Whale shows at SeaWorld were canceled Thursday, and officials were
re-evaluating safety procedures a day after a 12,000 pound killer whale
grabbed a trainer's ponytail, dragged her under water and killed her in
front of shocked onlookers at Shamu Stadium.
Dawn Brancheau, 40,
was "pulled underwater for an extended period of time," by the whale,
Chuck Tompkins, SeaWorld's curator of zoological operations, told CNN's
"American Morning." He said he had no further information on the exact
cause of Brancheau's death, citing an ongoing investigation.
The
incident occurred about 2 p.m. Wednesday. Tompkins said the whale,
named Tillikum, had just finished a session with Brancheau, who was
standing by the side of his pool and leaning over the whale, rubbing
his head.
"She had a long ponytail that brushed in front of her
and apparently got in front of his nose," Tompkins said. "He probably
felt it." Tillikum grabbed the ponytail and pulled Brancheau into the
water, he said.
Earlier accounts varied on how Brancheau ended up in the tank.
A witness told CNN affiliate WKMG-TV
that the whale approached the glass side of the 35-foot-deep tank at
Shamu Stadium, jumped up and grabbed Brancheau by her waist, shaking
her so violently that her shoe came off. A SeaWorld employee, who asked
not to be identified, described the incident the same way.
Orange County Sheriff's Office spokesman Jim Solomons said Brancheau slipped into the tank.
Tillikum
has been linked to two other deaths. He and two other whales were
involved in the drowning of a trainer at a Victoria, British Columbia,
marine park in 1991. The trainer fell into the whale tank at the Sea
Land Marine Park Victoria and was dragged underwater as park visitors
watched.
In 1999, Tillikum was blamed for the death of a
27-year-old man whose body was found floating in a tank at SeaWorld,
the apparent victim of a whale's "horseplay," authorities said then.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office said the man apparently hid in the park until after it closed, then climbed into the tank.
The
22-foot-long whale was "not accustomed to people being in his tank" and
"wouldn't have realized he was dealing with a very fragile human
being," Solomons said at the time.
Because of Tillikum's
history, as well as his size, trainers did not get into the water with
him, Tompkins told CNN. Specific procedures were in place for working
with him, he said, although "obviously, we need to evaluate those
protocols."
"He's just a really, really large animal," Tompkins
said, noting that female killer whales weigh 6,000 pounds -- half of
Tillikum's weight. "Just because of his size alone, it would be
dangerous to get in the water with him." But the whale's previous
incidents were also taken into account, he said.
Tompkins pointed out that the 1991
incident occurred before SeaWorld owned Tillikum and that no one is
sure what took place in the incident eight years later.
Tillikum
could have been trying to play with Brancheau or get her attention or
companionship, said Nancy Black, a marine biologist who has studied
whales for 20 years. Such whales play with seals and sea lions in the
wild, tossing them in the air, she said. But they do not kill them and
end up letting them go.
"I don't believe the killer whale
purposely intended to kill the woman," she said. "It was more likely an
accident, I would guess." But, she said, the whale could also have been
frustrated for some reason.
Tompkins said there were no
indications of any problem with Tillikum or any other animal just
before the incident, and that Brancheau "had done a great session with
him ... he seemed to enjoy what he was doing at the time."
The incident, however, raises larger questions regarding the captivity of wild animals.
A spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called the death "a tragedy that didn't have to happen."
Jaime
Zalac said the organization had called on SeaWorld "to stop confining
oceangoing mammals to an area that to them is like the size of a
bathtub, and we have also been asking the park to stop forcing the
animals to perform silly tricks over and over again. It's not
surprising when these huge, smart animals lash out."
Black told
CNN that killer whales in the wild live in family groups, and males
stay with their mothers their entire lives. Family members rely on each
other for social structure and play, and they cover hundreds of miles
of ocean, she said.
"I think they do need more space, and
situations like that do cause a lot of stress for them, most likely."
She said Tillikum had a "flopped fin," something seen in captivity but
not much in the wild.
But Tompkins said, "We have a tremendous
track record with these animals at SeaWorld" and a very small
percentage of problems. It's useful to have animals in the park, he
said, because it gives scientists a chance to study them and gives
members of the public an opportunity to see them and learn about them.
"This
is the first time in 46 years that we've ever had an incident like this
with a trainer," he said. Although Tillikum is large and has to be
handled carefully, "to mark him as a killer is unfair."
In
2006, a trainer at the adventure park was hospitalized after a killer
whale grabbed him and twice held him underwater during a show at Shamu
Stadium.
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