OMG...a trainer was killed today!

[karibritt01]

This is our local news report. The pictures have been edited to remove one showing a close-up of the tent with what appeared to be a body covered by a blanket under it. The entire thing is very sad.

http://www.wral.com/news/national_world/national/story/7112447/

 

[f86sabjf]

very sad day indeed . I guess if you want train these big guys you may pay the price. He has no natural predators in the whole world. Including the largest sharks. He was also caputured in 83 off the coast of Norway. So this isn't a tank raised Orca but a REAL one if you will . I guarantee you he hasnt forgotten where he came from.. Hope they will not exterminate him but perhaps put him back in the wild where he can do what he wants. He obviously doesnt play well with us.

 

[Disn3y]

Tragic story, my thoughts and prayers go to the family and friends...

 

[mtmbyck]

how terrible for the friends and family, SeaWorld staff and guests that might have been present. We are booked to Dine with Shamu in a few weeks and it will be hard not to think of this.

I am sure it will come out that the whale did not intend to kill but wanted to play or misbehave. They did not exterminate Roy Horn's tiger so lets hope this whale is forgiven.

 

[mouselovenfamily]

So sad to hear this. I think she is the lady I have a photo of standing on a whale during a show I saw in April last year. It's a great photo but so sad if it is her. It was our first trip to SW.

So sorry for everyone who worked with her and her family.

 

[VictoriaFL84]

So sad, I wonder what will happen to the whale now

 

[ajaysmom825]

This truly is terrible news. My heart goes out to the family, other trainers, and fans that have watched this trainer over the past 10+ years...

 

[FLOIR]

Not unexpectedly, the Believe show has been cancelled until further notice. From the Sea World website -


SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Diego will be open Thursday, February 25 as scheduled (SeaWorld San Antonio is not yet open for the season) but Believe shows and Dine with Shamu experiences at all SeaWorld locations have been suspended; no decision has been made for future dates at this time.

 

[summerrluvv]

How devastating. This brought tears to my eyes, that poor trainer

 

[clandrum]

We were just there Feb 4th. The Believe show was the best part of our day at Sea World. Her and her family is in my families prayers. I think that I have some pictures of Dawn (it is kinda hard to tell) at the show and would like to share some of her amazing work.

 

[summerrluvv]

I just went through my pics from our trip to SW last year and found her in them. So awful

 

[KStarfish82]

We were there last Friday. Not sure if Dawn was there because the female trainers look very similar from a distance. But we found it odd that none of the trainers entered the tank with the whales at all during Believe. The whales were also not very responsive to the trainers as I have seen in the past.

 

[[copher09]

so so sad.

 

[Feralpeg]

A family witnessed the accident. They had attended the lunch show for their son's fifth birthday. After the show, they remained behind to take some additional video. The trainer, Dawn, was off to the side with Tili. She was bent down stroking him and feeding him. Tili rolled to the side. From the viewpoint of the witnesses, it appeared that her ponytail got caught in the whale's mouth. It pulled her in and dove with her.

At one point, they surfaced for a moment. She appeared to still be caught. This time, it stayed down for about five minutes.

The people screamed for help when they saw what happened. There were other tourists there are well. By the time the other trainers got to her, it was to late.

Tili did not do anything to intentionally harm her. It was simply a tragic accident.

 

[beautybelle]

This is awful news.

My heart goes out to the family of this trainer.

 

[1osfan]

The trainer, Dawn, is orginally from my area and went to school here. One of the local papers has an article about her and her death this evening. Here is the link:

http://nwitimes.com/news/local/lake/article_c82f29fb-1c30-5370-b593-dbe088141de8.html

 

[Timmy Boy]

What sickens me the most are the people wanting their money back because their day was "ruined" because they couldn't see the Shamu show. Have a heart will you? Someone just lost their life, maybe you could think about someone else besides yourself for a change.

 

[beautybelle]

Timmy Boy: You've got to be kidding! There are truly some people in this world so self absorbed that they cant see anything past their own nose.

 

[karibritt01]

From our local news station:

"A SeaWorld killer whale snatched a trainer from a poolside platform Wednesday in its jaws and thrashed the woman around underwater, killing her in front of a horrified audience... Brancheau was rubbing Tilikum after a noontime show when the 12,000-pound whale grabbed her and pulled her in, said Chuck Tompkins, head of animal training at all SeaWorld parks. It was not clear if she drowned or died from the thrashing... Brazilian tourist Joao Lucio DeCosta Sobrinho and his girlfriend were at an underwater viewing area when they suddenly saw a whale with a person in its mouth."

Sounds like more than just her hair getting caught in the whale's mouth. I imagine that everything happened so quickly that many people were not really sure what they saw.

 

[NemoMom07]

This is very heartwrenching. My prayers go out to her family as well as all the other trainers at the park. My mom was just there on Friday watching the show. She said it was the worst one ever. My other relative who works there said they have not seen a show so bad. The whales just were not wanting to do the show. Someone said that there is construction going on. Maybe that is really upsetting them.

I have been watching some video news clips and I find it disheartening to see the "live" shots from the helicopter that shows the body right next to the whale tanks as they are swimming around. I also noticed that I think it is the whale involved has been put in an extremely small like holding pool. Not even deep enough for him to submerge under the water nor can he move. While right next to him lays his former trainer. I am assuming they had to leave it that way for the investigation. I do hope they let the whale out of that area and not cooped up to long. That is terriable.

I think, like a lot of you, that this is a terriable accident. My heart goes out to all of those involved of this incident. I truely hope they do not do anything harmful to the whale. He did not do anything he would not do in his "natural" enviroment. It is a hard situation. The trainers all know what they are exposing themselves to, but it is their love for the animals that they do it. JMHO.