DANGER IS MY BUSINESS

[Music] for the very first time a live is captured and trained on danger is my business [Applause] Greenland of the Pacific to tell you of the perils encountered by our unique whale trainer is Mr Adventure Colonel John D Craig this is a unique story it's a story of King neu's playground of forpus and sharks whales it's also the story of an aquarist of Dave Brown what is an aquaris well he's sort of a professor only his pupils have big teeth he's a whale trainer how did he become a whale trainer well let's start at the [Music] beginning one day Frank Bato captain of the gono cited this this pod or School of pilot whales these whales were Fe and were so intent on their meal that Frank Bato could bring the gonal right up alongside them then he had an idea which he conveyed to the heads of marine land By Radio phone he thought he could capture one and bring it back alive no one had ever captured a live whale before marinin knew a whale could easily smash up the little gono so it was considered just wishful thinking on the part of Frank and dismissed as [Music] such how Frank did it is a secret he and Marland keep to themselves but next morning when Dave Brown joined Bill Monahan at the shallow training pool well Dave nearly swallowed his pipe an actual real live whale this is an aquar dream right now she happens to be the only live whale in captivity so they named her bubbles how much of Frank's gear she tore up how many bruises Frank and his helper got in Catching her only they can say but here she is and as manahan put it Dave she's all yours you figure out some way to feed her and keep her alive [Music] a shallow tank is baffling to a whale accustomed to diving in 200 ft of water or more so bubbles took to floating on the surface did you ever hear of a whale getting sunburned well bubbles did she developed a severe and painful sunburn on her head and back to get into the pool with her was dangerous bubbles in her strange surroundings could easily panic and in a frenzy could badly injure or even crush a man against the side of the tank but somehow through patience and persistence Dave developed a magic touch and the whale developed faith in him her body color is black and the texture of her skin feels like and has that shiny look of wet rubber in her confining pool she would not eat and they felt the only hope to save her would be to move her to the larger tank Dave and his assistants had never moved a whale before so they had all sorts of ideas for her comfort and [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] safety her skin is very sensitive and the mattress line cradle is intended to protect her from from abrasions and to provide a safe means to gently lift her out of water but to move a whale you first have to catch her Buu could easily injure herself crashing around in this shallow tank they must try and prevent this the danger of a crushed chest or a shattered leg from her thrashing tail is a real Hazard to Dave and his assistant divers these were anxious moments filled with tension and Grave wrist no one knows just how to go about catching and holding her or what the whale is likely to do next it was grab and hang on if you can but whatever you do don't hurt [Music] bubbles whales are mammals and respond to tranquilizers but you still have to catch a whale to give it a [Music] [Music] hypo 20 cc's of metac Horton was intended to alleviate shock and to make her feel as though she hadn't a care in the world [Music] [Music] [Music] these men have never had to handle anything like a whale before and it took practically the entire crew at marine land to catch and hold her and to shunt her into the Cradle actually there's no accurate estimate of a real worth you see Bubbles as the only captive whale in the world is worth perhaps a half million dollar so no mammal was ever handled with greater tenderness and [Music] Care in the sea her weight is evenly supported by the water around her so it is most important now to keep bubbles upright and her weight evenly distributed [Music] they must tie her down to be sure she won't wiggle her way out of that cradle [Music] [Music] [Applause] [Music] this equipment was never intended to carry such a strain it seemed in constant danger of collapsing if it should break bubbles would receive injuries and the men in the tank would be crushed [Music] [Music] don't [Music] if anything happens now if that tackle should fail or the lines break this world's most valued mammal will be [Music] lost while this moving the whale to her new home actually took only a short time it seemed like ours of anxiety to Dave Brown and Bill Monahan [Music] finally they L bubbles into the huge oval pool 22 ft deep containing nearly half a million gallons of water and thousands of fish familiar to her here she should be at ease and a real attraction to tourists [Music] [Music] how do you tell when a whale is Happy Well at present no one seems to be able to answer that question but it is apparent to Dave and Bill Monahan that bubbles is very unhappy Bill finally said it's your problem Dave do something about it how's your new student Dave she won't eat and This concerns us quite a bit and on top of this she uh has become quite nasty she's snapping and trying to uh RAM the divers and you know this could be this could be really quite dangerous because the pilot whale is a a relative to the to the killow whale I think it might been a change in her environment you know she's been used to the open sea and now we have her in this comparatively small tank