Well, i have been looking forward to going to take Ava to 'dine with Shamu' on our holiday. Then this happens...
"The killer whale that drowned his female trainer yesterday will not be put down even though he has been involved in two other human deaths, according to staff at SeaWorld in Florida.
Tilikum, a huge bull orca which has spent 27 years in captivity, grabbed Dawn Brancheau as she was affectionately rubbing his head at the side of the whale pool at around 2pm. Watching tourists were eating their buffet lunches after the daily 'Dine with Shamu' whale show.
Two holidaymakers taking photos at the pool's underwater viewing area described how they saw Tilikum circling round and round below the surface with Ms Brancheau in his jaws, her face bloodied, and turning her over and over.
"It was terrible. It's very difficult to see the image," Joao Lucio da Costa Sobrinho, 28, told the local Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
An alarm sounded and SeaWorld staff led the tourists out of the viewing area, some of them screaming and with children crying.
Last night relatives of 40-year-old Ms Brancheau said that she would not have wanted Tilikum to be punished for what he had done. One of SeaWorld Orlando's most experienced trainers, she had worked at the park since 1994, and was married but childless.
"She loved the whales like her children, she loved all of them," said Diane Gross, Ms Brancheau's older sister. "They all had personalities, good days and bad days."
Marion Loverde, Ms Brancheau's mother, said that her daughter had wanted to work with whales ever since she visited SeaWorld at the age of nine.
"Everyone knew that was her dream," said Ms Loverde, of Indiana.
Chuck Tompkins, Ms Brancheau's supervisor, said that she had understood the risks of the job and of working with Tilikum, who was usually kept isolated and was rated as a potential risk to trainers because of the earlier deaths.
"We recognised that he was different... She loved what she did and she loved being with the animal," said Mr Tompkins.
He added that no decision had been made yet about what will happen to Tilikum, such as transferring him to another aquarium, but that the animal would not be put down.
We don't know what was going through the killer whale's head. It just got done doing a wonderful session with Dawn... his behaviour was great... that's the reason that she was rubbing his head," said Mr Tompkins.
Tilikum was captured off the coast of Iceland in 1983 and has had a controversial life. In 1991 he and two other orca were blamed for drowning one of their trainers, a woman part-timer, who lost her balance and fell into their pool while they were performing at Sealife of the Pacific, a park near Victoria in British Colombia that has since closed.
Sold to SeaWorld Orlando in 1992 as a stud animal, in 1999 Tilikum was involved in a second incident when a tourist either stayed behind in the park after hours or broke in and apparently attempted to swim with him.
The man's naked body, bruised and scratched from being dragged round the walls of the pool, was found draped over Tilikum's back the following morning. Despite his injuries doctors said he had probably drowned after suffering hypothermia in the chilly, 13C (55F) waters.
Because of Tilikum's size, at five tonnes the largest killer whale in captivity, and because of the previous deaths, only about a dozen of the park's 29 trainers were authorised to work with him.
The tragedy happened as Ms Brancheau had just finished describing the performance the audience was about to watch.
"He just took off like a bat out of you known what, took off really fast in the tank and he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing her around," Victoria Biniak told a local TV station. "He was thrashing her around pretty good. It was violent.
"The sirens were going off. People were running out."
Her husband Gary added: "He dragged her underneath the water and wouldn't let her come up. The force by which the woman was pulled into the water... her shoes were pulled off, it was terrible.
"Generally they don't allow any of the trainers to swim with this particular whale because he's so large and has a different temperament."
Eldon Skaggs, another audience member, said he heard that during an earlier show Tilikum was not responding to directions. Others who attended the earlier show said the whale was behaving like an "ornery child", contradicting Mr Tompkins.
Ms Brancheau is the second orca trainer to die in the last two months. On Christmas Eve Alexis Martinez Hernandez, 28, died after his ribcage was crushed when his whale landed on him as they rehearsed an unusual routine. The whale, a 14-year-old called Keto, had been transferred to the Loro Parque on Tenerife from SeaWorld.
There are thought to be 42 orca held in captivity in aquaria around the world. Animal rights groups have condemned the practice.
"For years, Peta has been calling on SeaWorld to stop confining oceangoing mammals to an area that to them is like the size of a bathtub," said a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
"We have also been asking the park to stop forcing the animals to perform silly tricks over and over again."
Dr Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with the Humane Society of the United States, said: "Using these animals in entertainment is not good for animals or people. Sadly, we've seen evidence of that again today. Whales and dolphins are large, intelligent, long-lived, socially complex predators who often hunt cooperatively and are capable of swimming a hundred miles in a day. They are unsuited to permanent confinement, often exhibiting neurotic behaviours in these settings."
**************************************************
I guess this could easily be a debate topic. But perhaps a lesson will be learn't, you can't take a wild animal and make it tame....
