longtimefan
15 years ago
source 


Eyewitness Wayne Gillespie: 'The tail was thrashing hard'

A trainer at the SeaWorld park in Orlando, Florida, has died after being attacked by a killer whale.

Witnesses said the whale had jumped and grabbed Dawn Brancheau by the waist from a poolside platform before dragging her underwater.

Guests were evacuated while fire crews tried to rescue the 40-year-old, but they were unable to revive her.

The orca, Tilikum, was also involved in the death of a female trainer in Canada in 1991, reports said.

Other orcas were also said to have attacked trainers at SeaWorld parks in 2006 and 2004.

'Shaking her violently'

Chuck Tompkins, SeaWorld parks' head of animal training, was quoted by Reuters news agency saying: "She was rubbing the killer whale's head, and 🇮🇹 grabbed her and pulled her in."

Formo
15 years ago
Wow. Bummer. That's the thing, though, with having wild animals being trained.. There's no telling when they'll have a 'fit of wild'.
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Nonstopdrivel
15 years ago
Sounds like that trainer had a killer of a time.
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Cheesey
15 years ago
No....she had a WHALE of a good time.

When you are dealing with HUGE wild creatures, you have to expect this kind of thing. It's sad, but not that surprising. A killer whale, even if it's "playing" can kill you quite easily.
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zombieslayer
15 years ago

No....she had a WHALE of a good time.

When you are dealing with HUGE wild creatures, you have to expect this kind of thing. It's sad, but not that surprising. A killer whale, even if it's "playing" can kill you quite easily.

"Cheesey" wrote:



Agreed. Kind of like when you wrestle a bear. Sooner or later, the bear may decide that it doesn't want to just play any more. Or as you said, it might play just a little bit too rough.
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Cheesey
15 years ago
I think that sometimes people that work with animals like this, over time, let their guard down. You might work 20 years with a killer whale and never have even one problem. But if you do have even one problem, chances are you arn't going to live to talk about it.
If you decide to get into that line of work, you know the chances you are taking.
I bet there are people killed in industrial accidents every day. But we don't hear about them, they arn't "high profile" jobs.
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Yerko
15 years ago
A Killer Whale killed someone?

Oh. no.
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4PackGirl
15 years ago
i think it's in the poorest of taste that they're continuing the shows. someone DIED for cripes sake!!!

i also think it's ridiculous that this whale isn't either destroyed or set free back into the wild. i know they're tempting fate every day by working with wild animals but when one actually KILLS someone, i'm thinkin it needs to go!!!
Zero2Cool
15 years ago

i think it's in the poorest of taste that they're continuing the shows. someone DIED for cripes sake!!!

i also think it's ridiculous that this whale isn't either destroyed or set free back into the wild. i know they're tempting fate every day by working with wild animals but when one actually KILLS someone, i'm thinkin it needs to go!!!

"4PackGirl" wrote:



It's not as simple as opening the gate for the whale to enter the wild. It's lived in captivity for several years now. It'll take re-training to learn how to survive in the wild again.

This is the third life the whale has taken. It's an unfortunate loss but after the first death, the second and third knew full well what they were getting themselves into. It's like feeling bad for someone in Florida after a hurricane, or California after a earthquake. It's part of what happens when you live there. Don't like it? Move. Same thing here, don't like a whale killing people, get a different job.
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dfosterf
15 years ago
...And now some family lawyer is injecting himself into the media.

Of course he is blaming the 3 companies that "employed" this whale. You can just hear his oratory to the judge when he files the inevitable lawsuit.

After listening to his bullshit, I'm rooting for the whale.

F#ck 'em.

I want to see who has the stones to get in the tank with the sometimes moody whale killer (the older and more accurate name for critter in question, prior to the kumbaya crowd's attempt to domesticate these big-assed dolphins)

Get a flip-card at the park entrance. Make sure it has a lot of cards in it, poised to "flip". Nothing fancy or large...

"3 trainers" on the face-card.

I'll come. I don't know what the aquarium situation will be in hell, but when I get there, I think this big bastard would make a hell of a conversation piece in the bar area, and ideally the lawyer in question can learn a new craft as a trainer there.

I can just hear myself at the bar..."Ya- swim, you motherf#cker."






Sorry. This is jest, gallows humor, I can't do anything about it, cut me some slack. No way the trainer did not know about the two prior deaths. I believe she was the head trainer there, and I'd think that a trainer should know that Orcas are not terribly fond of being captive in a glorified bathtub.
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