Sea World whale grabs, kills experienced trainer

ORLANDO, Fla. — A former employee of a Canadian aquarium where a whale blamed for killing a Florida trainer was involved in another trainer's death says he's surprised it happened again.

Steve Huxter was head of Sealand of the Pacific's animal care and training department near Victoria, B.C., when part-time orca trainer Keltie Byrne fell into the whale pool after a 1991 show. She died after being dragged around by three whales including one named Tilikum.

Huxter says he's surprised to hear Tilikum is blamed for killing another trainer Wednesday at SeaWorld in Orlando. He says Tilikum was a well-behaved, balanced animal.

Experienced trainer

Dawn Brancheau, a 40-year-old with extensive training experience, drowned after a popular Dine with Shamu show as at least two dozen tourists looked on from above a whale tank and from an underwater viewing area.

SeaWorld executive Chuck Tompkins confirmed what witnesses saw, that Brancheau was pulled into the water by Tilikum, a 12,000-pound male killer whale.

Brancheau was finishing up a session with Tilikum, the largest whale in SeaWorld's collection and its only mature male.

Witnesses told The Orlando Sentinel that one of the park's whales grabbed the trainer by the upper arm, disappeared underwater and swam to the other side of the tank. Tilikum thrashed Brancheau around in the water as he swam rapidly around in the whale pool.

Brazilian tourist Joao Lucio DeCosta Sobrinho, 28, and girlfriend Talita Oliveira, 20, were at an underwater viewing area when they suddenly saw a whale with someone in its mouth.

The couple said they watched the whale show at the park two days earlier and came back to take pictures. But Wednesday afternoon the whales appeared agitated before the incident occurred.

"It was terrible. It's very difficult to see the image," Sobrinho said.

Brancheau was bleeding from the face or mouth, they said, and the whale turned her over and over as it swam.

Within minutes, an alarm in the viewing area sounded and security personnel arrived to escort tourists out.

Brancheau had worked at the park since February 1994. SeaWorld President Dan Brown said no SeaWorld park had ever experienced a similar incident and pledged a thorough review of all of the park's standard operating procedures.

Emergency response

Orange County Fire Rescue personnel arrived on the scene within five minutes of receiving a 911 call.

Besides the 1991 drowning of the trainer at Sealand of the Pacific, Tilikum was involved in a fatal incident in 1999.

SeaWorld officials discovered the dead body of a naked man lying across his back. Authorities concluded the man, who had either sneaked into SeaWorld after hours or hidden in the park until it closed, most likely drowned after suffering hypothermia in the 55-degree water.

They also said it appeared Tilikum had bitten the man and tore off his swimming trunks, likely believing he was a toy to play with.

A former SeaWorld contractor told The Sentinel that Tilikum is typically kept isolated from SeaWorld's other killer whales and that trainers were not allowed to get in the water with him because of his violent history.

Officials at PETA, long critical of SeaWorld's practices, again called on the park "to stop confining oceangoing mammals to an area that to them is like the size of a bathtub," it said in a statement.

"It's not surprising when these huge, smart animals lash out."

Many animal-rights activists have long criticized SeaWorld and other marine parks for keeping orcas and other wildlife in captivity. Russ Rector, a former dolphin trainer in Fort Lauderdale, said keeping the animals captive makes them dangerous.

"Captivity is abusive to these animals. And the abuse mounts up. And when these animals snap — just for a minute — they're so big and can be so dangerous that it's like a shotgun," Rector said. "It does an incredible amount of damage in just a moment."