ORLANDO, FL – Spectators and trainers were subjected to an unexpected show yesterday at SeaWorld. A terrible tragedy rocked the park!
Dawn Brancheau, a veteran trainer at SeaWorld, fell victim to the 12,000-pound creature she was attending to. The killer whale Tilikum grabbed Brancheau be her long ponytail, according to the heed of animal training at SeaWorld parks, Chuck Tompkins. The whale dragged her underwater and despite desperate workers rushing to help, Brancheau was killed.
Terrified visitors that stuck around after a noontime show experienced the animal charge through the pool with the trainer in its jaws. Workers used nets as an alarm sounded, but it was to no avail. Dawn Brancheau had drowned.
Brancheau’s interaction with the whale appeared leisurely and informal at first to audience member Eldon Skaggs. The the whale “pulled her under and started swimming around with her,” Skaggs told The Associated Press.
“There wasn’t anything to indicate to us that there was a problem,” Tompkins told the CBS “Early Show.”
Victoria Biniak, another horrified spectator, recounted her experience to WKMG-TV. The whale “took off really fast in the tank, and then he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing around, and one of her shoes flew off.”
This marked the third time that Tilikum had been involved in a human death. Due to his size and previous deaths, trainers were not supposed to get into the water with Tilikum. Only about a dozen of the park’s 29 trainers worked with him.
“We recognized he was different,” said Tompkins. He also said that no decision had been made yet about what will happen to Tilikum, such as transferring him to another facility.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mcReDJelSBA]
thats sad ):
This is a real tradegy. I think we forget that these beautiful creatures are taken from their natural habitat, and are expect to fully adapt. Even if raised in captivity, at some point, instinct will prevail. As much as we THINK we can control them, there's no controlling instinct. Perhaps the Orca's age,health, or other factors played a role. Not that it makes it any easier, but those that work with nature & animals, as Dawn did, understand the risks, and out of love for what they do, are willing to accept them.
Hey! Shamu the whale here! Wanna have some fun? Then why don't you go to Florida? Seaworld in Florida is so much fun, especially because our killer whales are really killer!
I wonder what moving the whale a different facility would do. Unless facility would just be a place for the whale to dwell and no tricks etc. This whole situation is sad and I feel so terrible for the family of the trainer.
They are meant to be in their natural habitat. Take a human, put then in a cage far too small for them, and then force them to perform their whole life. Don`t you think anyone would go crazy? This animal is not a killer, we are the killers. Humans forced the Whale into this environment, it got aggressive, and now some are saying it`s the Whales fault. Really, come on…
i feel so bad for the family of dawn:( that is such a tragic way to die!
aww 🙁 horrible…