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There hadn´t been a fatal animal attack story in the news for a while, which is why Tilikum´s killing of his Seaworld trainer last week dominated the headlines.

For me it brought to mind that terrible exploitation movieOrca (1977). And renewed international interest in thedebate about captive animals who, like humans, probably don´t take very well toincarceration.

But the issue is more about the exploitation of captive animals for our benefit. Abeer company used to make money off of Shamu, and when the theme park business stopped making much money, it was sold.

I´m sure this caused some headaches in the boardroom of the Blackstone Group, too, which had justpurchased Seaworld from thatbeer company just a few months ago in a $2.7 billion deal. Business, before the accidentwasn´t so hot andaccording to the Wall Street journal, the acquisition was

…the largest private-equity deal of 2009 and one of the largest since the financial crisis began more than two years ago.

On a more personal note, this incident recalls my 6th grade trip to the New York Aquarium in Brooklyn,Michael Jackson,  thetiger mauling in San Francisco,Bo Derek andTohui, the Panda ofChapultepec Zoo.

Tohui, which in tarahumara Nahuatl languagemeans ¨child,¨ became something of a pop culture phenom back in the 1980s here in Mexico City. On a global level, it was the first time, outside of China, that a giant panda was born and lived in captivity.Mexico has one of themost successful panda breeding programs in the world.

The panda was a sensation, becoming the city´s mascot and main zoo attraction, and also a marketing wonder, with ananime movie and a hitpop song.

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The song, ¨El Pequeño Panda De Chapultepec,¨ (1982) was a huge hit forYuri, a singer from Veracruz who first came on the scene with a solid Spanish version of Debby Boone´s ¨You Light Up my life,¨ you canlisten here. Yuri is consideredone of Mexico´s greatest pop stars. Appearances inPlayboy (rather tame, but you canseehere,hereandhere)  led to her being dubbed the ¨Mexican Madonna,¨ something that inspired U.S. tabloid media.

Despite some career mishaps, like her  duet with Don Johnson (her first English song, so bad it makes you appreciate whatMaria Jose and Trey Songz did), the Mexican diva always bounced back.

Yuri´s careercontinues to this day. She recorded a song with Panamanian reggae star Nigga (we´re going to keep it authentic andnot even bother calling him ¨Flex¨) andcontinues to perform around Latin America.

As for Tohui, she only lived to be about 12. Far shy of thelife expectancy of pandas in captivity.Mexico´s panda program continues, and to date there have been no fatal attacks on trainers. And while we have Tohui´s legacy established in popular song, it´s hard not to think that maybe her quality of life, like other animals, would have been better if she was born and raised in the wild.

No matter the mishaps, we needto be entertained. So,the show must go on.

Photo, top, from cover of Descubra la Ciudad de Mexico (1981). Anime picture from kiddiematinee.com.

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