Seaworld.

Claims like these cannot go without some explaination as to why the trainers were ignored when reporting the pool bottom.  Why the other 2 pregnancies are not recorded anywhere at all yet Bridgette Pirtle said they did happen? Lastly why would a show continue when an orca has just miscarried a calf??

Shame on you Seaworld.

Bridgette Pirtle Q and A's with Awesome Ocean

When you spoke to CNN and told them they needed an experienced trainer, what was John Hargrove, you worked with him a lot?  He was in fact more experienced than you were!

 

When you did you Micechat interview with Eric Davis you said

Why did you not say that here??

When you say you didn't want to be a part of the activist propaganda, you did many interviews of your own in which you had a lot to say about Seaworld yourself. They all have nothing to do with Blackfish and all to do with the reasons YOU gave for leaving Seaworld, yet in the Qand A's you said it was because of family, so which was it and if it was because of family are all these interviews lies as you repeat the same things over and over.

In this interview in 2013 you said
 

 

In this one with Nat Geo published in Jan 2014 you still said

Then there is this interview with John Hargroves where you talk about how badly Unna was treated, having a fetus drop from her in a show and continuing the show!

This one given to Yahoo News you say conditions at San Antonio were atrocious and John Jetts account of Orlando was SPOT ON 

 The reason I picked these 4 interviews was because the comments you made had nothing what so ever to do with Blackfish. You gave those statements as your reasons for leaving Seaworld. 

Whether you had issues with Blackfish is irrelevant to any of the above interviews, so why did you say the things you did about Seaworld themselves and the way they treat those orcas?? 

 I have asked you many many times and each time you decline to answer, if you are speaking the truth now as you say on the Q and A's then which part is truth and which is lies. 

Are the reasons you give in the interviews above true? 

Did Unna lose 3 calves not one like Seaworld said? 

Are those orcas workhorses for a profit hungry industry?

Do you think the breeding programme should be stopped?

Do you think they should stop being used for entertainment? 

None of those things were covered in your Q and A's and lets face it who really expected them to be?

Tumblr had this to say about you and I think it pretty much sums up what has been going on, one minute pro cap, one minute anti cap. 

Bridgette Pirtle. ''What an interesting roller coaster she has been on the passed year. First, anti captivity, bragging about Blackfish and her claim to fame along with it. Now, pro captivity asking for her job back at SeaWorld claiming Blackfish is propaganda.
What I find most interesting is she had seen Blackfish at the premiere, way before any of us saw it. Way before it was made famous. She knew what was in it, she knew the message it sent and she knew what information it gave off. After the public outcry against SeaWorld and the trainers in the movie became a little famous and she did not, she became a little crazed.
She needed a way to get her name in the spotlight again. She chose to be one of the first trainers to go against Blackfish that snowballed into other trainers doing the same.(and sounding absolutely ridiculous, I might add)
What is her stance on captivity? She believes that her relationship with the orcas is most important piece to this pro-anti captivity puzzle. Yes the trainers and orcas have a supposed intense relationship. Whether this is true or not, what importance does it serve? It doesn’t, she just needed something to get her back into the spotlight.
It’s obvious everything she says is biased and set to her agenda. She is pro captivity when it suits her and anti captivity with it suits her. That is why nothing she says can be trusted or taken seriously.''

As for your comments on Keiko, this has already been questioned and there are numerous other people who were involved in the project with Mark who say differently to him,  and even the likes of Robin Friday said it was a success. See for yourself here .

Your reasons for leaving Seaworld and the reasons for not getting along with Blackfish are two entirely different things, and if as you seem to be now,  you are a big Seaworld fan and advocate, then either that is a lie or the statements you made about the things that happened there are lies, so which ones are they Bridgette?
10 years is quite an achievement, but people think of you as flip flopping because at the moment that is what you are doing. I was hoping for the truth but once again didn't get it as those reasons for leaving were not even addressed, how very disappointing.