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F
or Dawn Brancheau, February
24, 2010, should have been just
another day at the office. That
morning she fed her dogs, said
goodbye to husband Scott and
began her 30-minute drive to
SeaWorldOrlandoinFlorida, in
the US, past some of the worlds
most famous amusement parks.
Brancheau, 40, was something
of a hometown star. A senior trainer of
SeaWorlds performing orcas or killer
whales her picture, in which she looks
attractive and athletic, sporting a long
blonde ponytail, greeted millions of
visitors each year at airport billboards.
Once at work, Brancheau learnt
shed behandlingthemiddayDinewith
Shamu event, where guests pay to
lunch by a pool as trainers put a lone
whale through low-key behaviours
industry parlance for tricks. (Shamu
was the name of an early killer whale at
SeaWorld and is now the stage name
Veteran orca trainer Dawn
Brancheau was conducting
a bonding relationship
session with Tilikum when he
suddenly attacked. Below:
Brancheaus body (circled)
lies covered by a tarpaulin
after the fatal incident.
She was an experienced trainer; he was her
star charge. No-one expected tragedy to occur,
but maybe they should have. In the wake of
a new lm, David Kirby looks at whales in
captivity and an accident waiting to happen
ENEMY
WATERS
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A year earlier, Tilikum
performs at
SeaWorld Orlando.
Trainers there claim
they were unaware
hed directly caused
a Canadian trainers
death in 1991.
Left: SeaWorld president and
CEO Jim Atchison fronts the
media after Brancheaus death
which was an inevitable
event, according to ex-trainers
including Carol Ray (above)
and Jeffrey Ventre (right), and
Blackfish director Gabriela
Cowperthwaite (far right).
givento the star of various orca shows
at the park.) That day, Brancheau would
be working with Tilikum, SeaWorlds
5.4 tonne breeding bull.
The backstage show went like
hundreds before. As guests began filing
out, Brancheaumoved toa ledgecovered
in about 25cm of water. There, she
crouched next to Tilikum for a
relationship session, a brief tete-a-
tete between whale and trainer meant
to deepen the bond between them.
Spectator Todd Connell, visiting with
his wife, Suzanne, and 10-year-old son,
Bobby, was videoing the scene.
But what began as a tender moment
quickly turned into a horror movie.
Suddenly, Tilikum grabbed Brancheau.
One witness, a fellow trainer, said
Brancheaus ponytail floated into the
whales mouth and he pulled her in. But
others, including a SeaWorld security
guard and former police officer, said
Tilikumgrabbed Brancheauby her arm.
It would become an important detail in
terms of culpability, but what happened
nextseemed inevitable. Tilikumdragged
Brancheau to the bottomof the pool.
The Connells stood frozen as the
grizzly scene unfolded. [Brancheau]
popped up at the surface, screaming for
help. She stared right into our eyes,
recalls Suzanne. I will never forget
that look of terror. But Tilikum was
just getting started. After dragging
Brancheau around, he released her,
then rammed into her head-on, twice.
He charged to the far end of the pool,
turned, gained speed and rammed her
again. Alarms wailed and staff came
running. At some point, a chilling call to
emergency services went out: A whale
has eaten one of the trainers, a staffer
intoned. But nothing could save
Brancheau. It took more than 30
minutes for trainers, using a weighted
net, to corral the orca into the medical
pool where he was lifted fromthe water.
Only then was Brancheaus lifeless body
pried fromTilikums jaws. Much of her
left arm had been bitten off. A part of
her scalp was floating in the water.
It was tragic, it was horrific, but was
it a freakaccident?Shewas anexcellent
trainer, one of the best Ive seen in my
life, Thad Lacinak, a former vice-
president of SeaWorld Orlando, told
the media in the following days. But
allowing her ponytail to drift into the
water like that in front of the animal
turned out to be a fatal mistake.
Brancheau, he continued, would have
agreed with that assessment. Lying
next to Tilikum in shallow water was
another mistake,
he asserted. Either
the rules for
handling Tilikum
had changed [since
he left in 2008],
or Brancheau had
violated them, he said. Bothclaims were
later debunked. What Brancheau did
that day was entirely within the bounds
of SeaWorld protocol.
Whether Brancheau had herself to
blame or not, she wasnt the first trainer
to be killed or mauled by a captive
orca. And if critics of SeaWorlds whales-
in-captivityprogramareright, shewont
be the last. They point to a series of
incidents since orcas were introduced
into US SeaWorld parks in 1965. In 1987,
a trainer at SeaWorld San Diego was
dragged to the bottomof a pool, brought
up and spat out, only to have another
orca slaminto himand others drag him
down. He survived with a ruptured
kidney and lacerated liver. That same
year, while a trainer was riding a female
orca, a whale breached and landed on
him, breaking his back, leg and pelvis.
Otherincidentsfollowed, someinvolving
whales attempting to throw trainers
fromthepool or dragthemtothebottom
by their feet, right up to Brancheaus
death in 2010, the last reported incident
of orca aggressionat SeaWorld. Whether
trainers were adequately informed
about the risks of working with orcas
or not remains a matter of contention
between SeaWorld, former trainers,
critics and theUSDepartment Of Labor.
