Dawn Brancheau, an experienced trainer who understood the dangers of her job, was killed by a killer whale at the SeaWorld Shamu Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
Posted on 02/26/2010 5:36:59 AM PST by JoeProBono
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The former boss of a trainer drowned by a killer whale in Orlando says he believes the attack was triggered by the trainer's mistake.
Thad Lacinak (lah-CIN'-ick), a former head trainer at SeaWorld, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday that he has seen video of the moments preceding the fatal attack Wednesday. He said he believes trainer Dawn Brancheau (bran-CHOH') made a mistake by letting her ponytail drift in the water in front of the killer whale.
Lacinak says the killer whale grabbed the ponytail in his mouth and pulled her in the water.
Lacinak says Brancheau, if she were alive, would acknowledge it was her mistake......
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Dawn Brancheau, an experienced trainer who understood the dangers of her job, was killed by a killer whale at the SeaWorld Shamu Stadium in Orlando, Fla.
...blame the victim
This animal has now killed THREE people. It needs to be destroyed.
Just turn the whales loose and figure out another way to make a buck.
She’d worked there for so many years. If that was the mistake, I just feel that she would have known to put it up around her head or in a bun. If she didn’t know to do that, then no one knows now that it was a mistake.
Knowing how politically correct and kiddie friendly it is to call these animals “Orca’s” - they are much more appropriately named Killer Whale’s for a reason
I guess trainers will no longer be wearing pony tail hair styles.
Killikum was sold to Seaworld under the proviso that he was a breeder only, and should not be used in shows.
Seaworld stretched that to mean no trainers in the water with him. They used him as the “show closer” who circles the tank and splashes the crowd. Trainers may not have been in the water with him, but they were in close contact with him.
“Hello?” Orcas pull seals off of beaches and ice floes to eat them.
The trainer’s family is going to sue Seaworld for millions, and they will settle and pay up.
I said that as well yesterday. Instead of killing the 'killer' whale, put it back to it's proper environment. If it can't adapt, that's not the whale's fault for having it in captivity for so long.
so if we all did a search on YT we would find no trainers with flowing ponytails near the water?
The Orca is a multi-million dollar SeaWorld asset. SeaWorld is trying hard to not have to lose that asset. Humans are easily replaced.
Kill the animal for doing what it was created by God to do? Huh?
bad, naughty killer whale!!
This is absurd. Sea world shouldn’t be using these animals for this purpose, that’s all.
When people get up close and personal with dangerous animals, sometimes the people die. This is very sad, but it’s hardly unexpected.
The customers who witnessed this event will be the first to sue. Pain, suffering, distress, etc. I bet a lot of them are selling video to tabloids even as I type. Unless Seaworld has already paid them big bucks to hand over the footage.
For many thousands of years, predators that were a threat to humans were killed. The ones who survived did so by figuring out that attacking humans was a fast way to die.
Think of it as evolution in action.
For the past few decades we've abandoned this operating basis. I think it's a mistake.
Killikum has fathered 15 or 16 offspring for Seaworld, at a value of 2 million dollars each.
TAG LINE FOR SALE
“If she were alive she would acknowledge it was her mistake”
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