"The killer whale that drowned his female trainer yesterday will not be put down even though he has been involved in two other human deaths, according to staff at SeaWorld in Florida.
Tilikum, a huge bull orca which has spent 27 years in captivity, grabbed Dawn Brancheau as she was affectionately rubbing his head at the side of the whale pool at around 2pm. Watching tourists were eating their buffet lunches after the daily 'Dine with Shamu' whale show.
Two holidaymakers taking photos at the pool's underwater viewing area described how they saw Tilikum circling round and round below the surface with Ms Brancheau in his jaws, her face bloodied, and turning her over and over.
"It was terrible. It's very difficult to see the image," Joao Lucio da Costa Sobrinho, 28, told the local Orlando Sentinel newspaper.
An alarm sounded and SeaWorld staff led the tourists out of the viewing area, some of them screaming and with children crying.
Last night relatives of 40-year-old Ms Brancheau said that she would not have wanted Tilikum to be punished for what he had done. One of SeaWorld Orlando's most experienced trainers, she had worked at the park since 1994, and was married but childless.
"She loved the whales like her children, she loved all of them," said Diane Gross, Ms Brancheau's older sister. "They all had personalities, good days and bad days."
Marion Loverde, Ms Brancheau's mother, said that her daughter had wanted to work with whales ever since she visited SeaWorld at the age of nine.
"Everyone knew that was her dream," said Ms Loverde, of Indiana.
Chuck Tompkins, Ms Brancheau's supervisor, said that she had understood the risks of the job and of working with Tilikum, who was usually kept isolated and was rated as a potential risk to trainers because of the earlier deaths.
"We recognised that he was different... She loved what she did and she loved being with the animal," said Mr Tompkins.
He added that no decision had been made yet about what will happen to Tilikum, such as transferring him to another aquarium, but that the animal would not be put down.
We don't know what was going through the killer whale's head. It just got done doing a wonderful session with Dawn... his behaviour was great... that's the reason that she was rubbing his head," said Mr Tompkins.
Tilikum was captured off the coast of Iceland in 1983 and has had a controversial life. In 1991 he and two other orca were blamed for drowning one of their trainers, a woman part-timer, who lost her balance and fell into their pool while they were performing at Sealife of the Pacific, a park near Victoria in British Colombia that has since closed.
Sold to SeaWorld Orlando in 1992 as a stud animal, in 1999 Tilikum was involved in a second incident when a tourist either stayed behind in the park after hours or broke in and apparently attempted to swim with him.
The man's naked body, bruised and scratched from being dragged round the walls of the pool, was found draped over Tilikum's back the following morning. Despite his injuries doctors said he had probably drowned after suffering hypothermia in the chilly, 13C (55F) waters.
Because of Tilikum's size, at five tonnes the largest killer whale in captivity, and because of the previous deaths, only about a dozen of the park's 29 trainers were authorised to work with him.
The tragedy happened as Ms Brancheau had just finished describing the performance the audience was about to watch.
"He just took off like a bat out of you known what, took off really fast in the tank and he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing her around," Victoria Biniak told a local TV station. "He was thrashing her around pretty good. It was violent.
"The sirens were going off. People were running out."
Her husband Gary added: "He dragged her underneath the water and wouldn't let her come up. The force by which the woman was pulled into the water... her shoes were pulled off, it was terrible.
"Generally they don't allow any of the trainers to swim with this particular whale because he's so large and has a different temperament."
Eldon Skaggs, another audience member, said he heard that during an earlier show Tilikum was not responding to directions. Others who attended the earlier show said the whale was behaving like an "ornery child", contradicting Mr Tompkins.
Ms Brancheau is the second orca trainer to die in the last two months. On Christmas Eve Alexis Martinez Hernandez, 28, died after his ribcage was crushed when his whale landed on him as they rehearsed an unusual routine. The whale, a 14-year-old called Keto, had been transferred to the Loro Parque on Tenerife from SeaWorld.
There are thought to be 42 orca held in captivity in aquaria around the world. Animal rights groups have condemned the practice.
"For years, Peta has been calling on SeaWorld to stop confining oceangoing mammals to an area that to them is like the size of a bathtub," said a spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.
"We have also been asking the park to stop forcing the animals to perform silly tricks over and over again."
Dr Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with the Humane Society of the United States, said: "Using these animals in entertainment is not good for animals or people. Sadly, we've seen evidence of that again today. Whales and dolphins are large, intelligent, long-lived, socially complex predators who often hunt cooperatively and are capable of swimming a hundred miles in a day. They are unsuited to permanent confinement, often exhibiting neurotic behaviours in these settings."
**************************************************
I guess this could easily be a debate topic. But perhaps a lesson will be learn't, you can't take a wild animal and make it tame....
