1 Killed At SeaWorld

Exprcoofto

New Member
Original Poster
ORLANDO -- One person is dead after an incident at SeaWorld.

According to a witness, one of the trainers got pulled into the Shamu tank in Shamu Stadium and was killed. It happened during a Dine With Shamu event.

Orange County EMT officials were called out to SeaWorld after it was reported a woman was not breathing. Around 2:30 p.m. News 13 received confirmation from Orange County Fire Rescue that it was a fatality.

The dolphin and whale shows for the rest of the day have been cancelled.

Whale Incidents At SeaWorld

Including today, there have been 22 incidents since the early 70s involving whales at SeaWorld.

In November 2006 at SeaWorld San Diego, an orca whale pulled 39-year-old trainer Ken Peters below the surface by his foot. Peters eventually managed to safely exit the pool.

In July of 2004 at SeaWorld San Antonio, trainer Steve Aibel was attacked for several minutes during a show. Amazingly he was not hurt.
http://cfnews13.com/News/Local/2010/2/24/woman_at_seaworld_not_breathing.html?cmpid=twitter

So sad. :( I'll update this post once their article is updated.
 

a2grafix

Well-Known Member
Additional details from myFOXTampaBay ...

Twitter account

MyFoxTampaBay

Anyone tweeps at Sea World Orlando today? We're hearing a trainer was killed there today. http://bit.ly/cphxpN

The tweet links to this story ...

Report: person killed at Sea World

Updated: Wednesday, 24 Feb 2010, 3:21 PM EST
Published : Wednesday, 24 Feb 2010, 3:21 PM EST
MyFoxTampaBay.com staff report
FOX 13 is getting word that a person was killed at Sea World this afternoon.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office confirms a death investigation at the park, but has not released details of the incident.
Media outlets in Orlando are quoting park guests who say a trainer was killed when a whale pulled her into the water.
Stay with FOX 13 for updates.
 

Exprcoofto

New Member
Original Poster
More details:

ORLANDO -- One person is dead after an incident at SeaWorld.

According to a witness, one of the trainers got pulled into the Shamu tank in Shamu Stadium and was killed. It happened during a Dine With Shamu event.

Orange County EMT officials were called out to SeaWorld after it was reported a woman was not breathing. Around 2:30 p.m. News 13 received confirmation from Orange County Fire Rescue that it was a fatality.

The dolphin and whale shows for the rest of the day have been cancelled.
 

a2grafix

Well-Known Member
Additional details from Twitter / myFOXOrlando ...

RT @amykaufeldt: Breaking News out of SeaWorld.. someone injured at Shamu stadium. No word yet if it's an employ.. http://bit.ly/9di6T3

RT @amykaufeldt: Breaking: Now confirmed that a trainer has been killed at Shamu stadium in Orlando. We'll cut.. http://bit.ly/a2DYA9

This just happened. A trainer is killed by whale at seaworld. It happened right before a performance. More at 5 http://bit.ly/dpixzs

More info, they don't know what triggered the attack but the park has been emptied http://bit.ly/c7PaST
 

Nicole220

Well-Known Member
So sad. :(

This is a reminder that animals are wild creatures. Just because we can train them doesn't mean they won't turn on you. You've always gotta be on your guard...

My prayers go out to the trainer's family.
 

Mouse Man

New Member
This is horrible. I am very saddened to hear this news. I already read the artical posted on comcast and was sickened. My heart and prayers go out to the family.
 

E P C O T

Member
They almost cancelled the show due to lack of co-operation when I went in November last year. Getting different stories on different news channels.
 

Bairstow

Well-Known Member
I've heard of a killer whale, but looks like this may be a serial killer whale. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_captive_orcas#Tilikum
tilikum3.jpg
 

trr1

Well-Known Member
found here
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35566392?GT1=43001

Orca kills SeaWorld trainer

'Started thrashing,' witness says; 2 earlier deaths cited

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</TD><TD vAlign=bottom width="99%" sizset="36" sizcache="14">The pool area where a trainer was killed by an orca is seen Wednesday shortly after the accident at SeaWorld of Orlando.

