Benevolent One
Team Owner
Sea World Death Raises Awareness of Killer Whales' Ability to Kill
Thursday, 25 February 2010 01:18
Officials at Sea World Adventure Park in Orlando are unsure what fate will befall a killer whale that attacked and drowned a veteran trainer in one of its stadium tanks last Wednesday.
Dawn Brancheau, 40, died when a 5-ton bull orca named Tilikum dragged her beneath the aquarium water and shook her like a rag doll in its prodigious mouth.
Only this rag doll bled profusely—and was pronounced dead when paramedics arrived.
“This was a very unfortunate occurrence,” said Dan Brown, president of the popular Florida water park that for decades has taken cetaceans captive and withheld food from them until they perform amusing tricks for a paying audience. “Dawn had been with us for sixteen years. Plus, she was hot. It’s just sad. Stuff like this never happens at Sea World. It’s tragic, but rare.”
The park executive apparently interprets the word rare differently than the general public. Tilikum—the oldest and largest orca in captivity—has killed at least three times before.
Tili (aka “Telly”) was one of three whales responsible for the drowning death of a trainer at Canadian park Sea-Land in 1991. In 1999 a man who snuck into Sea World Orlando after hours was found bitten and mangled, his corpse floating in Tili’s tank.
“This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” animal behaviorist Brian Gisi told a Fox News affiliate in Orlando. “They’re not called killer whales because of their intelligence or playfulness.”
Thursday, 25 February 2010 01:18
Officials at Sea World Adventure Park in Orlando are unsure what fate will befall a killer whale that attacked and drowned a veteran trainer in one of its stadium tanks last Wednesday.
Dawn Brancheau, 40, died when a 5-ton bull orca named Tilikum dragged her beneath the aquarium water and shook her like a rag doll in its prodigious mouth.
Only this rag doll bled profusely—and was pronounced dead when paramedics arrived.
“This was a very unfortunate occurrence,” said Dan Brown, president of the popular Florida water park that for decades has taken cetaceans captive and withheld food from them until they perform amusing tricks for a paying audience. “Dawn had been with us for sixteen years. Plus, she was hot. It’s just sad. Stuff like this never happens at Sea World. It’s tragic, but rare.”
The park executive apparently interprets the word rare differently than the general public. Tilikum—the oldest and largest orca in captivity—has killed at least three times before.
Tili (aka “Telly”) was one of three whales responsible for the drowning death of a trainer at Canadian park Sea-Land in 1991. In 1999 a man who snuck into Sea World Orlando after hours was found bitten and mangled, his corpse floating in Tili’s tank.
“This shouldn’t come as a surprise to anyone,” animal behaviorist Brian Gisi told a Fox News affiliate in Orlando. “They’re not called killer whales because of their intelligence or playfulness.”
