Whale Kills Trainer at SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium
Eyewitnesses Watched 12,000 Pound Whale Attack Female Trainer
A female trainer was killed today by a 12,000 pound killer whale at SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium in Orlando, Fla., according to police and local media.
Eyewitnesses told ABC News affiliate WFTV the trainer was pulled into the tank at Shamu Stadium sometime after 2 p.m.
The whale responsible for the attack is a bull, or male, named Tilikum. He has lived at the park since 1992, and is one of eight killer whales there.
"Currently deputies with the full cooperation of SeaWorld have secured the scene and homicide detectives have been requested to respond and conduct a death investigation follow-up, along with our forensics unit," said Capt. Angelo Nieves of the Orange County Sheriff's Office in a statement.
One witness, park visitor Victoria Biniak, told WKMG-TV that the trainer was just introduced the whale during a live public show at the stadium.
Soon after, Biniak said, the whale came up from the water and grabbed the woman.
"He was thrashing her around pretty good. It was violent,'" Biniak said.
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," she said.
Visitors were evacuated and the park closed following the attack.
There was confusion about what exactly happened.A spokesman for the Orange County Sheriff's Office said the 40-year-old woman had slipped and fell into a holding tank.
"A female trainer back in the whale holding area slipped into tank and was fatally injured," the police spokesman said.
The sheriff's added there was no evidence of "foul play."
SeaWorld and the Orange County Sheriff's Office would not immediately identity the trainer, but Dan Brown, vice president and general manager of SeaWorld Orlando, called the woman one of the park's "most experienced trainers."
He also characterized the death as a "drowning."
Neither the police or SeaWorld officials would take questions.
"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," said Brown. "We have never, in the history of our parks,experienced an incident like this," he said.
"We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends and of the trainer and will do everything possible to assist them in this difficult time."
Previous Attacks by Killer Whales
Killer whales, or orca, have attacked several trainers at aquatic theme parks.
The body of a naked man was found scratched, bruised and draped over Tilikum's back in July 1999. The man, 27-year-old Daniel Dukes, reportedly made his way past security at SeaWorld, remaining in the park after it had closed. Wearing only his underwear, Dukes either jumped, fell or was pulled into the frigid water of Tilikum's huge tank.
An autopsy ruled that he died of hypothermia in the 50-degree water. Dukes' parents filed a lawsuit against the park later that year but later withdrew it.
In November 2006, trainer Kenneth Peters, 39, was bitten and held underwater several times by a 7,000-pound killer whale during a show at SeaWorld's San Diego park, according to the Associated Press.
He escaped with a broken foot.
That same whale, a 17-foot-long female orca, had attacked Peters two other times, in 1993 and 1999.