View related photos
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msnbc.com staff and news service reports
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ORLANDO - A SeaWorld trainer died Wednesday when she slipped or fell into a pool and was fatally injured by an orca, a sheriff's official said. A witness, however, said it appeared the orca had actually pulled the trainer into the pool.
The same orca, or killer whale, has been tied to two deaths in 1991 and 1999, SeaWorld later reported. The Humane Society of the United States cites those attacks as reasons to keep marine mammals out of theme parks.
Jim Solomons of the Orlando County Sheriff's Office said the trainer slipped or fell into the orca's tank. A source later identified the victim as Dawn Brancheau, 40, who was one of the park's most experienced trainers.
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WKMG-TV reported that a witness, Victoria Biniak, said she saw the incident from a viewing area.
"The trainer was explaining different things about the whale ... and then the trainer that was down there walked away from the window ... and then Tilly (the whale) took off really fast in the tank and he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing (her) around," Biniak said.
Other eyewitnesses told the Orlando Sentinel that the trainer was petting the orca when it grabbed her and plunged back into the water with her. The whale reappeared on the other side of the tank.
Authorities provided few immediate details, but two witnesses told the Sentinel that the orca grabbed the woman by the upper arm and tossed her around in its mouth while swimming rapidly around the tank.
Brazilian tourist Joao Lucio DeCosta Sobrinho and his girlfriend were at an underwater viewing area when they suddenly saw the orca with someone in its mouth.
The couple said they watched the orca show at the park two days earlier and came back to take pictures. But on Wednesday the whales appeared agitated before the incident occurred.
"It was terrible. It’s very difficult to see the image," Sobrinho said.
The theme park was later closed.
A former contractor with SeaWorld told the Sentinel that the 30-year-old, 12,300-pound male orca, which is also called Tillikum, is typically kept isolated from other orcas and that trainers were not allowed to get in the water with him because of his violent history.
In a brief statement, SeaWorld President Dan Brown said "it is with great sadness that I report that one of our most experienced animal trainers drowned in an incident with one of our killer whales this afternoon. We've initiated an investigation to determine, to the extent possible, what occurred."
Brown added that no SeaWorld park had ever before had a similar incident and vowed that all standard operating procedures would be reviewed.
The Sentinel reported that the incident happened during a "Dining With Shamu" show where visitors eat while watching a performance, and that Tillikum is the orca most often used for that.
Two earlier deaths
The Humane Society stated that in 1991, the same orca, "along with two female (killer) whales, drowned a young part-time trainer named Keltie Byrne at Sealand of the Pacific in Canada."
The orcas "weren't trying to kill Byrne, but Tillikum and his orca companions didn't know that humans can't hold their breath as long as whales," Humane Society scientist Naomi Rose said in a report on the group's Web site.
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</TD></TR><TR vAlign=top><TD class=boxBI_3088867>Trainer dies
Feb. 24: A trainer dies in front of visitors at SeaWorld when a killer whale grabbed her from behind.
msnbc tv
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Tillikum was later shipped to SeaWorld Orlando, the Humane Society noted, and in 1999, "a man who had apparently stayed in the park after closing hours jumped into Tillikum's tank ... He was found dead the next morning, naked and draped across the whale. The man's swim trunks were found in the water, and his body was scraped up, a sign that Tillikum had dragged him around the bottom and sides of the tank."
An autopsy ruled that the man died of hypothermia in the 50-degree water. But officials also said it appeared Tillikum bit the man and tore off his swimming trunks, likely believing he was a toy to play with.
Rose, an orca biologist, told msnbc.com that SeaWorld had since "tried to keep trainers out of the water" with Tillikum "but the hazard is always there."
Some two dozen orcas are kept in captivity in the U.S., most at SeaWorld facilities, Rose said. Worldwide the number is 47.
"In the developing world, the South Pacific and Asia, it's the hot fad," she said of keeping marine mammals in captivity.
Previous orca incidents at SeaWorld
"There have been numerous incidents by other killer whales," Rose said. "These animals are big, they are social, they are moody, and they can hurt you."
Last December, a killer whale drowned a trainer at a Spanish zoo.
Several attacks on trainers have been at SeaWorld parks.
In November 2006, trainer Kenneth Peters was bitten and held underwater several times by a 7,000-pound killer whale during a show at SeaWorld's San Diego park. He escaped with a broken foot. The 17-foot-long orca who attacked him was the dominant female of SeaWorld San Diego's seven killer whales. She had attacked Peters two other times, in 1993 and 1999.
In 2004, another killer whale at the company's San Antonio park tried to hit one of the trainers and attempted to bite him. He also escaped.
Killer whales, or orcas, are not actually whales but the largest member of the dolphin family. The name killer whale comes from them being observed as sometimes killing whales for food.
Trainer profiled in 2006
According to a profile of Brancheau in the Orlando Sentinel in 2006, she was one of SeaWorld Orlando’s leading trainers. It was apparently a trip to SeaWorld at 9 years old that made her want to pursue this career.
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Julie Fletcher / Orlando Sentinel​
Dawn Brancheau, the trainer who died Wednesday, is seen at SeaWorld Orlando in 2005.
<HR color=#c0c0c0 SIZE=1 noShade></TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>"I remember walking down the aisle (of Shamu Stadium) and telling my mom, 'This is what I want to do,'" she said in the article.
Brancheau worked her way into a leadership role at Shamu Stadium during her 12-year career with SeaWorld, starting at the Sea Lion & Otter Stadium before spending the past 10 years working with killer whales, the newspaper said.
She also addressed the dangers of the job.
"You can’t put yourself in the water unless you trust them and they trust you," Brancheau said.

maybe its time to release this whale into the wild or euthanize it
 

harveyt0206

Well-Known Member
This story just makes me heartsick. I just heard about it on my nightly news. My thoughts and prayers are with the trainers friends and family.:(
 

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