Female Killer Whale Trainer Killed At Seaworld

[aelf]

Iugula!

 

[TheAlamo]

Why hasn't the Orca been destroyed yet?

 

[civ_king]

We have an Orca at a theme park in town here (Discovery Kingdom)

 

[galdre]

if someone locked me in an enclosed space I'd try to kill everyone I could - can't say I feel sorry for the trainer

 

[Rik Meleet]

A trainer at the SeaWorld park in Orlando, Florida, has died after being attacked by a killer whale.

Spoiler BBC :

link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8535618.stm

A trainer at the SeaWorld park in Orlando, Florida, has died after being attacked by a killer whale.

Witnesses said the orca had jumped and grabbed Dawn Brancheau by the waist from a poolside platform before dragging her underwater.

Guests were evacuated while fire crews tried to rescue the 40-year-old, but they were unable to revive her.

The killer whale, Tilikum, was also reportedly involved in the death of a female trainer in Canada in 1991.

Other orcas were also said to have attacked trainers at SeaWorld parks in 2006 and 2004.

Chuck Tompkins, SeaWorld parks' head of animal training, was quoted by Reuters news agency saying: "She was rubbing the killer whale's head, and [it] grabbed her and pulled her in."

SeaWorld said an investigation was under way into Wednesday afternoon's death of Ms Brancheau, a trainer with 16 years' experience.

Jim Solomons, a spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office, said early accounts indicated she could have slipped and fallen into the tank.

He said it was too early to tell if she had been attacked by the 12,000lb (5,450kg) orca.

But witnesses told a different story.

Park visitor Victoria Biniak told a local TV channel that the trainer had just finished explaining to the audience what they were about to see.

At that point, she said, the whale "took off really fast, and then he came back around to the glass, jumped up, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started shaking her violently. The last thing we saw was her shoe floating."

Audience member Eldon Skaggs told AP news agency the whale had "pulled her under and started swimming around with her".

A male spectator who witnessed the tragedy gave CNN a similar version of events.

Brazilian tourist Joao Lucio DeCosta Sobrinho and his girlfriend were at an underwater viewing area when they saw the whale with the trainer in its mouth.

The entertainment park, known for its killer whale, seal and dolphin displays, was closed after the incident. SeaWorld in San Diego also suspended its killer whale show.

Tilikum is said to have been involved in previous incidents, the BBC's Andy Gallacher reports from Florida.

A SeaWorld spokesman said the orca had been one of three whales blamed for killing a trainer in 1991 after she had fallen in a pool at a marine park in British Columbia, Canada.

After the whale - nicknamed Telly - was sold to SeaWorld Orlando it was involved in a second incident when authorities discovered the body of a naked man lying across his back in 1999.

Officials later concluded the man, who had either crept into SeaWorld after closing time or hidden in the park until it closed, probably drowned after suffering hypothermia.

There have been incidents involving other whales at SeaWorld.

In November 2006, a male trainer escaped with a broken foot after he was bitten and held underwater by a female killer whale during a show at SeaWorld's San Diego park.

In 2004, another whale at the company's San Antonio park attempted to bite a trainer, but he too escaped.

Though called a killer whale, the orca (Orcinus orca), is actually the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family.

Animal rights group Peta says it has long been asking SeaWorld to stop taking wild, ocean-going mammals and confining them to an area that, to them, is "the size of a bathtub".

There are 0 known cases of Orca's in the wild killing humans; the only human deaths cause by Orca's are in marine parks. Wouldn't it be better to stop keep Orca's in captivity ?

Rik and an Orca.

 

[holy king]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=354864

 

[Cheetah]

And 3 of those deaths were because of this specific Orca...

But Rik: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=354864

 

[Rik Meleet]

http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=354864

And 3 of those deaths were because of this specific Orca...

But Rik: http://forums.civfanatics.com/showthread.php?t=354864

Searched for "Orca" on several pages of OT and no hits...

 

[Cheetah]

Heh. It's not easy with all these synonyms.

In Norwegian a Killer Whale/Orca is actually called Spekkhogger, i.e. Blubberhacker.

 

[holy king]

great words.

 

[amadeus]

Another reason to not visit these "attractions"...

Really? I thought the fact that they're boring and stupid were reasons enough.

 

[emzie]

Really? I thought the fact that they're boring and stupid were reasons enough.

The parks are boring and stupid. When I was in Alaska (Juneau) for a summer, we went halibut fishing and on our way back in got surrounded by a pod of orca. It was amazing. I should get my mom to scan and send me the pictures....

