1 killed in whale attack at SeaWorld’s Shamu Stadium

Source: Orlando Sentinel

A SeaWorld employee died this afternoon during an incident at SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium, following an incident this afternoon at the Killer Whale attack, an Orange County Sheriff's Office official confirmed.

Neither SeaWorld, rescue personnel or the Sheriff's Office are confirming the identity of the employee, although a local TV station is reporting that a female employee 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 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

Rescue personnel were called to the theme park at 2 p.m. Calls to SeaWorld and Orange County Fire Rescue were not immediately returned.

SeaWorld officials will be briefing the media shortly.

Check back for more information.

Read more: http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/local/breakingnews/os-seaworld-orlando-shamu-injury-20100224,0,942688.story

---

Just up this afternoon. Tragic and traumatic.

I don't think Elvis died from a string breaking on his guitar and slicing his throat open.

but i lol'd

are animals, and animals die, sooner or later.

been terrifying for all.

they are not here for our entertainment.

place for these animals... especially when trained to perform.

:shrug:

Please! These animals are treated better than most people.

for their whole lives with no way out being treated better than most people. :shrug:

More like the equivalent of a 900sq ft. condo... but still trapped in Orlando... which would cause me to attack my trainer. Pay a toll for this crappy road?

These parks should be on the ocean, so if they want to kepp them in captivity, just fence off a dozen acres of ocean for them.

What we don't poach, put down or plow under, we capture and put on public display and/or train to do stupid tricks for profit.

Here's a novel concept: Why don't we humans leave wildlife the fuck alone for a change? :mad:

Most were born in captivity, and have no survival skills outside of Sea World.

How about we humans live in our natural habitat? In tribes and family groups. Why did we have to be born into Capitalist captivity and trained to do stupid tricks like write action plans for a few crumbs of bread?

You let us go and survive on our own, most of us wound't survive a month either. Never put the word "we" in front of an argument about the social conditions of human beings again. None of us invented for profit everything. That was done aeons ago. We were just bred to serve it.

EDIT: How do you sleep at night? A woman was just killed by an animal she had a close relationship with, and you use this as an excuse to condemn zookeeping to satisfy your nauseating sanctimony. Why don't you just get it over with and say "See? I told you so! She deserved what she got!" ... I know your dying to.

responsibility because "profit was invented aeons ago" and 2) the animal wouldn't survive on its own because -----wait for it------ we humans captured/bred it and made a slave out of it for profit. Circular reasoning much?

Get out of my face with your feigned sanctimony. It's positively puke-worthy.

You are. Her body isn't even cold. Go ahead and puke. At least it'll shut you up for a few seconds.

then she would not be dead in the first place, if you are too young and whatever to understand that, go visit freeperville.:banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead: :banghead:

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Start with a good biology book, learn about the range of animals like these, and then consider the fact that they are conscious and likely resent being forced to perform idiotic "tricks."

Please educate yourself.

Update Excel spreadsheets
Drop french fries into grease pits
pump gas into cars
rivet sheet metal
take a supervisor's abuse
cheer on their corporation before cleaning someone else's pubic hairs off a urinal.


Orcas and Humans do may demeaning things for life usually with little complaint... which is why it still goes on. At least the Orca gets some fish. Humans get debt.

It was good enough for Jehovah!

Be free. If you cannot free yourself, then let me help.

in social isolation, and forcing it to learn and perform tricks is "treated better than most people" then I'm awfully glad I've never been treated better than most people.

Try to learn what your talking about if your going to act superior.

That's really not any better, at least the wild-caught animals got some proper socialization and life in the wild. This animal's been raised without proper social interaction, live prey or the ability to use it's primary sense, it's sonar, in it's entire life. That's horrific abuse of the worst sort and every human being involved ought to be shunned by decent society.

Can you let her body cool before you start with the browbeating?

Ignoring the circumstances doesn't make her less dead.

Because they don't know what it feels like to have room to move around? I know, I know, the pools are very big, but they're not as big as this animal's natural habitat.

I feel the same way about Sea World type places as I do about zoos - they're just wrong.

