The Orange County Sheriff’s Office released on Wednesday, the final report of the investigation into the death of Dawn Brancheau, a top Sea World trainer who was killed by the killer whale, Tilikum on February 24th. Deputies have ruled Brancheau’s death an accident.
The 43-page Investigative Report provides sworn, audio recorded interviews of employees, including other trainers that were in the ‘Dine with Shamu’ area where the accident and ultimate death of Brancheau took place.
Several witnesses say they did not see how Brancheau actually got into the pool with Tilikum, the 1,200 pound killer whale. Others have said that they saw Brancheau on her knees touching Tilikum’s nose. One employee said that, “Brancheau moved to the far left and she was petting Tilikum when he grabbed either her hair or her arm and pulled her into the pool.”
Several witness statements say they saw Brancheau struggling to free her hair from Tilikum’s mouth.
Trainers said upon immediately recognizing that Brancheau was in trouble, the alarm was sounded and according to the report, within less than 3 minutes, nets were put into the water to try to contain the killer whale. Attempts were made to distract Tikikum and re-direct him to three pools, but according to the report, the killer whale still would not release Brancheau. Ultimately Tilikum was beached and a net used to extract Brancheau from Tilikum’s mouth.
The report released today also provided information from video in the ‘Dine with Shamu’ area, although the actual video remains sealed.
See Death Investigative Report-Dawn Brancheau Here.
The video account indicates that Brancheau made several unsuccessful attempts to swim to the surface of the pool, while Tilikum can be seen striking her. According to the video description, following a failed attempt to get to the pool surface, Tilikum immediately began swimming underwater with Brancheau in his mouth. Tilikum also changes swimming direction and Brancheau can be seen in his mouth, but appears lifeless, states the video account.
Within three days of Brancheau’s death, SeaWorld’s whale shows which were initially suspended, had resumed. At the time, SeaWorld President and CEO, Jim Atchison said that there would be no in-water interactions with trainers until a review into the Brancheau accident was completed. As well, the theme park gave an undertaking to review its existing policies and procedures to determine whether or not changes were required.
Two months after Brancheau’s death, it is not clear whether SeaWorld’s review has been completed or if any changes have been made to the theme park’s policies and protocols.
The captive display of orcas cannot be justified no matter how hard the owners and management of sea parks try to spin it. Their care and concern for the orcas is purely mercenary, and their claim that they are educating the public is disingenuous. They can lie to their employees, they can lie to their audiences, they can lie to the media, but they cannot lie to the person they face in the mirror every morning. And what is worse, the orcas know that their imprisonment in tiny concrete pools, where their dorsal fins droop as the free spirit that was hard-wired into them at birth slowly suffocates, is a life sentence without the possibility of parole. Ironically, the only merciful thing about this tragedy is that most of the orcas will die long before their time, as death is their only way to escape their misery. Please visit my blog at: http://whaleanddolphintalk.blogspot.com/