Whale Kills Trainer At SeaWorld Orlando

Thursday, January 25, 2010
ORLANDO, FLORIDA - A killer whale at the SeaWorld amusement park in central Florida killed a trainer yesterday.

"She apparently slipped and fell into the tank and was fatally injured by one of the whales," Orange County Sheriff's spokesman Jim Solomons said.

The 40-year-old trainer, identified as Dawn Brancheau, one of the park's most experienced animal trainers, was dead when rescue officials arrived.

The trainer was killed in the whale holding area just before the start of a public performance at the Shamu Stadium.

There were conflicting reports about how the incident occurred. The Orlando Sentinel quoted a spectator as saying the whale came up from the water and grabbed the trainer by her waist. The sheriff's official said preliminary accounts indicated she slipped and fell in, but that was still under investigation.

The Sentinel said Brazilian tourist Joao Lucio DeCosta Sobrinho, 28, and girlfriend Talita Oliveira, 20, were at an underwater viewing area when they suddenly saw a whale with someone in its mouth.

"It was terrible. It's very difficult to see the image," Mr. Sobrinho said.

The whale kept turning Ms. Brancheau over as it swam.

The Florida park is owned by the Blackstone Group, a private equity company that also owns part of the Universal Orlando theme park.

A spokesman for SeaWorld in San Diego, California, said killer whale shows have been suspended following the death in Orlando.

According to the Sentinel, the orca involved in yesterday's incident, named Tillikum but popularly known as "Tilly," has a controversial past.

The whale was blamed for the drowning of one of his trainers in 1991 while he was performing at Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia, the newspaper said.

Sold to SeaWorld as a stud in 1992, the whale was involved in a second incident when authorities discovered the body of a naked man lying across his back in July 1999.

Authorities said the man, who had either snuck into Sea-World after hours or hidden in the park until it closed, most likely drowned after suffering hypothermia in the 12.7 C water.

A former contractor with SeaWorld told the Sentinel that Tillikum is typically kept isolated from SeaWorld's other killer whales and that trainers were not allowed to get in the water with him because of his history.

Source: The Montreal Gazette