... is it?

http://ceta-base.com/orcensus/orcas_swf.html
Name ID # Sex Acquisition Date Dam Sire
Tilikum SWF-OO-9201 M Nov ?? 1983 (W) Wild Wild

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tilikum_%28whale%29#Tilikum

Tilikum

Tilikum, sometimes misspelled Tillikum, is a bull Orca who lives at SeaWorld Orlando. He was captured near Iceland in November 1983 at about two years of age. 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. His name means friend in Chinook Jargon, usually spelled Tillicum and also meaning "people/tribe" or "kin".

Classic.

:rofl:

His last three offspring I can find records of (which may not be the last at all, as you probably know aquariums no longer have to submit information on their captive marine mammal populations to any outside authority) were conceived by AI. Which means some poor soul has been, oh, how to put this delicately, obtaining samples from a dangerous animal the size of a bus. And said apparently unusually large (he's the biggest orca in captivity) strong and aggressive whale has more offspring spread around (nine surviving based on what I can find, but again recent records are entirely voluntary) than the average NBA starting lineup.

I'm trying to think of any possible thought process that led somebody to conclude that was a good idea. Oh yeah, $$$.

edit: I ran the numbers using the orca census on http://www.ceta-base.com/orcensus/ Of the 42 captive orcas currently alive, 12 are wild-caught and 30 are captive-born. Of those captive born whales, just under half are descended from this particular whale: 10 are children and two are grandchildren fathered by his eldest son, Taku.

I got caught up in another thread.

It's only been an hour since she posted it. Why you being so dickish?

You need to grab a fucking mirror and take a long look, chilly. I admit though, it's got to be tough managing to be a shit in two threads spread over two forums.

Mad applause to you!

One of those makes 10 of you worth it.

And, yeah. YOU!

:wtf:

Thanks for your concern.

Really a pity you're not drunk, at least you've have an excuse.

Or are you just into baiting tonight? I'll take a chance on the former.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=7789027&mesg_id=7789578

in a way you don't like.

That's uhm... special.

I was wrong. That "Lefty" in your name threw me for a loop there. Thought you might have something more than put downs. Won't get fooled by that again.

.uhm... special isn't necessary. We're adults, you can use brain chemistry.

Oh' yeah. "Just Curious" was a lie. Not to tell you what to do or anything, but most leftys who are mothers would apologize for that.

I'm not one to stop you, but I have better things to do, so you go have yourself a lovely evening, okay?

but words like "incoherent" without any truth or context makes it a bit hard not to be.

I'll try not to be as patronizing as you when I wish you a good night too.

Your thread currently stands as unrecommended as the day is long, with countless posters giving you scathing responses...well deserved, I might add.

You sound really angry. But, you make me laugh, for reasons I won't go into here.

"And, yeah. YOU!" :rofl:

If your glad she's dead, and she was nothing but Sea World enabler, then I'm happy to be on the wrong side of "the cause".

And... Ever since I first interacted with you months ago... possibly years, I've thought the same thing about you. flvegan: Mr. Chip on his Shoulder.

Matter of fact, why don't you revisit my response to your OP in GD. Kind of makes your response look pretty stupid here, actually.

You wouldn't know "the cause" if it ran you over.

I said IF you did, etc. If you don't, fine.

Your response was a reasonable POV. Flippant, but reasonable. My "news flash" retort was snotty, I admit, but the fact remains is that at least tonight, the whale is still alive. I have read others in other threads that are less than sympathetic though, the callousness of them really rubbed me the wrong way and that's what my thread was about. Sorry if you though I was calling you out.

"You wouldn't know "the cause" if it ran you over."

and I'm the angry one! :rofl:

you were calling me out. I understand being rubbed the wrong way, and responding in kind.

I'll leave this conversation be. Have a good evening.

I was assuming it because most of them are bred in captivity. :hi:

cetaceans are known to commit suicide from it. horrible.

or just stupid?

I'm also worried there will be amateur video of this.

that there is no video of this.

that a killer whale killed? These animals belong in the ocean, not in a circus.

were born in captivity and probably would not survive if released. However, having been to two of these shows in the past year on school field trips I'm in agreement, these animals need greater freedom and more space. I don't fault the workers, as they really do care a LOT for the animals' well-being.

