OMG...a trainer was killed today!

loveysbydesign

I can pinch a penny so hard you can hear it scream
Joined
Dec 30, 2005
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news...-orlando-shamu-injury-20100224,0,942688.story
One person is dead at SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium, following an incident this afternoon, an Orange County Sheriff's Office official confirmed.

Orange County Fire Rescue responded to SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium this afternoon on report of a person who was not breathing.

Details about the incident are not yet available, but a Sheriff's Office official confirmed it is a death investigation.

A local TV station is reporting that a female trainer was killed after she was grabbed by one of the theme park's whales at the start of a public show.

Park guest Victoria Biniak told Local 6 that the trainer was a veteran of SeaWorld and had just finished explaining to the audience the show they were about to see.

At that point, Biniak said, the whale came up from the water, grabbed the trainer around the waste and "thrashed her all around" to the point the trainer's shoe fell off.

Guests were evacuated and were later told the park was shut down, Biniak told Local 6.

Rescue personnel were called to the theme park at 2 p.m. Calls to SeaWorld and Orange County Fire Rescue were not immediately returned.
 
wow...

It's told over and over again how dangerous they can be. And it really is a risk of life and death to get in the tank with them every day.
 


CNN is reporting something competely different.


(CNN) -- A killer whale killed a trainer Wednesday afternoon at SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida, a spokesman for the Orange County Fire Department told CNN.

The spokesman, John Mulhall, said the trainer was pronounced dead at the scene.

The incident did not occur during a performance, said a spokeswoman for SeaWorld, who added that more information was to be released soon.
 


Oh my word, such sad news :sad2: I've just logged onto my SeaWorld Facebook page and learnt this. Thoughts are with the SeaWorld family and the family of the trainer :littleangel:
 
First my condolences go out to the trainer, the family and the other trainers in this time of grief.

Second, since all of the facts are still not known,the news isnt going to get much right.
Local 6 here in Orl has it on since it hapened (there helicopter was in the area over Sea World apparently)and for every 1 fact they got right, theyve gotten 3 or 4 wrong.The news caster mistook yellow crime scene tape for a ruler.
 
I was shocked to discover several months ago that Tilikum (the biggest killer whale at Sea World) was suspected (along with other whales) to have been responsible for the death of two people over the years including the horrific death of Keltie Byrne. Precautions were apparently taken by Seaworld to prevent him from getting over excited and possibly injuring or killing anyone else in future. Now, sadly, it looks like this is exactly what had happened.

Tilikum is the whale who soaks everyone during the "Shamu! Shamu!" section of Believe. He was intentionally not used in any routines with another trainer in the pool as he posed a known risk. This trainer's death must have been terrifying, what an awful shame.

But as much as I love SeaWorld, when will they learn?
 
The local news indicated that it happened during the Dine With Shamu show. They reported the first show was delayed for a little while because the whales didn't seem to want to cooperate.

During the dinner show, the trainer was bending down. The whale sort of rolled toward her. Her long hair became entangled in his mouth and she was dragged under. She did surface at one point. Witness said she had a really shocked look on her face. Then, she was dragged back down. She was under for about five minutes before the other trainers were able to get to her. Fire and rescue tried to revive her, but they were unsuccessful.

They are currently having a press conference. The GM of Seaworld said that the woman killed was one of their most senior trainers. She was 40 years old. They are not releasing any other details at this time.

Other witnesses are saying she slipped and fell into the water. It is really to early to know what really happened.
 
First my condolences go out to the trainer, the family and the other trainers in this time of grief.

Second, since all of the facts are still not known,the news isnt going to get much right.
Local 6 here in Orl has it on since it hapened (there helicopter was in the area over Sea World apparently)and for every 1 fact they got right, theyve gotten 3 or 4 wrong.The news caster mistook yellow crime scene tape for a ruler.
You're right that the news always gets stuff wrong..we get trauma patients and some of the stories end up on the news...without fail, they always give out mostly wrong info.
 
This is so horrible! My prayers go out to the trainers family & co-workers. I would think that if SeaWorld knew this whale to be a danger, they would not have had a trainer "ever" go into the tank with it. While I don't blame anyone in particular, the responsibility of keeping their employees safe does need to land on the corporation. Under no circumstances should they have allowed a trainer in the tank if Tilli was suspected of one death already.. you just do not chance it with someone's life :sad2:
 
wow...