what do you plan to do about it well I thought perhaps we jump into the tank and as she swims by snapping her Jaws we might be able to place a squid into her mouth and if this happens and she she she actually does start feeding our troubles may very well be over you mean you're going in the tank with her oh yes yes well this I want a photograph well get ready anything might happen we might even lose an arm who knows when a man has a fixed idea that he thinks is right his courage overcomes his fear Dave Brown is not a good swimmer he has never dived in the big tank and he knows the whale has chased out all the other divers if it decided to attack him he really would be at a disadvantage the dangers of being torn or seized and dragged down and perhaps drowned are very great still this man is spurred on by a conviction in which only he has Faith a pilot whale has 22 round Sharp teeth in each jaw they fit together like the teeth in a bear trap in the ocean they feed on Liv squid and other fish right now Dave's problem is to get the whale angry enough to come at him then shove a squid in its mouth before it can grab his armor leg Chuck somar another diver is there to divert its attention should the whale get out of hand they all have to look sharp to keep from being bitten or knocked unconscious by that powerful tail [Music] for the next 20 minutes it is Dave in a fencing contest with a [Music] whale even the fish sense the danger and scurried away from this monster [Music] in its anger and frenzy the whale jumped clear out of water and then turned on the divers but Dave is determined to get that whale fed we'll see what happens right after this brief word from our [Music] sponsor it takes quite a while to convince an angry whale that a dead Squid on a pair of metal tongs is really good to [Music] eat Dave has to be constantly alert nearly always the whale seem about to snap at his legs but he diverted its attention with the squid [Music] soon as bubbles got the idea Dave tried offering an increased amount of food [Music] Dave felt good that his patience had been rewarded but for those who watched this performance well their nerves will never be the same during the next 72 hours that whale devoured over 280 lb of squid it must have been fished somehow bubbles Associated food with Dave Brown he had won her confidence and she seemed eager to do his bidding in the days that followed bubbles developed such a tremendous capacity for food that she took to annoying the divers when they were feeding the fish although seemingly good-natured from time to time she let everyone know that she has a temper she cracked the great sea turtle shell with one crunch of her powerful jaws she still dislikes divers in her tank and bashes Rams and snaps at them whenever they arouse her anger frequently she will turn on a diver and try to crush him against the walls of the tank but with Dave she reacted differently he discovered bubbles has very acute hearing by blowing a whistle and immediately there after rewarding her with some squid Dave soon got her to repeat a whole series of stunts at his bidding she learned fast and seemed to enjoy retrieving objects thrown Beyond her [Music] n [Applause] [Music] [Applause] bubbles like this fight in her tube she liked to butt it with her head for hours she would play with it pushing it around the tank but one day she carried it beneath the surface and it did not return [Music] [Applause] search as they would the divers could find no trace of the white rubber ring could bubbles have swallowed it impossible everyone said yet Dave knew that down in the depths of the tank the pressure would deflate the tube to a much smaller ring if bubbles really swallowed it she might die of indigestion unless she could burp it out again during the next week there was a million-dollar concern over a whale's diet on the ninth day Dave resorted to copious quantities of good old mineral oil his Hope was that the oil would soften the rubber inner tube and it might disintegrate [Music] but bubble sulking in the depths of her tank finally burped out the oil and with it came the inner tube happy days were here [Music] again is she laugh that sound was the first that Dave has ever heard a whale make this gave Dave an idea maybe he could even teach her to sing during the ensuing weeks Dave taught bubbles many tricks the art of wearing a hat and returning it to her director shaking hands punching a bag to keep in trim Bubbles as left flipper and waling to music to the Delight of the audiences that come daily to see her bubbles goes through her repertoire of tricks like a real trooper and waves goodbye to the children when the performance is over [Music] a a [Music] [Applause] [Music] when the final show of the day is completed and the crowds leave marine land it is hard for Dave to believe that not so long ago this very intelligent whale had tried to kill him this was the greatest danger Dave has ever had to face it took amazing courage to accept this challenge to face this cousin of a killer whale and find out just how dangerous and how smart she really was but that is Dave Brown's business to my knowledge he's the only aquarist who has ever trained a whale truly he can say danger is my business [Music] it looks like Frank rata has found more challenges for Dave and our thanks to Dave Brown for allowing us to tell his story and my thanks to marine land of the Pacific for their many courtesies to us I hope you'll join me again when I bring you another unusual Adventure on danger is my business e [Music]