After the terrible tragedy involving a whale trainer that lost her life earlier this week, many are trying to figure out exactly what happened. Many reports are saying that the whale has a history of a bad temperament, and that he has been violent in the past. Our condolences go out to the family of whale trainer Dawn Brancheau.
Below is video footage from only minutes, maybe seconds before the attack.
The video below was also taken before the incident. The video shows Tilikum fighting with other whales during the 12:30pm show – only moments before the attack.
“She loved all of them,” said Diane. “They all had personalities, good days and bad days.” Diane said that Dawn was inspired to become a trainer after taking a family trip as a 9-year-old.
Reports say that the whale has been considered dangerous by staff, and only certain trainers were able to work with him. This leads to the question – why was he there? The 12,000 pound whale pulled Dawn under the water after a regular performance, as she was rewarding him. Onlookers that witnessed the horrible event said that the whale was acting violently with the trainer.
This isn’t the first death that has been connected with the killer whale. Tilikum and two other whales drowned another trainer, Keltie Byrne, in 1991 at a park in Canada. In 1999 at SeaWorld, a man snuck into the whale tank to swim with them. He was also killed.
Video of Witness, Victoria Biniak, saying the whale “Shook Her Violently”
Here is the story on CBS News:
Here is a statement from the President of SeaWorld Orlando, Dan Brown:
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There's a reason they are called "killer" whales. I think it's cruel to keep animals in captivity when they are perfectly healthy to live in the wild.
whales are wild animals these big creatures being held in a small tank to perform. It's not fair i can only imagine the pain of these animals. Jus like every other animal that doesn't want to be locked up. I would like to see people play that role shit i bet they would make a law against that
It is too late to put these animals back into their natural habitat. Relying on humans for their nutritional needs most of their life, the orca would have no knowledge in the way of the hunt and would surely die less than a month. For instants, the whale from Free Willy had been sent free. Later that month, the animal beached himself and couldn't move back into the sea. Willy had found human interaction, ones that would feed him.
So this guy in my opinion, needs to be moved somewhere else that isn't Sea World or a knock off of it. He needs to retire from preforming.
Killer Whales are wild animals and should stay that way. The only reason SeaWorld takes these animals from their natural habitat is because of money. I guess they lost a lot of money when Tilikum killed Dawn.
It was an accident to let all you guys know.....I always wanted to be a trainer ever since I was little like Dawn Bracheau...she was an awesome trainer.
I am sory for your loss but people are right you should not take any animals out of his habitat's. First its crule and rong. Its was a bad accident and i think the wale was giving a sign to say i hate bein in captiverty. Please think about what you doing to them not your sefs. I know you are doing this for the money but whats more inportant gets loads of money or stop captivty and stop deaths happening in te future. If you read think about and i truly sory.
I honestly think that it isn't the whales fault. And she knew the kinds of risks there are working with big animals like that and so she should have been more careful.