Video shows SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau in water with killer whale moments before fatal attack

[RamboLiberal]

Source: NY Daily News

SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau was in the water up to her shoulders frolicking with a huge killer whale seconds before the orca playfully grabbed her ponytail and dragged her under, according to a tourist's video of the tragedy.

The six-minute video shot Wednesday shows Brancheau feeding and playing with the six-ton Tilikum, the largest and oldest killer whale in captivity.

An edited version of the video posted online by WESH-TV in Orlando, Fla., ends moments before the trainer and whale's relaxed romp suddenly turns fatal.

Police officials had previously said Brancheau slipped and fell into the tank with Tilikum.

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The video instead shows Brancheau feeding him fish, rubbing his nose, pouring buckets of water on his snout and then getting into the water with him.


The six-minute video shot Wednesday shows Brancheau feeding and playing with the six-ton Tilikum, the largest and oldest killer whale in captivity.



Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2010/02/25/2010-02-25_video_shows_seaworld_trainer_dawn_brancheau_in_water_with_killer_whale_moments_b.html

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I just watched that video and yes she was in the water. Had me wondering. In the video the whale seemed to be behaving quite well and not agitated at all. He seemed very relaxed as did Dawn.

[fleabert]

1. this whole thing is just so sad.

I have friends who work at Sea World, they are shattered and devastated.

It's just terrible no matter what perspective you take...
(that's pre-emptive for the SW haters, I don't want to hear it. I've heard it all already)

[RamboLiberal]

3. I agree and I'm not blaming Dawn or Tilikum

I feel for her family and co-workers. It's clear she loved her work and the whales. She trusted Tilikum and was having a good interaction with him in the video.

One thing that SeaWorld has done is brought an awareness of these magnificent creatures of the sea and the need to protect them in the wild to a couple of generations.

And yes I also know there is a cruelness to caging these magnificent creatures.

[fleabert]

4. now that is a reasoned and reasonable response i can wrap my arms around. thank you.

i am with you all the way.

[skyounkin]

11. Me too.

[JackRiddler]

47. Blame Tilikum?! Credit him for admirable restraint, to kill only 3 of his imprisoners in 20 years.

[mopinko]

52. people did not care about whales before they met shamu.

that is just a fact.

[The Stranger]

The only answer is to stop doing this to the whales.

If that makes me a "SW hater," then so be it.

In that case, everyone should be "SW haters."

[fleabert]

8. meh.

it is not the only answer.

I won't argue the point. we are diametrically opposed and will not find common ground, it's pointless to try. have a great night.

[swilton]

10. I agree with you Stranger

It's inhumane to keep animals in captivity - and then to blame them when they revert to their innate instincts.

I have to throw this thought out - I've often wondered how those who major in marine biology find work - they're forced to prostitute themselves to the seaworlds of this world...Likewise the political scientists who love peace....So many political scientists and historians are forced to work for the military, the CIA or the Department of Defense.....

There are just too few peace centers and liberal and/or progressive think tanks...as there are too few facilities and institutions that work to save and study the animals that share this planet.

[WriteDown]

13. Just like dogs. nt

[bitchkitty]

20. Oh, bullshit.

What are you drinking tonight, WD?

Dogs = Killer Whales

Sure, I see the similarity.

If you want to defend Sea World, like you defend any and every other corporation ever mentioned on this board, you shouldn't make such silly-ass statements.

[WriteDown]

22. Many dogs have been known to kill their owners. I'd wager...

FAR MORE than orca's have killed.

[bitchkitty]

23. You're such a card. n/t

[WriteDown]

31. How dare you call me Andy Card!

Oh wait... :)

[bitchkitty]

39. OK - I admit, I smiled. n/t

[WriteDown]

46. :)

:)

[kestrel91316]

28. You never fail to take the RW view. Why is that, I wonder?

[WriteDown]

30. There is a right and left to orca handling?

:shrug:

[JackRiddler]

48. There is a right and wrong to making slaves of creatures with brains bigger than yours.

[Nihil]

51. In his case, that includes nematodes ... (n/t)

:P

[The Stranger]

32. I don't think he was talking about domesticated animals.

But you probably already knew that, didn't you?

