Posted on 02/24/2010 12:31:11 PM PST by b4its2late
A member of SeaWorld Orlando's family of killer whales and his trainer swim to the surface during the show 'Believe.' (SEAWORLD)
One person is dead at SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium, following an incident this afternoon, an Orange County Sheriff's Office official confirmed.
Orange County Fire Rescue responded to SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium this afternoon on report of a person who was not breathing.
Details about the incident are not yet available, but a Sheriff's Office official confirmed it is a death investigation.
A local TV station is reporting that a female trainer was killed after she was grabbed by one of the theme park's whales at the start of a public show.
Park guest Victoria Biniak told Local 6 that the trainer was a veteran of SeaWorld and had just finished explaining to the audience the show they were about to see.
At that point, Biniak said, the whale came up from the water, grabbed the trainer around the waste and "thrashed her all around" to the point the trainer's shoe fell off.
Guests were evacuated and were later told the park was shut down, Biniak told Local 6.
Rescue personnel were called to the theme park at 2 p.m. Calls to SeaWorld and Orange County Fire Rescue were not immediately returned.
The Sheriff's Office is en route.
If they had kept the trash out of the water, this may not have happened.
This is kinda like that Mary Tyler Moore episode about Peanuts The Clown’s Funeral. The Germans probably have a word for it.
As a human being, you are of course, saddened by the event. But there is just something in the circumstances that adds that surreal quality to it.
parsy, who has said enough
Life imitates the Far Side cartoon where the whale says, “Forget the herring, I’m going for the whole schmeer!”
“... around the waste”
Off topic, but does the Orlando paper really say that?
Every time I read a paper these days, I think - there’s a job being wasted on someone (and wonder where I can apply).
)
Geez, public educashun.
I have never been comfortable with the idea of keeping creatures such as killer whales in such confined quarters.
Park guest Victoria Biniak told Local 6 that the trainer was a veteran of SeaWorld and had just finished explaining to the audience the show they were about to see.
At that point, Biniak said, the whale came up from the water and grabbed the woman.
“He was thrashing her around pretty good. It was violent,’” Biniak told Local 6.
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 sirens went off and everyone was forced to leave the stadium.
Guests were evacuated from the area. The park is not shut down
Witnesses are reporting that the victim was a trainer who was dragged into the tank and drowned by the whale.
Around six months before Tilikum came to SeaWorld Orlando, the whale was involved in an incident that resulted in the trainer’s death. In 1999, a man who snuck into the park was found dead in the whale’s tank.
“Tillikum measures 22 feet 6 inches long and weighs in at 12,300 pounds (as of 2007). His pectoral fins are six and one half feet long, his massive flukes curl under, and his 6-foot-tall dorsal fin is flopped completely to his left side, and weighs close to 200 pounds. He is the largest Orca in captivity and also the most successful sire in captivity, with 13 offspring, 10 of which are still alive.”
http://www.wftv.com/news/22659910/detail.html
Shamu, in deep thought, ....”she tells me to hop over that stupid stick one more time and.....”
If it did, attendance would be up.
Sold out, I’d bet.
CHUCKLES the clown and he was dressed like a peanut. An elephant crushed him.
parsy, who looked it up
Definitely one of the all-time funniest TV episodes.
Looks like it is time for a big ole fish fry...
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 Telly (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.
Biniak confirmed that the trainer who was attacked was a woman and the attack was violent enough for her shoe to fly off.
Biniak said the whale, named Tilikum, or Telly for short, does not typically have a trainer in its tank because it is too large.
Tilikum is a nearly 30-year-old, 12,300-pound bull Orca.
If not, at what age was the wale captured.
This could be a case of a wale pining for the fiords.
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