I admire them and the bond they have with the animals. But marine mammals, any animal that has migratory instincts and a need for large spaces, should not be kept in captivity. I really hope they start phasing out the captive breeding of those beautiful creatures.

...how many of these (and many others) animals that we kill every year for sport and recreation as well as imprison them for our entertainment - I have no problem with this. You Pays your money - you takes your chances.

My sympathies to the family

apparently.

I hate trained animal shows. Degrading for both animal and human.

:)

This is really sad for the trainer and her family, but it shouldn't be a surprise and it's not the first time. Huge animals with predatory instincts aren't toys...

a pic for you to make another cute joke about if you'd like... just let me know. chum food is SO clever, no one could have thought of that just a few hours after the woman lost her life.... :sarcasm:



"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 said 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.

The same whale was cited in two earlier deaths, according the Humane Society of the United States, which has campaigned to keep marine mammals out of theme parks.

In 1991, the whale, "along with two female whales, drowned a young part-time trainer named Keltie Byrne at Sealand of the Pacific in Canada," the HSUS stated.

"The whales weren't trying to kill Byrne, but Tillikum and his orca companions didn't know that humans can't hold their breath as long as whales," HSUS scientist Naomi Rose said.

Tillikum was later shipped to SeaWorld of Orlando, the HSUS noted, and in 1999, "a man who had apparently stayed in the park after closing hours jumped into Tillikum's tank ... He was found dead the next morning, naked and draped across the whale. The man's swim trunks were found in the water, and his body was scraped up, a sign that Tillikum had dragged him around the bottom and sides of the tank."

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/35566392/ns/us_news-life/

Did this one learn to drown humans? They do learn in different pods new methods of hunting for prey like seals, dolphins, even sharks. Not saying this was an intentional kill but this whale did learn how to attack a human.

Not blaming the whale. Sorry for the trainer and her family. I admire the young people who work with these animals and they do love their work.

Orca.

They are probably the most dangerous predator in the seas and just because they don't(as far as we know) eat people;doesn't mean you'd want to be friends with them.

Their instinctive nature is to kill whale and eat them. Sharks are no match to them either. Orcas might be cute looking but highly dangerous wild sea mammals.

BTW, read the rest of the Frontline article - very interesting just how dangerous it is to be a trainer.

On February 20, 1991, University of Victoria marine biology student and part-time trainer Keltie Byrne, 20, slipped and fell into the orca pool at Sealand of the Pacific. She had just finished a show with the three orcas. Since Sealand trainers stay out of the water, she was not wearing a wetsuit. One whale took her in its mouth and began dragging her around the pool, mostly underwater. A champion swimmer who had competed at the international level, she was no match for three huge orcas determined to keep her in the pool. At one point she reached the side and tried to climb out but, as horrified visitors watched from the sidelines, the whales pulled her screaming back into the pool.

"I just heard her scream my name," said trainer Karen McGee, 25, and then I saw she was in the pool with the whales. "I threw the life-ring out to her. She was trying to grab the ring, but the whale, basically, wouldn't let her. To them it was a play session, and she was in the water." McGee and other Sealand staff tried to distract the whales by throwing them fish, banging on the water with steel buckets and giving them hand and voice commands. Nothing worked. Byrne came up screaming one more time and then, as the whale swam round and round the pool with Byrne in its mouth, she finally drowned. It was several hours before her body could be recovered.

She had ten tooth marks on her body, the largest on her left thigh, but was otherwise untouched. The whales had stripped her clothes off. "It was just a tragic accident," Sealand manager Alejandro Bolz told newspaper reporters. "I just cannot explain it."

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/whales/debate/trainers.html

The dead guy was hard to get.

It was 6 a.m. Tuesday, July 6(1999), and Sea World employees were horrified when they spotted the body of Daniel P. Dukes draped over the back of Tillikum, an 11,000-pound killer whale. An emergency worker on the scene later said it took quite some time and effort to get Dukes' body away from Tillikum. And when they did, the whale was "pissed."

Sea World has reportedly beefed up security around the whale tanks to prevent anyone else from staying in the park after hours, much less hopping the three-foot fence and diving in the 1.5 million-gallon tank where Tillikum lives. But if Dukes was out of place in the 55-degree water, some say the whale should not have even been there, either.