[WriteDown]

34. What exactly is a dog?

It's a wolf that was captured and had it's behavior changed and shaped.

[The Stranger]

44. Actually, the jury is still out on exactly how domestication occurs.

It may have started from dogs or wolves lingering near prehistoric and possibly pre-homo sapien humans as they hunted and gathered, eventually selecting out more "domesticated" traits and forming bonds.

In any event, it didn't all happen in one generation of dog (and couldn't happen in just one generation of Orca). But likely occurred over hundreds of thousands or millions of years.

That's why the dog is "man's best friend," I suppose.

[Exultant Democracy]

49. New evidence suggest that the process involved should be considered co-domestication

where early hominids and early canines each evolved to become more compatible with the other. It has something to do with us each being k-selected pack hunters.

[JackRiddler]

50. You can see a process of co-domestication in most master-pet relationships.

[liberation]

15. My sister is an actual marine biologists...

... her take on the people who do all this "song and dance" crap with orcas is that they seem to display an utter lack of respect for the animals they claim to love. Whether they have a degree in marine biology or not becomes rather moot the minute they become circus acts. A clown college degree may be more apropos for that line of work.

Orcas are at the apex of the food chain in the seas and have a jaw configuration that may give a T-Rex a run for its money, the whole "killer" in their name should have been kind of a hint. These are aggressive animals because nature intended them to be, thinking that we can turn these predators into "cuddly" performers leads me to believe that our entitlement and gall as a species is as boundless as our stupidity. Any marine biologist who thinks it is perfectly reasonable the trapping for years, in a tank which is measured in yards, of an apex predator which needs ranges of hundreds to thousands of miles in the open seas to thrive... should have their degrees revoked.

Furthermore, Orcas are social animals, they can perform very complex coordinated hunting techniques, and resemble wolf packs in some cases... Imagine if any of you were kidnapped and forced to spend the rest of your days alone in a closed 30 sq ft room, having to perform arbitrary tricks that you don't understand to entertain some weird small beings which you never had any interest in meeting to begin with. Yeah, you would either go nuts too, or try to restore some sanity by doing some of the stuff you used to do in the wild... like, I don't know... tossing and toying with sea lions before you eat them.

The saddest part of all this, is that this personal tragedy visited to the family of the poor trainer... could and should have been perfectly avoidable. The sooner hell holes like Sea World dissapear, the better. People should not be put in such horrendous risks in order to make a living. I think that both the animals and their trainers are being the ones exploited here, I am sure the CEO of Sea World ain't swimming with the Orcas any time soon...

[bitchkitty]

21. love this post! Thank you. n/t

[upi402]

25. Reminds me of Roy's tiger attack in Las Vegas a bit

Westerners want to imbue human emotions and even human thoughts into animals. With non-domesticated animals that's playing Russian roulette. In fact, we treat pets and zoo animals with more care than working, struggling fellow citizens, IMHO.

[Lost Jaguar]

29. As Chris Rock said about that incident...

..."the tiger didn't go crazy, the tiger went TIGER!"

[The Stranger]

33. Working, struggling fellow citizens also have the capacity to care for themselves.

Imprisoned animals have no capacity to care for themselves in that environment.

[Cass]

42. Excellent commentary. I watched Jack Hanna on CNN the other night and he turned

my stomach the way he seemed to be defending keeping these animals in captivity. He said male orcas live solitary lives in the wild which we know is not the case. The misinformation he spewed in defense of that wretched place was astounding.

[zonkers]

27. 100 percent right.

[Dappleganger]

He's a wild animal.

'Behaving' doesn't equal domestication. I am so sorry that this happened. :(

[Schema Thing]

2. makes you wonder if he was just playing rough

[pasto76]

5. whales and dolphins get aggressive after prolonged captivity

they are pretty damned smart. some biologists think they should be called non-human persons. Animals in captivity often devlop neurosis - next time you see a bear in a zoo rocking back and forth (aww how cute) keep in mind that it is becoming somewhat like an alzeihmers patient.

porpoises too I guess.

[WriteDown]

14. They're pretty aggressive out of captivity too. nt

[mn9driver]

6. Orcas are sentient, non-human, very big creatures.

There is no way to know what motivated that behavior. Trying to pin human thought and emotion on cetaceans is just whistling in the dark. Condolences to her family.

