MIAMI — SeaWorld said Thursday a five-tonne killer whale that attacked and killed its trainer in front of horrified onlookers will remain in its program, amid raging debate on whether to keep such animals in captivity.
Grisly new details emerged over how Tilikum the orca — already linked to two other human deaths since 1991 — grabbed his veteran trainer by her ponytail and dragged her down into his tank without warning during a midday show Wednesday.
He was so aggressive that rescuers could not immediately jump in and assist the experienced trainer Dawn Brancheau, officials said.
Instead, trainers guided the massive black-and-white bull orca toward a smaller pool and lifted him out of the water by a large scale or platform to free Ms. Brancheau’s dead body from its jaws.
In a grim twist, the smaller pool was apparently the same spot where the naked body of Daniel Dukes was found draped dead over Tilikum’s back in July 1999 after the man sneaked into SeaWorld after hours to swim with the animals.
Even before the latest deadly attack, trainers were barred from swimming in the water with Tilikum, standing on platforms instead. SeaWorld Orlando’s only mature breeding male, he was also often kept in a smaller tank away from the park’s other orcas.
The Orange County Medical Examiner’s office said Ms. Brancheau, who had 16 years of experience working with orcas, likely died from multiple traumatic injuries and drowning, with all evidence pointing to a tragic incident.
Ms. Brancheau, 40, died doing something she loved, her mother said.
“It was her dream to do it,” Marion Loverde told the Orlando Sentinel. “She loved her job.”
In an prescient 2006 interview, Ms. Brancheau told the newspaper: “You can’t put yourself in the water unless you trust them and they trust you.”
Animal rights groups and activists pressed for Tilikum to be released in a controlled area and some even suggested putting him down, even as SeaWorld Orlando vowed to keep working with him at the recreational marine park.
SeaWorld announced it has “every intention of continuing to interact” with the big whale worth millions of dollars, but did not mention if it was considering more live shows with the 22-foot (6.7-meter) long, 12,000-pound (5.4-tonne) animal.
“The procedures for working with him will change,” it said.
Some pointed to the violent past of the largest killer whale in captivity.
Russ Rector, a former dolphin trainer, said keeping killer whales — the largest species of the dolphin family — in captivity can make them become violent.
“They are going to keep Tilikum and he is going to kill someone else,” said Rector, who sent SeaWorld a letter in November 2007 warning that continued captivity and the park’s strict training regimen could cause the marine mammals to attack and kill their trainers.
“He is a monster, he is a product of captivity. He hates people. All he wants to do is kill you,” Mr. Rector told AFP. “If this was a big cat or a bear, it would have been put down after its first kill.”
Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with The Humane Society, suggested Tilikum, known simply as “Tilly,” be released in an open ocean sea-pen the size of a football field.
“He could be trained to adjust to going out into the open ocean to exercise and get more choices and then maybe his stress would be reduced,” she said, noting the orca may have simply been trying to play with his trainer.
“If they keep him in isolation the way they do, they keep him in that small tank that he’s in, this is going to happen again.”
A full release might be complicated for Tilikum, who has been captive for nearly 27 years.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) lamented a “tragedy that didn’t have to happen.”
It urged SeaWorld to leave marine mammals in the ocean rather than confining them to an area “the size of a bathtub” for them, and suggested that switching to giant robotics would be a “win-win” situation.
Tilikum’s name means “friend” in the Chinook Jargon language spoken among native Americans in the Pacific Northwest.
In 1999, authorities discovered the dead body of a naked man lying across Tilikum’s back. Authorities concluded the man, who had either snuck into SeaWorld after hours or hidden in the park until it closed, most likely drowned after suffering hypothermia in the 55-degree water.
They also said it appeared Tilikum had bit the man and tore off his swimming trunks, likely believing he was a toy to play with.
Tilikum, now almost 30 years old, moved to SeaWorld from Sealand of the Pacific near Victoria in 1992, six months after being involved in the death of 20-year-old trainer Keltie Byrne.
Byrne drowned after falling into the Sealand tank. It appeared that Tilikum and two other whales had prevented her from getting out of the water.
Tilikum was captured near Iceland in 1983. He has fathered 17 calves in captivity, 10 of which are still alive.
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