Dawn Brancheau had drowned. It marked the third time the animal had been involved in a human death.
The whale, named Tilikum, apparently grabbed Brancheau by her long ponytail, according to the head of animal training at all SeaWorld parks, Chuck Tompkins. He told ABC's "Good Morning America" that her ponytail swung out in front of the whale.
"That's when the trainer next to him (Tilikum) said that he grabbed the hair, pulled her under water. And of course, held her under water," Tompkins said.
Brancheau's interaction with the whale appeared leisurely and informal at first to audience member Eldon Skaggs. But then, the whale "pulled her under and started swimming around with her," Skaggs told The Associated Press.
Some workers hustled the audience out of the stadium while the others tried to save Brancheau, 40.
Skaggs said he heard that during an earlier show the whale was not responding to directions. Others who attended the earlier show said the whale was behaving like an ornery child.
But Tompkins said the whale had performed well in the show and that Dawn was rubbing him down as a reward for doing a good job.
"There involved in a 1999 death, when the body of a man who had sneaked by SeaWorld security was found draped over him.
The man either jumped, fell or was pulled into the frigid water and died of hypothermia, though he was also bruised and scratched by Tilikum.
Brancheau's older sister, Diane Gross, said the trainer wouldn't want anything done to the whale because she loved the animals like children. The trainer was married and didn't have children.
"She loved the whales like her children, she loved all of them," said Gross, of Schererville, Ind. "They all had personalities, good days and bad days."
Gross said the family viewed her sister's death as an unfortunate accident, adding: "It just hasn't sunk in yet."
Dawn was the youngest of six children who grew up near Cedar Lake, Indiana. Her passion for marine life began at the age of nine, Gross said, on a family trip to Sea World.
According to a profile of Brancheau in the Sentinel in 2006, she was one of SeaWorld Orlando's leading trainers. Brancheau worked her way into a leadership role at Shamu Stadium during her career with SeaWorld, starting at the Sea Lion & Otter Stadium before spending 10 years working with killer whales, the newspaper said.
She also addressed the dangers of the job.
"You can't put yourself in the water unless you trust them and they trust you," Brancheau said.
Billy Hurley, chief animal officer at the Georgia Aquarium- the world's largest - said there are inherent dangers to working with orcas, just as there are with driving race cars or piloting jets.
"In the case of a killer whale, if they want your attention or if they're frustrated by something or if they're confused by something, there's only a few ways of handling that," he said.
"If you're right near pool's edge and they decide they want a closer interaction during this, certainly they can grab you."
And, he added: "At 12,000 pounds there's not a lot of resisting you're going to do."
Mike Wald, a spokesman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration office in Atlanta, said his agency had dispatched an investigator from Tampa.
Wednesday's death was not the first attack on whale trainers at SeaWorld parks.
In November 2006, a trainer was bitten and held underwater several times by a killer whale during a show at SeaWorld's San Diego park.
The trainer, Kenneth Peters, escaped with a broken foot. The 17-foot orca that attacked him was the dominant female of SeaWorld San Diego's seven killer whales. She had attacked Peters two other times, in 1993 and 1999.
In 2004, another whale at the company's San Antonio park tried to hit one of the trainers and attempted to bite him. He also escaped.
Wednesday's attack was the second time in two months that an orca trainer was killed at a marine park. On Dec. 24, 29-year-old Alexis Martinez Hernandez fell from a whale and crushed his ribcage at Loro Parque on the Spanish island of Tenerife. Park officials said the whale, a 14-year-old named Keto, made an unusual move as the two practiced a trick in which the whale lifts the trainer and leaps into the air.
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Associated Press writers Lisa Orkin Emmanuel, Laura Wides-Munoz
and David Fischer in Miami, Tamara Lush in St. Petersburg and
Jeremy Hainsworth in Vancouver, British Columbia, contributed to
this report.
Statement from SeaWorld
I am Dan Brown, vice president and general manager of SeaWorld Orlando. It is
with great sadness that I report that one of our most experienced animal
trainers drowned in an incident with one of our killer whales this afternoon.
We have initiated an investigation to determine, to the extent possible, what occurred. There are no other details to share at this point, but we will make our findings known in due course.
I must emphasize that this is an extraordinarily difficult time for the SeaWorld parks, and our team members.
Nothing is more important than the safety of our employees, guests and the animals entrusted to our care. We have never, in the history of our parks, experienced an incident like this, and all of our standard operating procedures will come under review as part of the investigation.
We extend our deepest sympathies to the family and friends and of the trainer and will do everything possible to assist them in this difficult time.
Thank you.
Leigh Andrus