It's told over and over again how dangerous they can be. And it really is a risk of life and death to get in the tank with them every day.

The way I am reading this, I am not so sure the trainer was even in the tank. It says the whale came out of the water very fast and grabbed a trainer who was talking to a crowd by the waste , thrashed her around roughly, and caused her shoe to fly off. (from the news conference-the trainer fell in the water ) Trainers do not get in the water with Tilly. This whale basically opnly comes in to the show to splash the crowd. Today they couldn't get the whales to splash the crowd at the end of the show and the trainer was explaining things to the crowd when she slipped and fell. She is one of the most experienced trainers in the park.

It was the big whale(Tilly) who is 30 years old. Supposedly he came to SW from British Columbia where he had an incident where a trainer was killed. Then in the 1990s a nude man was found on his back one morning. They said he either snuck in after hours or hid in the park when it closed. He died from hypothermia which caused him to drown; but there was evidence that Tilly had bitten him after he drowned.

My heart goes out to the trainer's family and friends. There was a news conference a few minutes ago. They just said the trainer slipped or fell into the tank. No sense of foul play, calling it an accidental death. The trainer was 40 years old and drowned when the whale brought her to the bottom. It was in the back area and the trainer was talking to people in the Dine with Shamu area holding pool and not in the main show.
 
The previous death was purely an accident, with two other whales, one of them being pregnant was the cause for the death. And none of the whales were trained at that time for working with people.
The second death... was just stupidity of the person. And ruled as hypothermia and drowning. There was nothing on the body to presume that the whale did anything to him.

Every show they tell every one how amazing it is to work with such "dangerous creatures"... they take that risk every time they get into the pool with the whales. They know long before hand what risk they're taking to get in that water.

I don't think anything should happen to Tilikum. You can train them, but you can't control them.
 
When I first read it, I didn't realize it was Tili that was the whale. And yes, I do know no one gets into the tank with Tili. But besides that, the trainers do put their life in the hands of the whales when they get into the tanks. It could've been any one of the whales.
 
My thoughts go out to the family and friends and the co-workers of this women.

We won't know the details until later on tonight when they have time to investigate. There will be many things said what might have happened but we won't know for a while. Very sad.

If it is the same whale I hope they do not hurt the killer whale in any way for this accident.
 
The local news indicated that it happened during the Dine With Shamu show. They reported the first show was delayed for a little while because the whales didn't seem to want to cooperate.

During the dinner show, the trainer was bending down. The whale sort of rolled toward her. Her long hair became entangled in his mouth and she was dragged under. She did surface at one point. Witness said she had a really shocked look on her face. Then, she was dragged back down. She was under for about five minutes before the other trainers were able to get to her. Fire and rescue tried to revive her, but they were unsuccessful.

They are currently having a press conference. The GM of Seaworld said that the woman killed was one of their most senior trainers. She was 40 years old. They are not releasing any other details at this time.

Other witnesses are saying she slipped and fell into the water. It is really to early to know what really happened.

This makes more sense -- the timing did not match up with the Believe shows -- thought it might be an education tour or something. It must have been her pony tail --- they usually pull their hair back, don't they?
 
From what people are describing this death seems very similar to that of Keltie Byrne, the trainer at SeaLand Pacific who fell in and the whales proceeded to "Play" with her body, tossing it from one to another for a prolonged period of time and pushing her to the bottom of the tank until she died from drowning.

Daniel Dukes was incredibly stupid and was found to have died from hypothermia and drowning but he was found with marks all over his body concordant with being dragged across the bottom of the tank by Tilikum.

In my first post I wasn't suggesting for e.g that Tilikum should be destroyed but neither do I think he should have been made to perform or used as entertainment. He doesn't know what he is capable of and doesn't understand that humans can't hold their breath. I really don't think he should have been kept in captivity. And this will happen again as long as killer whales continue to perform in unnatural environments. Instead of breeding them in captivity the orcas captured from the wild should have been allowed to die out naturally if they couldn't be released without being used to populate theme parks. They are beautiful and intelligent but they were not made to be our best-friends or celebrities.
 

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