Tillikum arrived at Sea World in January 1992 on an emergency medical permit issued by the Department of Commerce's Marine Fisheries Service, which oversees the care and treatment of marine mammals in amusement parks and zoos.

Tillikum's export permit was unusual in three ways: First, officials scolded Sea World and Tillikum's former owners, Sealand of British Columbia, Canada, for failing to solve problems with the whale's housing and in effect forcing the "emergency"; second, they permitted Tillikum's export on the condition that Sea World not put him on "public display" without first getting a permit to do so from the Service; and third, the temporary permit provided that if a display permit was not forthcoming, Sea World would have to either return Tillikum to a park in Canada or "return and release Tillikum at the original location of capture."

http://www.orlandoweekly.com/features/story.asp?id=1385

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXl870NoF4E

Neko Case's "People Got a lot of nerve"

...You know they call them killer whales
But you seem surprised
When it pinned you down to the bottom of the tank
Where you can't turn around
It took half your leg and both your lungs
And I craved I ate hearts of sharks, I know you know it

I'm a man man man man, man man man eater
But still you're surprised prised prised when I eat ya X2

"I want a refund", "I want a full refund", etc... Sea World is making an announcement in 5 minutes to the press.

One of my other friends sees the interaction backstage and the trainers are very careful and loving to the whales, yes they are animals still, but, did this poor woman know this whale had killed twice before??? I doubt it, but who knows.

They might want to consider stopping this part of the spectacle at Sea World (heavy interaction with the whales other than for feeding & care).

if that's correct (news talking live before press conference), they should have canceled the shows for the day. Maybe the other one that was unruly told the others they were upset about (fill in the blank).

and the only male they have, and is the also the oldest and heaviest....


need we talk about grumpy old men, and how that might relate to "moody, depressed and overworked" (former SW employee description of this whale that killed), and then how it might lash out at humans.

its killed three times now... they shouldn't have ever put a male whale in with the large group of females it sounds like. plus they knew this one had killed once before when they bought it, and then after the '99 death of the drunk man who got in the tank with it.

The lawsuits will be flying...

"drowned", and gave no additional info other than she slipped into the tank and really avoided discussing what the whale did. But, a witness says she was petting it's belly and the whale did something, and then she fell in, it then thrashed her around. Many think the whale might have been 'playing' with her like a toy. However, I say, with the past history of the whale that I'm hearing (previous deaths), why would this single male whale, who is the oldest and heaviest, and was noted as depressed and overworked, according to a previous employee, would still be used when other trainers say that in a matriarchal species, that this male would have been bullied and would then become depressed, obviously. Animals can be animals.

his size. He also said he never saw the whale in question (Tilikum) appear unruly and depressed. He said they would have no way of knowing if they were depressed (I don't know if that's true, would like to hear more trainers), but as long as they were eating and breeding, then they were health whales. And by all accounts Tilikum was healthy.

So, since this whale does not do the big shows that thousands watch, it was only used for the "Dine With Shamu" show, which is a thing that families, more so, come to sit and eat, while the trainer talks about whales and the trainer then will pet the whale.

I've been told that Sea World was about to start "Spotlight" shows with the whales, which was where you'd pay to interact, even if slightly, with the whales, like they offer with the other animals. Obviously, that isn't going to begin now.

that she slipped and fell in the tank.... Cover-up in progress, it seems. Someone undoubtedly has video, though.

...is played out. Just sayin.

and knocked her into the tank. he might have wanted a toy. This surely shows that doing this is amazingly dangerous. This whale never interacted with people the way the smaller whales (they're all orca dolphins, not truly a 'whale') get to do. Maybe he was lonely? He is only used for the simple Dine With Shamu show where the trainer rubs his belly but doesn't get into the tank. Maybe he wanted to show he could do what the other ones get to do. Regardless of whatever the animals reason, it is sad.

Who knows what they'll do with the whale. Will they put him down since this is his 3rd death? They say they really can't survive in the wild. He's the eldest, and obviously doesn't know any history but living in these tanks.

sad about the trainer however.

moody, and since this male orca was the only one in a matriarchal brood, he probably was bullied by those higher up from him - they are after all - animals.

