How late orca Keto shot to infamy by crushing trainer to death & playing with body after being ‘driven mad in captivity’

The late killer whale KETO was tortured and even forced to reproduce incestuously during his time in captivity, which led to the untimely death of his handler.

After years of abuse in several maritime parks, the 6,600-pound orca passed away on Tuesday at the age of 29 in Tenerife.

Although the results are not yet available, the Loro Parque zoo confirmed Keto’s death in a statement, stating that a team of 21 veterinarians performed a necropsy over the weekend to ascertain the cause.

Growing up in captivity

Born in 1995 in SeaWorld Orlando, the orca was moved to Loro Parque in 2006, where he was employed for breeding and public performances.

Born as part of SeaWorld’s contentious orca breeding program, Keto’s life started in captivity.

His father, Kotar, passed away tragically after his head was smashed by a tank gate, and his mother, Kalina, was the first orca to be born in a SeaWorld park.

After being separated from his mother when he was only four years old, Keto moved between SeaWorld parks before being loaned to Loro Parque.

Keto and his niece Kohana were bred together at Loro Parque in an unusual combination that produced several calves.

Adn is the only one who is still alive today; his daughter Vicky passed away when she was only ten months old.

It is said that Keto’s physical and mental health suffered greatly while he was in captivity.

His unusual and destructive behaviors, like gnawing on concrete in frustration, which seriously injured his teeth, were documented by animal rights organizations.

He was frequently observed swimming aimlessly, a symptom of boredom and suffering, like many other imprisoned orcas.

Additionally, at a Christmas show rehearsal on Christmas Eve 2009, Keto killed his trainer, 29-year-old Alexis Martinez.

Keto’s victim Alexis Martinez

When he entered a pool with Keto, orca trainer Alexis Martinez was already worried about his safety.

“Something could happen at any time” was what he had told his lover, and his concerns were realized.

After three years of working with the animals at Loro Parque in Tenerife, Alexis was an accomplished trainer.

“Handsome, generous, and funny” is how his boyfriend Estefan a. Luis Rodriguez described him.

Additionally, the 29-year-old trainer thought that something was off at the Orca Ocean display where he worked.

He had informed his girlfriend that the killer whales were acting aggressively, disruptively, and disobediently.

He was no match for the beast, even with his years of expertise, talent, and intuition in handling the massive monsters.

In 2004, Alexis began working at Loro Parque in Tenerife, one of only two parks in Europe that houses killer whales.

Four orcas from SeaWorld were lent to the park two years later, and they were immediately put through a training schedule for shows.

Alexis, an accomplished trainer, played a key role in guiding the marine mammals during rehearsals for a forthcoming holiday performance.

He had been taking care of Keto, a 6,600-pound male who had never known life in the open ocean and had been flown over from the United States after being born into captivity.

According to a corporate incident report, Keto “appeared in a good mood” at a morning session on December 24.

While several other staff members milled around and another trainer, Brian Rokeach, set up shop on the stage, Alexis joined the orca in the pool.

According to reports, the 29-year-old tried to do a stand-on spy hop, in which he balances on the rostrum of the killer whale while it rises and falls out of the water.

The orca trainer’s tragic death

After a vicious attack by Keto that was written off as a “unfortunate accident,” Alexis’ life ended grimly.

Keto tilted to one side while attempting the stand-on spy hop, and the trainer fell.

After that, he attempted the trick once more and fell into the ocean.

According to the article, the trainer gave a neutral response and withheld the incentive in response to a reinforcing circumstance.

Then, after following instructions from another trainer, the 14-year-old killer whale was rewarded with two handfuls of fish.

Then, a hopeful Alexis decided to try a haul-down into stage haul-out, which would entail riding the orca up onto the stage and down into the pool.

But Keto’s trainer had to stop the move in the middle of the 12-meter pool because he had dove too far.

The orca “appeared to position himself between Alexis and the stage” after the two surfaced.