 

[yellow_peril]

The park hasn't learned it's lesson.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100225...DeW5fdG9wX3N0b3JpZXMEc2xrA3doYWxldGhhdGtpbA--

ORLANDO, Fla. – Trainers will continue working with a killer whale that grabbed one of their colleagues and dragged her underwater, killing her, but SeaWorld said Thursday it is reviewing its procedures after the attack.
People lined up to get into the park a day after the whale named Tilikum killed veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau as a horrified audience watched. Tilikum had been involved in two previous deaths, including a Canadian trainer dragged under water by him and two others whales in 1991.
Killer whale shows are suspended indefinitely in Orlando and at the park's San Diego location.
"We have every intention of continuing to interact with this animal, though the procedures for working with him will change," SeaWorld said in a post on its blog.
Chuck Tompkins, who is in charge of training at all SeaWorld parks, said Thursday that Tilikum will not be isolated from the Orlando location's seven other whales. Tilikum fathered some of them and will continue mating with others.
"We want him to continue to be part of that social group," Tompkins said.
Trainers will review safety procedures and change them as needed, but Tompkins said he doesn't expect the killer whale shows to be much different.
"We're going to make any changes we have to, to make sure this doesn't happen again," he said.
Brancheau, 40, was rubbing Tilikum from a poolside platform when the 22-foot, 12,000-pound creature reached up, grabbed her long braid in its mouth and dragged her underwater.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office said Thursday that trainers trying to help her could not get into the water because Tilikum was so aggressive. They had to coax him into a smaller pool and raise him out of the water on a platform before they could free her.
She likely died from multiple traumatic injuries and drowning, the medical examiner's office said.
Horrified visitors who had stuck around after a noontime show watched Tilikum charge through the pool with Brancheau in his jaws.
Tompkins said the whale was lying in front of Brancheau when her braid swung in front of him and he apparently grabbed onto it.
"We like to think we know 99.9 percent of the time what an animal is doing," he told The Associated Press on Thursday. "But this is one of those times we just don't know."
Kelly Vickery, 24, of Tallahassee was at the noon show Wednesday next to where the attack happened and said the whales seemed to be acting odd, swimming around the tank rapidly. Trainers said the whales "were having an off day, that they were being ornery," she said.
Tompkins disputed that, saying nothing seemed abnormal.
Vickery returned Thursday with her sons so they could see the areas of the park they had missed a day earlier, though she acknowledged being there felt "weird" a day after the tragedy.
"But it's an animal, and it's an accident," she said.
Audience member Eldon Skaggs, who saw the attack, said Brancheau's interaction with the whale appeared leisurely and informal at first. But then, the whale "pulled her under and started swimming around with her."
Another audience member, Victoria Biniak, told 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."
Because of his size and the previous deaths, trainers were not supposed to get into the water with Tilikum, and only about a dozen of the park's 29 trainers worked with him. Brancheau had more experience with the 30-year-old whale than most. Tompkins says the park believes he is the biggest male killer whale in captivity.
Tilikum was one of three orcas blamed for killing a trainer in 1991 after the woman lost her balance and fell in the pool at Sealand of the Pacific near Victoria, British Columbia.
A few months later, SeaWorld asked the U.S. National Marine Fisheries Service for permission to bring Tilikum to Orlando temporarily, according to agency documents obtained by The Associated Press. The agency is responsible for issuing permits to bring orcas and other marine animals into the U.S.
In a Jan. 8, 1992, letter, the agency said SeaWorld wanted to bring Tilikum to Orlando to provide medical treatment and care unavailable in Canada. The letter does not specify Tilikum's medical condition, nor does it mention his role in the deadly attack on the trainer.
Nancy Foster, director of the agency's office of protected resources, said in the letter to Brad Andrews, SeaWorld's vice president of zoological operations at the time, that "prudent and precautionary steps necessary for the health and welfare of Tilikum were not taken by Sealand or SeaWorld."
Despite that, the documents show SeaWorld Orlando got permission in October 1992 to permanently display Tilikum and the two other killer whales involved in the Canadian trainer's death. Both of the other whales have since died.
Tilikum was also involved in a 1999 death, when the body of a man who had sneaked by SeaWorld security was found draped over him. The man either jumped, fell or was pulled into the frigid water and died of hypothermia, though he was also bruised and scratched by Tilikum.
Brancheau's older sister, Diane Gross, said the trainer wouldn't want anything done to the whale.
"She loved the whales like her children, she loved all of them," said Gross, of Schererville, Ind. "They all had personalities, good days and bad days."
Celebrity zookeeper Jack Hanna said he has known Brancheau professionally for the last 10 years and also believes she would not want anything to happen to Tilikum.
Brancheau's passion for marine life began at age 9, Gross said, on a family trip to Sea World.
According to a profile in the Orlando Sentinel in 2006, she was one of SeaWorld Orlando's leading trainers. 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.
Billy Hurley, chief animal officer at the Georgia Aquarium — the world's largest — said there are inherent dangers to working with orcas, just as there are with driving race cars or piloting jets.
"In the case of a killer whale, if they want your attention or if they're frustrated by something or if they're confused by something, there's only a few ways of handling that," he said. "If you're right near pool's edge and they decide they want a closer interaction during this, certainly they can grab you."
It was not the first attack on whale trainers at SeaWorld parks.
In November 2006, a trainer was bitten and held underwater several times by a killer whale during a show at SeaWorld's San Diego park. He escaped with a broken foot.
In 2004, another whale at the company's San Antonio park tried to hit one of the trainers and attempted to bite him.
Wednesday's attack was the second time in two months that an orca trainer was killed. On Dec. 24, 29-year-old Alexis Martinez Hernandez fell from a whale and crushed his ribcage at Loro Parque on the Spanish island of Tenerife.