Makes me realize how they risk their lives daily.

I wonder though, did she know this whale had killed twice before?

Maybe she knew, of course, about the man they found naked laying across the whale, as they found him in the morning who was drunk and stumbled into the tank there at SW in '99, but did she know about the part-time trainer, a young lady by the name of Ms Byrne, a Canadian who was killed by him way back at a sea park north of the border. In that death, two female orcas aided in what caused the death of that young trainer.

I wonder if she was on the shallow shelf and that's when he dragged her in. For a guest to say that her shoe fell off, was she talking about a wet suite shoe?

(horrific detail warning) was grabbed by the killer whale after it had swam away for a few seconds, and it jump up and grabbed her, thrashed her around so hard, it threw a shoe off of her, pressed her up against the glass. The lady that talked about it on the news was horribly shaken. I believe the guests, not the company.

Dawn Brancheau, the trainer who died Wednesday, is seen at SeaWorld Orlando in 2005.

I read that she was 40 and one of their most experienced trainers. Sympathies to her family.

Too many people were there right? That whale seems to have lots of issues. From the what I'm hearing a few other whales were acting up today. Were they all in the same tank as the Bull?

Sub-thread removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

Maybe this should make us re think the idea of keeping huge predators in what to them are unnatural conditions so they can perform.

The description of what happened to the trainer sounds just like what orcas do when they hunt seals.

How terrible they were ever separated.

As sad as it is, they are being held captive, and are a billion dollar a year industry exploiting intelligent creatures.

Don't play with killer whales in a small pool.

The caged bird sings with a fearful trill
of things unknown but longed for still
and his tune is heard on the distant hill
for the caged bird sings of freedom.
~Maya Angelou

A caged circus animal killed one of his "trainers".

while it was happening.

Very sad event.

How many deaths does it take to figure out that this is a really stupid thing to do with animals?

Killer Whales (Orca) are not whales.

They are dolphins.

They should NOT be trained entertainment.

should not be surprised if the marine predator eventually attacks with deadly force one day. For no apparent reason.

Killer whales(orcas) get that name for a reason, they have a habit of munching on great white sharks and whales for lunch and dinner.

Would you think it is wise to wrestle with a dinosaur or a crocodile? Or kiss a shark? Being kind to animals means leaving them alone in their natural environment. Even normally docile elephants can suddenly become aggressive when forced to live in small, restricted areas for long periods of time.

Keeping an orca in a cage and forcing it to act unnaturally in a small pool of water, this is a recipe for workplace fatalities and SeaWorld has only facilitated that process. There is no substitute for the oceans, let them go back into the wild and quit making circus animals out of them.

Tompkins said the whale attack may have been triggered by Brancheau's long hair, which swatted the whale in the face and by which the animal grabbed the trainer.

"What we have found out is that Dawn had just finished up a very good session with this animal. ... She was interacting with him, petting him on the nose," he said." "Dawn had very long hair in a ponytail. That ponytail had swung in front of him. He grabbed her by the hair and pulled her underwater and held her underwater."

http://abcnews.go.com/WN/seaworld-euthanize-whale-feds-investigate-trainer-death/story?id=9941254&page=2

SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau was in the water up to her shoulders frolicking with a huge killer whale seconds before the orca playfully grabbed her ponytail and dragged her under, according to a tourist's video of the tragedy.

The six-minute video shot Wednesday shows Brancheau feeding and playing with the six-ton Tilikum, the largest and oldest killer whale in captivity.

An edited version of the video posted online by WESH-TV in Orlando, Fla., ends moments before the trainer and whale's relaxed romp suddenly turns fatal.

Police officials had previously said Brancheau slipped and fell into the tank with Tilikum.


The six-minute video shot Wednesday shows Brancheau feeding and playing with the six-ton Tilikum, the largest and oldest killer whale in captivity


Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/02/25/2010-02-25_video_shows_seaworld_trainer_dawn_brancheau_in_water_with_killer_whale_moments_b.html#ixzz0gaeX4Lob

I just watched that video and was wondering about it when at end I saw her in the water.