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A SeaWorld worker was left with severe injuries after suffering an attack from a killer whale.
The incident, which took place in 1987, saw trainer Joanne Webber file a lawsuit against SeaWorld and its parent company, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, after the horrifying experience.
Former trainer at the San Diego park Webber was said to have screamed 'my neck is broken' after the 6,000 pound killer whale landed on her and dragged her to the bottom of a 40-foot deep pool.
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At the time, the Los Angeles Times reported that the companies were accused of knowing the orcas were 'dangerous' and 'likely to attack and injure human beings', but that they had convinced her to get into the water by claiming they were 'safe' and 'gentle'.
Webber's neck was fractured by the attack, and the suit also alleged that staff members aggravated Webber's injuries by urging her to remove her wetsuit at the park so that it wouldn't be damaged when taken off by medical workers, thereby delaying her treatment.
Just a few months prior to the incident, former SeaWorld trainer Jonathan Smith was similarly attacked by Kandu V before another orca named Kenau joined in on the violent outburst in front of a horrified audience.
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The LA Times reported that the two-and-a-half minute attack ended in Smith being hospitalised for nine days, with injuries including bruised kidneys and ribs and a cut on his liver.
He later sued the companies just as Webber did, accusing SeaWorld of negligence and that officials had hidden the 'dangerous propensities of killer whales'.
As reported by The Sun, both Webber and Smith's cases were settled out of court with gag orders, meaning a significant amount of the prepared evidence could never come to light.
SeaWorld has since changed its policies and trainers no longer swim with the killer whales.
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Recently, we told you about a man who was once 'swallowed' by a humpback whale miraculously lived to tell the tale.
Incredibly, lobster diver Michael Packard was spat back out by the colossal creature, despite him thinking he was about to be eaten alive.
The incident happened just off the coast of US state Massachusetts in 2021.
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"All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove and the next thing I knew it was completely black," he explained, as he initially thought that he was eaten by a shark before deducing that it was instead a whale.
The diver continued: "I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth."
Michael struggled inside the whale's mouth for about half a minute before he was ejected back out into the light, as it had swum to the sea's surface and spat him out.
A nearby fishing boat spotted Michael 'flying out of the water' before they picked him up.
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That is literally what nightmares are made of.
Topics: Animals
Lucy Devine