MIAMI – An Orca whale at the SeaWorld amusement park in central Florida killed a trainer on Wednesday, police and company executives said.
“She was rubbing the Killer whale’s head, and grabbed her and pulled her in” to the pool, said Chuck Tompkins, corporate curator of zoological operations at SeaWorld Parks Entertainment.
Dawn Brancheau (40), a trainer with 16 years’ experience at SeaWorld, was dead when rescue officials arrived, said Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Solomons.
Media reports said the Orca at the park’s Shamu Stadium grabbed the woman by the waist, thrashed her about and took her underwater.
Dan Brown, president of SeaWorld Orlando, said the victim was one of the park’s most experienced animal trainers, and that she had drowned.
According to the Orlando Sentinel, the Orca whale involved in the incident has a controversial past.
The whale was blamed for the drowning of one of his trainers in 1991 while he was performing at Sealand of the Pacific in British Columbia, the newspaper said.
Sold to SeaWorld as a stud in 1992, the whale was involved in a second incident when authorities discovered the body of a naked man lying across his back in July 1999.
Authorities said the man, who had either crept into SeaWorld after hours or hidden in the park until it closed, most likely drowned after suffering hypothermia.
Animal rights advocacy group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals criticised the death as a tragedy that didn’t have to happen.
“For years, Peta has been calling on SeaWorld to stop confining ocean-going mammals to an area that to them is like the size of a bathtub,” the group said.
“It’s not surprising when these huge, smart animals lash out.” – (Reuters)