[Gin]

7. thought I heard that since he was an aggressive whale...they

did not permit any trainers to get in the water with him.

[MrsBrady]

12. I just read that in an article by the AP

so either she broke the rule or they didn't bother to tell her he was dangerous.

[XemaSab]

24. Or she thought she was somehow immune

to whatever made him kill two other people.

[tblue37]

41. They didn't need to tell her--she was quite familiar with him. nt

[caseymoz]

9. It does sound like the animal did it by accident.

Arguments about their intelligence notwithstanding, I doubt a killer whale has any concept of the human respiratory system, nor an inkling of how long a human being could survive under water. If it had wanted to kill her, it had other weaponry that would do that and would be much more direct to its thinking.

It goes to show how wild animals can be dangerous even if they're friendly. A terrible accident.

[Dan]

19. Since she had a poneytail

Has anyone considered that her hair may have been caught in the teeth?

[caseymoz]

26. It might be . . . was it that long?

. . . but the animal is just as innocent either way. With that scenario, it still did not understand how people breath and how often they needed to. That's an understandable mistake.

[chatnoir]

43. It supposedly floated over his mouth which was a no-no

A former co-worker told the station that trainer Dawn Brancheau was to blame when her hair floated over the mouth of killer whale Tilikum. The massive creature responded by dragging her under Wednesday, and she drowned.

Thad Lacinak, a former head trainer at SeaWorld, said the trainers knew to stay away from the whale’s mouth. “The protocol was not to be around Tilikum’s mouth while you’re laying down,” he said."

More at http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/entertainment_tv_tvblog/2010/02/seaworld-tragedy-former-co-worker-tells-wftv-she-is-to-blame.html

[susu369]

45. I totally agree

*nt*

[merh]

16. He was simply playing with her.

He didn't mean to kill her, they were just playing and he is way too big to be playing with little humans.

[2Design]

17. she is lying on an edge on far side of pool n/t

[nc4bo]

18. Is it wrong to feel sad for both animal and human? nt

[Blue4Life]

35. Tragedy

I am pretty torn about how to feel about whale captivity in general. Obviously the loss of this woman who probably loves animals and supports all the right things is a huge tragedy. But for the whales, is their life better in the open sea?

[AngryAmish]

36. She was a whale trainer, then became a whale snack

[jxnmsdemguy65]

37. this whole thing is illustrative of the worst aspects of exploitative capitalism...

confining the creatures and forcing them to do stupid tricks ... all for the titillation of a bunch of rednecks.... sheesh something like this was bound to happen.

[Lorien]

38. I was at a party with one of her coworkers-another trainer-once

he said that every trainer is very much aware that the animals that they work with is wild and therefore unpredictable. That they could easily be killed at any time is always there at the back of their mind, just as it is for many people who participate in, say, dangerous sports. Perhaps it's part of what attracts them to the field; after all, they could choose to train birds, otters, or ponies instead. It's a sad tragedy, but she knew the risks and loved the job. I have mixed feelings about such parks; on one hand I hate to see wild animals caged and forced to perform. On the other, I know that close contact with such animals by the public is needed to ensure their future protection an survival.

[tblue37]

40. Watching them play together and the way he follows her as she walks

around the pool--I bet the poor creature will miss her and be lonely for her. She was one of his primary trainers and spent a lot of time with him, interacting and playing. The captive orcas' lives are very constricted compared to what they would be in the wild, and since he is unpredictable, only a few trainers are allowed to interact with him. He has lost a mjor part of the social stimulation that would have helped to make his life in captivity bearable.

I hate that they keep calling it a "whale attack," Everything I have read suggests he was playing, not realizing that she would be harmed.

[ChickMagic]

53. The Orca clearly liked her and was having fun

Sometimes Orcas play with their yougsters by pulling them deep underwater.
However, those critters have more lung capacity than humans. They will
sometimes drag their youngsters deep underwater to punish them as well
by not letting them come up for air until they just have to. That didn't
seem to be the case. It seemed the Orca was playing.

Just to throw this in - I majored in marine biology and took a great
interest in cetaceans.