The Shadow
ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) – Officials say trainers had to coax an aggressive whale into a smaller pool and use a platform to lift it out of the water before they could free a colleague from its jaws.
The Orange County Medical Examiner says 40-year-old trainer Dawn Brancheau probably died from multiple traumatic injuries and drowning after the killer whale pulled her into a pool at SeaWorld Orlando on Wednesday.
The county sheriff’s office says co-workers couldn’t immediately help her because the whale was so aggressive after it grabbed her by her pony tail and pulled her in.
The office says an investigation is continuing but there are no signs of foul play and all evidence indicates it was a tragic accident.
SeaWorld in San Diego is suspending the Shamu show for a second day in response to the tragedy.
Spokesman David Koontz says SeaWorld is offering its trainers counseling and are reviewing all its procedures, including how the trainers interact with animals. He says they are approaching the situation slowly and methodically and don’t know when the show will resume.
Visitors can still see the orcas from the park’s walkways.
On Wednesday, a killer whale attacked a SeaWorld Orlando trainer who slipped or fell in its tank. The trainer drowned in front of the audience, who were quickly told to leave stadium. The park was immediately closed.
Some maulings and other incidents involving captive animals in the United States:
Feb. 24, 2010: An employee at SeaWorld Orlando dies after being attacked by a killer whale. A witness told WKMG-TV that the trainer had just finished explaining to the audience the show they were about to see when the whale suddenly came up from the water, grabbed the trainer around the waist and “thrashed her all around” to the point the trainer’s shoe fell off.
Feb. 16, 2009: A 200-pound chimpanzee named Travis went berserk after its owner asked her friend to help lure the animal back into her house in Connecticut. The chimpanzee ripped off the friend’s hands, nose, lips and eyelids. A police officer shot the chimpanzee after it tried to get into his patrol car.
Dec. 25, 2007: A Siberian tiger named Tatiana escapes from its enclosure at the San Francisco Zoo, kills one man and mauls two others before being shot dead.
July 14, 2007: A 244-pound Sumatran tiger named Berani bites a zookeeper in the head several times in an exhibit yard at the San Antonio Zoo after the keeper forgot to close and lock a series of gates behind him. He survived.
Feb. 24, 2007: A 140-pound jaguar named Jorge fatally mauls a zookeeper at the Denver Zoo before being shot to death. Zoo officials said later that zookeeper Ashlee Pfaff had violated the rules by opening the door to the animal’s cage.
Dec. 22, 2006: Tatiana reaches through her cage’s iron bars and mauls a female zookeeper during a public feeding at the San Francisco Zoo.
Nov. 29, 2006: A 17-foot-long, 7,000-pound orca named Kasatka bites a SeaWorld’s San Diego park trainer, holding him underwater several times during a show. The trainer, who had been attacked on two prior occasions in 1993 and 1999, escaped with a broken foot.
Sept. 10, 2005: Three chimpanzees from Zoo Nebraska are shot and killed after they escape from their enclosure and could not be captured. A padlock on the cage was not completely closed after being cleaned, officials said.
March 3, 2005: Two chimpanzees at the Animal Ranch wildlife sanctuary near Bakersfield, Calif., attack a man and his wife, maiming the man, before being shot to death.
July 13, 2004: A state wildlife officer fatally shoots a 600-pound tiger that escaped from the property of former Tarzan actor Steve Sipek in Loxahatchee, Fla.
March 18, 2004: A 340-pound gorilla named Jabari breaks out of its enclosure at the Wilds of Africa exhibit at the Dallas Zoo and goes on a 40-minute rampage through a forest, snatching up a toddler with his teeth and attacking three other people before being shot to death by officers.
Oct. 3, 2003: Illusionist Roy Horn is severely mauled by a tiger during the Siegfried & Roy nightly show at The Mirage casino in Las Vegas, biting him in the neck and dragging him off stage.
Sept. 28, 2003: A 300-pound gorilla named Little Joe escapes from its enclosure at Boston’s Franklin Park Zoo, attacking a 2-year-old girl and a teenage zoo employee, before being tranquilized. It was the second time in two months that the animal escaped.
July 6, 1999: The orca Tilikum was also involved when the body of a man who had sneaked by Orlando SeaWorld security was found draped over him. The man either jumped, fell or was pulled into the frigid water and died of hypothermia, though he was also bruised and scratched by Tilikum.
Feb. 20, 1991: Tilikum again was in the water with two other orcas when a trainer at Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, British Columbia, fell into the whale pool and was forcibly submerged. It was the first time killer whales in captivity had killed.
