A video going viral online is saying that a marine trainer named Jessica Radcliffe was attacked by an orca, also known as a killer whale. However, this story is not true, as confirmed by The Star.
The video, shared a lot on TikTok, claims that Jessica, who is said to be 23 years old, was attacked by the orca during a show. It also says that she died 10 minutes after being rescued by her coworkers.
Another video claimed that the attack happened because her menstrual blood mixed with the water, but there is no proof of this.
The videos do not show where this supposed event took place, and the voices in the videos are not real but created by a computer.
A check by The Star found no reliable news sources reporting on this incident. There is no evidence or documents showing that a person named Jessica Radcliffe exists or that this event happened.
Some other news sources say that this fake story might have taken inspiration from real events. There have been only two known attacks by orcas. One was on December 24, 2009, when a trainer named Alexis Martínez was killed by an orca named Keto at a place called Loro Parque in Tenerife.
The other was on February 24, 2010, when Dawn Brancheau, a senior trainer, was killed by an orca named Tilikum during a show at SeaWorld in Orlando.
Orcas, or killer whales, are actually the biggest members of the dolphin family. They are very smart, social animals that live in oceans around the world.