You would've thought they would have learned their lesson by now...

 

[TheBladeRoden]

If any more trainers get talked into working with the killer whale after this, they all get darwin award nominations.

 

[Formaldehyde]

In most cases it is quite safe albeit quite immoral, at least as far as I am concerned. And the Teneriffe incident appears to have been an accident instead of an attack.

 

[MobBoss]

Been to Seaworld in Orlando, have seen the whale show before and enjoyed it very much. Such shows do a lot to raise awareness about the Killer Whales and the problems they face in their shrinking habitat, so to call the shows 'immoral' is really myopic in the extreme.

Anytime humans are around an animal that weighs in around 10 tons, it can be a dangerous situation. Fwiw, there were specific instructions on how to interact with this particular whale because of his history, and the trainer wasnt in the water with the whale. The whale actually grabbed her by her hair off a platform and drug her in. She took her eyes off the whale for just a moment and that was all it took.

 

[TheAlamo]

I repeat: why aren't they destroying the animal? It clearly poses a risk to the safety of humans.

 

[Adria]

They have no plans to kill the whale. And after nearly 30 years in captivity, they certainly aren't releasing him.

Spoiler :

The massive whale that killed a trainer at SeaWorld in Orlando, Fla., Wednesday is unlikely to be euthanized or isolated, but will probably never be freed.

Instead, SeaWorld trainers will continue working with Tillikum, the 30-year-old killer whale, despite his links to three deaths and speculation from animal-rights groups that captivity has made the orca angry or possibly psychotic.

“We have every intention of continuing to interact with this animal, though the procedures for working with him will change,” SeaWorld officials said in a statement yesterday. No details were released, andSeaWorld did not say if it was considering more live shows with the 5.4-tonne animal.

Seaworld has said that trainers did not work in the pool with Tillikum, but an amateur video surfaced yesterday showing Brancheau in the pool with the whale minutes before the killing.

SeaWorld trainer Chuck Tomkins said Tillikum will not be isolated from the park’s seven other whales and will continue mating with some of them.

Tillikum, who was two years old when he was captured from Iceland, was one of three whales involved in the 1991 drowning of 20-year-old Keltie Byrne at Oak Bay’s Sealand of the Pacific.

Bruce Bott, a diver who has studied whales for 40 years and recently completed a book about whale-human interactions, was briefly employed at Sealand and said the facility bears some responsibility for the whale’s aggressive behaviour.

Bott, who worked with the whales but left before Tillikum arrived, said food withdrawal was regularly used when whales would not obey instructions. “And who wouldn’t be angry and damaged psychologically if they were held in a steel box at night?” he asked.

Tillikum was also in the SeaWorld pool in 1999 when 27-year-old Daniel Duke apparently climbed into the water. His body was found the next morning draped across Tillikum’s back.

Graphic details are emerging about how, this week, Tillikum grabbed trainer Dawn Brancheau by her ponytail and dragged her into his tank. He was so aggressive that rescuers could not immediately jump in and help Brancheau, officials said.

Instead, trainers guided the five-tonne whale to a smaller pool and lifted him out of the water with a platform to free Brancheau’s dead body from his jaws.

The Orange County Medical Examiner’s office said Brancheau likely died from multiple traumatic injuries and drowning.

Debate is continuing to rage over Tillikum’s future and the ethics of keeping whales in captivity.

Jim Borrowman of Stubbs Island Whale Watching in Telegraph Cove said it is unlikely Tillikum acted with malice, but it’s probable that whales kept in small concrete tanks become neurotic because of swimming in circles all day without the socialization of their families.

“Theoretically they could probably do 200 miles a day if they wanted to,” he said.

Despite their gentle image, transient killer whales are also fearsome predators, Borrowman said.

“They can tear a ton of Steller sea lion to pieces in a matter of minutes,” he said.

When killing large prey, the whales tend to smash the animal with their tails, stun it and then jump up and land on it, Borrowman said. “As violent as it is, it is amazing to watch.”

Despite a growing number of calls for killer whales in captivity to be released or sent to an ocean equivalent of a halfway house, researchers say there would be problems returning whales to Iceland when no record has been kept of their families.

“It would be very difficult to take a whale from an unknown context without risking failure,” said Paul Spong, director of the whale research station OrcaLab based off northern Vancouver Island.

Better candidates for release are Lolita, a member of the endangered southern resident killer whale pods who is at Miami Seaquarium, and Corky, a member of the threatened northern resident pods who is at SeaWorld San Diego, Spong said.

http://www.timescolonist.com/Whale+that+killed+trainer+unlikely+freed+euthanized/2614181/story.html

 

[TheAlamo]

That's great. Someone dies, and nothing is changed. Bang up job, SeaWorld.

 

[Rik Meleet]

I repeat: why aren't they destroying the animal? It clearly poses a risk to the safety of humans.

Because he doesn't hurt anyone that he cannot reach. Just don't get close and you're safe. Perhaps it's time to retire him from performing shows.