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Killer whale Orca kills trainer at Florida’s SeaWorld
Forty-year-old Dawn Brancheau, a trainer with 16 years experience at SeaWorld, was dead when rescue officials arrived, said Orange County Sheriff’s spokesman Jim Solomons. Media reports said the orca at the park’s Shamu Stadium grabbed the woman by the waist, thrashed her about and took her underwater.
The trainer was killed just before the start of a public performance and the stadium was immediately evacuated. Dan Brown, president of SeaWorld Orlando, said the victim was one of the park’s most experienced animal trainers, and that she drowned.
There were initially conflicting reports about how the incident occurred. The Orlando Sentinel quoted a spectator as saying the whale came up from the water and grabbed the trainer by her waist. The sheriff’s official said preliminary accounts indicated she slipped and fell in, but that was still under investigation.
“We don’t know what was going through the killer whale’s head. It just got done doing a wonderful session with Dawn ... his behavior was great ... that’s the reason that she was rubbing his head,” Tompkins told Reuters.
“We don’t have any other specifics yet. This is a terrible, terrible situation that’s happened, it’s a tragedy, our greatest sympathy goes out to her family.”
The Florida park is owned by the Blackstone Group, a private equity company that also owns part of the Universal Orlando theme park. A spokesman for SeaWorld in San Diego said killer whale shows had been suspended following the death in Orlando.
“We canceled the show this afternoon in light of the incident in Orlando. We’ll look at it again tomorrow,” said SeaWorld spokesman David Koontz. “We’re very saddened by the loss of a sea world family member.”
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