After waiting for the animal to calm down, the 29-year-old used an underwater tone to ask for a stage call.

Brian, a coworker, said Keto was “a little big-eyed” and not “committed to remaining under control”.

The other trainer then gave the killer whale a handtarget and told Alexis to swim gently to another pool.

However, Keto ignored Brian and headed straight toward his mentor when he saw that he was moving.

Alexis was then forced beneath the sea for several minutes by the killer whale’s enormous beak as it sped towards him.

In his testimony to investigators, Rafael Sanchez, the assistant supervisor of Orca Ocean, stated: “The animal in question moved towards him and hit him and violently played with his body.”

In a desperate attempt to bring Keto to the surface, the frantic trainers slapped the water and banged a bucket to notify him.

Approximately thirty seconds later, the killer whale complied and dumped Alexis’s corpse at the bottom of the pool.

The ‘violent’ killing of Alexis

Keto lifted his prey to the surface with his beak while he drew in a rapid breath and went back to examine him.

After guiding the enormous orca into a different pool, additional Loro Parque staff members were able to retrieve his trainer’s body.

As the 29-year-old’s coworkers desperately attempted to revive him, blood was pouring from his mouth and nose.

According to an autopsy report, Alexis’s chest collapsed as a result of Keto’s forceful impact.

It was determined that Alexis’ death had been “violent” even though drowning was the direct cause of death.

Numerous wounds and bruises, the collapse of both lungs, rib and sternum fractures, a lacerated liver, seriously injured essential organs, and puncture marks “consistent with the teeth of an orca” are all described in the report.

SeaWorld and the Tenerife park’s reaction

After his passing, SeaWorld and Loro Parque briefly halted waterwork in all of their parks.

The death was initially described as a “accident” by Alexis’ employers, who insisted that there were no traces of violence on his battered body.

They said that while Keto was “shifting his position,” he “was knocked by the orca in an unexpected reaction of the animal.”

In actuality, keto had resulted in severe internal hemorrhage.

In a terrible turn of events, it turned out that Alexis had written in his diary about his worries about the killer whales.

He described how Keto had acted in a “controlling” manner toward the three orcas he had brought from SeaWorld: a male named Tekoa and two females, Kohana and Skyla.

Subsequent investigations showed that Tekeoa had been rammed by the killer orca once, causing him to bleed.

Keto had sliced off a piece of Kohana’s dorsal fin on another.

Estefan claims she was initially informed that Alexis was “fine” when the park contacted her, although knowing he was already dead. Alexis’ family has expressed their feelings that they feel “lied to” about his death.

However, the park has maintained that giving false information can “fairly be attributed to the nature of an emergency response” and justified how they handled his death.

Condemnation of orca captivity

Keto’s existence is a clear example of exploitation, which is why PETA and other animal rights organizations have long denounced the keeping of orcas in captivity.

They criticized Loro Parque and SeaWorld for keeping him in tiny tanks during his life, denying him the chance to develop innate social ties or swim great distances.

PETA also noted that Keto s mixed genetic background 75% Icelandic and 25% Southern Resident orca would never occur in the wild, as these populations are separated by vast distances and have distinct social structures.

They contend that Keto’s imprisonment and abnormal breeding denied him a natural life.

A spokesperson on behalf of Loro Parque said: “There is no truth to any of these absurd claims. Loro Parque has the highest standards of care in the world for all ouranimals.

“We are in mourning over the sad passing of Keto who lived for almost 30 years.

“PETA is an extremist protest group that has no scientific credibility and even attacks other genuine animal welfare charities.”

Loro Parque mourned Keto as a beloved ambassador who captivated everyone with his unique personality.

However, the zoo made no mention of the 2009 trainer death in its statement.

Instead, it emphasised the challenges of providing veterinary care for large orcas and highlighted Keto s life expectancy, noting that 29 years is average for male orcas in the wild.

Critics, however, argue that captivity was the true cause of Keto s early death. In the wild, male orcas can live up to 60 or 70 years.