SeaWorld Trainer killed by Orca 2/24/10
Officials in Florida say a veteran 40-year-old trainer at SeaWorld’s Shamu Stadium in Orlando, Florida, one of the park’s most experienced, was fatally injured by an Orca when she slipped and fell in its tank.
SeaWorld Orlando President Dan Brown says officials are investigating but it appears to be an accident.
Park guest Victoria Biniak told WKMG-TV/Local 6 that the trainer had just finished explaining to the audience the show they were about to see. 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,” Biniak told the station. “He was thrashing her around pretty good,” she said.
Though she described the incident as “violent,” Brown says it does not appear to have been an “attack.”
Brown says SeaWorld has never experienced an incident like this.
Orange County Fire Rescue spokesman John Mulhall said paramedics were called to the Shamu Stadium at the theme park resort where they found a worker who could not be revived.
The guests were asked to leave and at least part of the park was closed.
WKMG/Local 6 is reporting that the whale involved in named Tillikum – a large, male orca who has been involved in incidents in the past. He was blamed for the drowning of one of his trainers in 1991 while performing at Sealand of the Pacific in British Columbia.
He was later sold to SeaWorld in 1992. Seven years later, authorities discovered the body of a naked man lying across the whale’s back. Authorities believe the man either broke into SeaWorld after hours or hid in the park after it closed, and went on to drown after suffering hypothermia in the 55-degree water.
Daniel Dukes, 27, reportedly made his way past security at SeaWorld, remaining in the park after it had closed. Wearing only his underwear, Dukes either jumped, fell or was pulled into the frigid water of Tilikum’s huge tank.
An autopsy ruled that he died of hypothermia in the 50-degree water. But they also said it appeared Tilikum bit the man and tore off his swimming trunks, likely believing he was a toy to play with.
Dukes’ parents filed a lawsuit against the park later that year but ended up withdrawing it.
There have been several previous attacks on whale trainers at SeaWorld parks.
In Nov. 2006, trainer Kenneth Peters, 39, was bitten and held underwater several times by a 7,000-pound killer whale during a show at SeaWorld’s San Diego park. He escaped with a broken foot. The 17-foot-long orca who attacked him was the dominant female of SeaWorld San Diego’s seven killer whales. She had attacked Peters two other times, in 1993 and 1999.
Naomi Rose, Ph.D, and marine mammal scientist with The Humane Society of the United States, made the following statement in response to Wednesday’s death:
“This is a terrible tragedy and our hearts go out to the family of the trainer. Tillikum, the SeaWorld orca, has now been involved in the deaths of three people. Using these animals in entertainment is not good for animals or people. Sadly, we’ve seen evidence of that again today. Whales and dolphins are large, intelligent, long-lived, socially complex predators who often hunt cooperatively and are capable of swimming a hundred miles in a day. They are unsuited to permanent confinement, often exhibiting neurotic behaviors in these settings. Capture methods are also inhumane, and often not adequately managed or overseen.”
.
Duration : 0:2:16
[youtube 6f7t0bh7XGI]
CBS NEWS not says …
CBS NEWS not says how those people capture orcas, and how they trainer them. Make a report. Show the true!
@xTinkTink ppl …
@xTinkTink ppl should be calling them Orcas less misleading. yeah, unfortunately Killer Whale is another more popular nickname.
@jblongalong hippy
@jblongalong hippy
i think they should …
i think they should free the orcas, when I read the details and watch how the trainer died. i think the orca is giving us a lesson on how does it feel if we are being played by them also, since we are doing it to them. i think they are miserable, they can be freed they will survive the wild because God made them that way. men are liars and making alibi that they cant survive in the wild coz they love the money it brings to them, God said that money is the root of all evil. repent!!!!!
give me a break… …
give me a break… pshhh and a lion is a cat… lolol i know that they are members of the “delphinidae” family but they are not dolphins!!! they are killer whales! go read a book kid
yeah, delphinidae. …
yeah, delphinidae. they are not laymen dolphins tough, but they are dolphin dolphins. now i feel dizzy
@YodaLN I think you …
@YodaLN I think you mean they are part of the dolphin family.
no, you’re a dumb …
no, you’re a dumb ass, im just slightly more knowledgeable than you in cetacean matters.
