Sea World Incident

By: Randi Prock

              As you may have heard on local, and national news reports everywhere, there was a very traumatic experience at Sea World in Orlando, Florida. One of their best trainers was tragically killed by a killer whale. How she was killed by the orca, or killer whale, is still to be investigated.

               On Wednesday, February 24, 2010, Sea World trainer, Dawn Brancheau, was tragically killed by a killer whale in Shamu Stadium. This sad incident happened at the Orlando, Florida Sea World. Although we know she was killed by the whale, we are unsure of exactly how it happened. This incident was not recorded, so we don't have a way of knowing exactly. There were viewers watching the show at Shamu Stadium that afternoon. The two stories  are; that Dawn accidentally slipped off of her podium, fell in the water, and was then tortured by the whale.  The second story is that the whale jumped up, out of the water, grabbed Dawn, and shook her violently until she died. Vice President of Sea World, Orlando, Dan Brown states, “One of our most experienced animal trainers drowned.” He also said that an investigation is to be carried out.

                There are lots of work still to be done on this investigation, and Sea World Orlando is definitely devastated by the loss of such a great trainer. The whale involved in this incident is named Tillikum. Also, Tillikum has been involved in other previous deadly incidents at Sea World. What will happen to him is also in question. Hopefully, before to long, Sea World Orlando can get all of this figured out, and continue to preform great shows and a great time for families everywhere.