The February 24, 2010 SeaWorld Orlando orca attack was an incident involving a trained male orca named Tilikum and a female animal trainer at SeaWorld Orlando. During a post-performance rubdown, Tilikum grabbed the ponytail of the trainer, Dawn Brancheau, with his mouth and dragged her into the pool. The whale then began swimming around the pool with her in tow by her hair. Other trainers came to her aid and freed her, but Brancheau died at the scene. The incident has called into question the practice of keeping orcas in captivity and how SeaWorld, which operates two other marine theme parks in the United States, and its trainers works with the animals.
Background
editTilikum first arrived at SeaWorld Orlando after the whale's former home, Sealand of the Pacific, ceased operations in 1992. The previous year, Tilikum was involved in an incident at the Sealand park where a young trainer slipped into the pool and drowned after Tilikum and two other orcas in the pool repeatedly submerged her. While Tilikum was acquired ostensibly for breeding purposes only, he later became a part of SeaWorld's family of performing orcas in the park's shows. At the time, Tilikum became the park's Shamu, a reference to the company's orca mascot.
In 1999, Tilikum was involved in a second incident, in which a male visitor evaded security after SeaWorld had closed for the evening and dove into the pool that contained Tilikum and the park's other orcas. Though the official cause of death was hypothermia—the water in the tank was chilled to 55 degrees Fahrenheit, which was too cold for humans without wetsuits—the man's body did show bite marks, suggesting Tilikum had bitten the man either before or after he had died.
Incident
editOn February 24, 2010, Tilikum was taking part in Dine with Shamu, a post-show program where visitors have lunch adjacent to the orca tank while SeaWorld trainers talk about the animals and how they train them. 40-year-old trainer Dawn Brancheau, one of the park's most experienced trainers with Tilikum, ended the presentation by having Tilikum roll onto his back while she massaged his underside. After the massage, Brancheau was alongside the orca tank when Tilikum grabbed her exposed ponytail and dragged her into the tank and began swimming around with her inside his mouth. Park employees began evacuating the visitors from the area and from an adjacent underwater viewing area, while other trainers attempted to rescue Brancheau. Even though Brancheau was freed from the whale's mouth, she had drowned and was pronounced dead at the scene. After the incident, SeaWorld closed for the day and canceled the orca shows at its two other parks in San Antonio, Texas and San Diego, California.
Aftermath
editSeaWorld Orlando re-opened on February 25, but without its orca shows. After a review of procedures, it was decided that the shows would resume at all three parks on February 27. However, trainers would not be allowed in the water with any of the orcas. Tilikum himself was kept in an isolation tank pending the outcome in the investigation. The park further stated that Tilikum would not be euthanized because of the incident.
The animal-rights organization People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals issued a statement deriding SeaWorld for keeping orcas in captivity for human amusement. Marine mammal scientists have echoed PETA's concerns, stating that orcas' natural abilities, such as echolocation, fade when kept in aquarium tanks.