Thats really …
… for all trainers! BEWARE.
Thats really sick.There whales! They should be left in the ocean like there supposed to be.But..sad! ): That’s why some places don’t allow trainers in the tank with the whales.I cant belive this one whale has made so many attacks, I also cant belive that they would keep the whale in Sea World after so many attacks.Sad
why are they called …
why are they called whales when they actually belong to the dolphin family? they aren’t whales.
‘To deny liberty to …
‘To deny liberty to a wild animal involves the diminishing of that animal’s life. It is an
inherent characteristic of wild things to be free.. in almost all cases, the denial of this
inherent characteristic involves stress, frustration, anxiety and even aggression.’
(Professor Andrew Linzey, Animal Theologian, Oxford University 1987)
@TheFunnyBunnyHunny …
@TheFunnyBunnyHunny it’s strange if a person has a job at bomb disposal and got blown up everyone would say its the risks of the job -well she had a risky job! she knew the dangers but loved working there,i feel sorry for her but i would’nt do that job
If you ask me, the …
If you ask me, the second you take a WILD creature out of its natural habitat. It will get pretty pissed. Even if it is “tame” or “trained” they are WILD you can NEVER completely tame an animal. Cats and dogs today still attack for no reason. To be hoest i think its sad that they do this to the animals they should set them free and not bother them again. Seaworld had it coming.
But I feel bad for the trainer.
Look ……DEATH …
Look ……DEATH comes with the territory! around with “Killers” at some point people are going to get killed, simple! Killer Whales weigh up to and over 6 tons!! Elephants of the sea. We see that every year in India and such places people(trainers) get killed routinely by elephants that they train. Some even account this to P.T.S.D! They have large brains like Orcas. I say to keep this from happening, keep them in the ocean, leave their alone!
ROLMAO!! Sorry to …
ROLMAO!! Sorry to have to laugh at that, but just maybe if that happened, we might see some changes!!
You make somewhat …
You make somewhat of a valid point, but are Orcas endangered? Or are they there because of the big money that they bring in. I hear there is a rather “darkside” to this whale business that we the public are not so aware of. Like these beautiful and majestic creatures being kept in pools and entertain til they die! Never being released back into the wild. I feel the drive for profit at the water parks puts many a worker in danger, this last woman just another casualty. But, THE SHOW MUST GO ON!
If these animals …
If these animals were called “Love Whales” or “hugs and Kisses whales” i would be shocked, but “Killer Whales” somehow this does not surprise me. They do kill for a livin’ in the wild and i understand they are one of the few to actually kill for fun!
Maybe we should re-think some of what we are doing with such creatures?
They are not called …
They are not called killer whales because they are gentle, They are killers.
Trues….
Trues….
Sea World makes …
Sea World makes billions every year, and the trainers make $15 hour, they don’t care about the risk involved just another corporate hitler out to make money. They don’t care about the welfare of the animals, the illuminati hate the environment, animals, and people. The trainer should have not taken the risk, these Ocras are not slaves, in fact they are more intelligent than humans. There is such a thing as ora, the whales pick up on human beings ora. Time to free Ocras!
i agree that it …
i agree that it wasn’t the whales fault but i love seaworld and it actually seems like the whales enjoy performing and they probably get treated better at seaworld than they would in the sea
Hey, everyone …
Hey, everyone commenting badly on this clearly haven’t been educated in animal behavior. Has it ever crossed your mind that the Killer Whale could have been irritated by a sound no one else can here via a phone or headset?
Sea world isn’t just entertainment park, they also have breeding programs for many of our endangered sea life, if they don’t care for our dying wildlife. Who else is willing? Because I can named thousands of people who don’t give a whether these creatures live or die.
Caging animals for …
Caging animals for human entertainment. I am surprised a revolt did not take place earlier. I wanna see a whale fly out of the water and smash some spectators, maybe then they will know better.
killerwhales …
killerwhales actually killing…. odd -.-
poor lady.
poor lady.