Posted on 02/24/2010 12:31:11 PM PST by b4its2late
I like your post.
KILL THE EFFING KILLER WHALE!
At least she died doing what she loved. I expect she went very quickly.
A 6 ton whale could easily kill a person by accident, with a flick of one of its 6 foot long, 200 pound fins. The amount of vigilance needed to be safe around a creature like this is probably beyond the capacity of any human to maintain 100% of the time. She must have missed some signs that he was annoyed about something, and being right next to a pissed-off 6 ton whale without realizing he’s pissed off . . . well, she didn’t stand a chance.
It’s obviously not an ideal home for them, but I’m quite sure that the species as a whole is better off because of the human respect and concern for them that’s generated by the ones in captivity.
“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.”
Somehow they didn't get the signal this time, I guess.
Horrible.
Orlando Business Journal broadcast partner Central Florida News 13 reported that Orange County EMT officials on the scene said the woman was not breathing, and later Orange County Fire Rescue reported that it was a fatality.
The accident is reported to have happened during a Dine with Shamu event just before 2 p.m. The dolphin and whale shows for the rest of the day have been canceled, but SeaWorld remains open.
******
Police said the female trainer slipped and fell into his pool but a witness said the orca rose up from the water and grabbed her by the waist and shook her.
The 30-year-old, 5-ton marine mammal - the largest killer whale in captivity - has killed before: He drowned a biology student in 1991 and a naked, dead gatecrasher was found draped on his back in 1999.
The previous incidents were not attacks but misguided attempts by the otherwise docile whale to play, experts said.
But Tilikum, nicknamed Telly, is getting old and he may be getting cranky.
Paramedics were unable to revive the 40-year-old trainer, who was pronounced dead at the scene at about 2 p.m. The park was closed.
Experts said they weren’t sure what set off the whale.
“What he did in the previous two incidents were not attacks - to him, the people were toys, and to a whale, being underwater for 20 minutes is nothing.
In 1991, 20-year-old Keltie Byrne, a University of Victoria marine biology student and part-time trainer, slipped into the orca pool at Sealand of the Pacific in British Columbia.
Tilikum took her into his mouth and dragged her around the pool, most of the time underwater.
The champion swimmer broke free and tried to escape, but Tilikum and two female orcas blocked her from getting out of the pool and began tossing her back and forth between them.
A screaming Byrne tried to climb out of the pool but the whales pulled her back in.
She drowned in the mouth of an orca holding her underwater. Sealand of the Pacific closed the following year and Tillikum was shipped to Sea World, where his primary job was siring calves - not performing.
His part in the Sea World show is brief and comes just at the end, when he soaks the audience with massive splashes.
Ya think?
My thoughts exactly!
I agree with your assessment.
I was referring to Bears,Lions, Tigers.
Cute as babies, but watch out when they grow up.
dolphins have proven their affinity for connection with humans. Guess that’s why eveyone loves them.
Speaking of Dingos. I had a neighbor that had one.
My Mother was coming home from work and he offerred a Hundred bucks to let my German shepard fight it.
Later on we were out front and my two girls and my GS were playing. They came out, that Dingo (I swear) stepped one foot in our yard and my GS attacked and beat the crap out of that dingo.
Some men that worked at a car dealership saw it and call the animal control (dingos are illegal). Bah Bye.
My Mother never let my neighbors live that one down.
Wow that gave me chills. Amazing what a group can do when they work together.
Did you actually experience that? WOW
“grabbed the trainer around the waste”
Sorry, prayers sent for the victim and her family.
As for the article, good grief. Don’t these journalists know proper word usage?
No, it was some guy on group safari thing. Nat Geo had it on TV last weekend, so I went to youtube and got a copy. Can you believe the fight between the crocs and the lions?
parsy, who was fascinated
It is obscene that “Tilly” wasn’t shot after killing Byrne. It takes a weirdo to say that was ‘play’ - that was torture of a vastly weaker animal by a killer.
George Adamson had the decency to shoot one of his favorite lions after it killed a man. He didn’t hesitate, but then, he had spent his life around wild animals. He wasn’t an urban eco-idiot.
Sounds like Sea World is in full CYA mode.
I won’t set foot in one again.
Amazing how it survived. THAT is why you don’t have wild animals as pets!!
The trainer attacked and killed by a
whale Wednesday afternoon at SeaWorld Orlando has been identified.
Dawn Brancheau
http://www.clickorlando.com/2010/0224/22662398_320X180.jpg
A sheriff’s official said Dawn Brancheau, 40, was the trainer who was killed.
Emergency personnel were called to the park just after 2 p.m. and found a person dead, according to Orange County Fire Rescue spokesman John Mulhall.
The Orange County Sheriff’s Office said deputies responded to the theme park after receiving a call that an employee had been attacked and injured in the “killer whale tank” in front of an audience.
Brancheau was a senior trainer at the theme park. She was pronounced dead at the park after being pulled from the tank, the sheriff’s office said.
Jim Solomons of the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said she fell into the tank and, “this appears to be an accidental death.”
http://www.clickorlando.com/news/22659901/detail.html
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 age 9 that made her want to follow that career path.
“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.
SeaWorld trainer helped train killer whales for SeaWorld's new 'Believe' show
File photo of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was killed during an accident at the park Wednesday, February 24, 2010.
Dawn Brancheau steps to the edge of the pool, reaches in and splashes the surface of the 54-degree water.
A moment later a 5,000-pound killer whale swims to the surface and opens its gigantic mouth in wait of a salmon snack.
Brancheau, 36, promptly places a whole fish on the whale's tongue and rubs down her slick head.
As one of SeaWorld Orlando's leading trainers of its main attraction -- the killer whales tourists know as Shamu -- Brancheau knows her relationship with the giant mammals is vital to the job.
"This is at a time when people's sense of entertainment is at a high level," Brancheau said. "We're making the biggest change we've ever made."
The new Shamu show, which will feature new interactions between the whales and their trainers, is scheduled to debut in May.
The new show is the product of three years of work now in the final editing stage and will feature music written specifically for the whales and their movements as well as new underwater shots and monitors.
The show is designed to be inspirational, leaving the audience with the notion that if people can swim with killer whales they can achieve anything.
I'm sure the underpaid journo grad meant to type waist.
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