But what is clear is that Tilikum,
captured off Iceland in 1983 when he
was about two years old, had deadly
Above: moments after this footage
was filmed in 2010, Brancheau
was killed by Tilikum. Far left: her
devastated husband, Scott (top, at
right) and mother Marion LoVerde
attend a hearing into her death.
form and SeaWorld knewit. In1991, at
a now-defunct facility called SeaLand
Of The Pacific in Canada, trainer Keltie
Byrne stumbled and dipped her foot in
the water. Tilikumgrabbed it and pulled
her in as she screamed. He tried to keep
her body from the two other whales in
the tank, whowanted inonthe action. It
took two hours to retrieve Byrnes body.
Eight years later, at SeaWorld Orlando,
morning staff saw Tilikum swimming
around with a naked mans dead body
draped over his back. The victim was a
27-year-old transient named Daniel
Dukes who hid himself at closing time
and snuck into Tilikums pool. The
official cause of death was drowning,
thoughtheautopsyshowed pre-mortem
cuts and bruises, meaning Tilikum
at undue risk, solely for human
entertainment and corporate profit.
InJuly, havingrejected all interview
requests from the documentarys
filmmakers, SeaWorld dispatched an
unusual letter to filmcritics it believed
were about to review Blackfish. In it,
vice-president of communications,
Fred Jacobs, slammed the film as
shamefully dishonest, deliberately
misleading, and scientifically
inaccurate. The filmmakers fired back
with a point-by-point rebuttal,
effectively debunking the claims.
B
y all accounts, DawnBrancheauwas
a loving, down-to-earth woman
who cherished her husband, her job
atSeaWorld and thewondrous creatures
in its collection. Family and friends
recall her love of animals and passion
for charity. Before she died, she was
planning a relief trip to Haiti and was
growing her hair for a group that makes
wigs for kids with cancer.
A native of Indiana, Brancheau
(thenDawnLoVerde) moved toOrlando
toworkatSeaWorld in1994, and became
one of the most senior trainers on staff.
She met Scott Brancheau, a performer
in the waterski show, and they married
and lived in a modest lakeside home in
St Cloud, a small community south-east
of Orlando. Dawn loved pop music, golf
and volunteering at church.
Dawn was a talented trainer,
remarkable athlete, and a friend, says
Jeffrey Ventre, a former trainer at
Shamu Stadium. After Brancheaus
death, Ventre and several other
ex-trainers from Orlando criticised
their former employer. They said the
whales were stressed, neurotic and
dehydrated, and chastised SeaWorld for
publicly announcing its intention to
resume its killer whale shows as soonas
possible. Dawn was universally loved,
and demonstrated skill with animals of
all kinds, adds Ventre.
According to Brancheaus tributes,
She died doing what she loved most.
For many, those words are unnerving.
Its a clich that, no matter the
circumstances, always gets under my
skin, winces Carol Ray, one of the
ex-trainers critical of SeaWorld. It
really sounds to me like, Oh well. Its
her fault she liked doing dangerous
things. In Dawns case, its particularly
irritatingbecauseit indirectlydismisses
SeaWorlds culpability.
Dr Naomi Rose, a leading orca
scientist and anti-captivity advocate
at the Animal Welfare Institute, offers
a more damning assessment: I hate it
when I hear this. Does that somehow
makeit OK? Did sheloveputtingher life
in danger? I dont think so. What you
love shouldnt kill you. For Dawn, the
risk was not clear. She never expected
Tilikumtokill her. She should have, and
thats SeaWorlds fault.
The US is home to more than half
the 45 orcas in captivity. It could be
argued that the best thing about the life
of a captive killer whale is that its
relativelyshort. SeaWorld whales rarely
make it beyond their 20s, and many die
much younger. (In the wild males live,
on average, 30 years, with a 6070 year
maximum, while females live 50 years
on average, a maximum of 8090.) At
least twocaptivefemales havedied after
gruesome stillbirths; two males died
[BRANCHEAU] POPPED UP TO THE
SURFACE, SCREAMING. SHE STARED RIGHT INTO OUR EYES.
I WILL NEVER FORGET THAT LOOK OF TERROR
SUZANNE CONNELL, A SEAWORLD SPECTATOR WHO WITNESSED THE TRAINERS DEATH
I COULDNT BELIEVE [THE
ORCA] TILIKUM WAS ALLOWED TO INTERACT
WITH TRAINERS, GIVEN HIS HISTORY
SAMANTHA BERG, EX-SEAWORLD TRAINER
roughed himup while still alive.
Samantha Berg was a trainer at
Shamu Stadium when Tilikum arrived
from Canada in 1992. Trainers were
instructed not to enter his pool, but not
told why. I was shocked tolearnTilikum
was the whale specifically responsible
for Keltie Byrnes death, says Berg. I
couldnt believe Tilikumwas allowed to
interact inclose proximity withtrainers
for another 20 years, given his history.
As soonas Berg learnt the true story,
she says, I realised that what happened
to Dawn could have happened to any
of the trainers. Her death was the
inevitable result of decisions made over
theyears tocontinuetoallowtrainers to
interact with a dangerous animal.
Whale captivity is an issue close to
this writers own heart. Shocked by
accusations fromformer employees that
SeaWorld had tried to cover up details
of Brancheaus death and impeded the
following federal investigation, I began
working on a book, Death At SeaWorld
(St Martins Press, $31.50). Now, a new
documentaryfilm, Blackfish, essentially
accuses the US amusement park chain
(it has no connection to Sea World on
Australias Gold Coast, which has
no killer whales) of keeping orcas in
sub-par conditions and putting trainers G
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from mosquito-borne illnesses; another
male perished when a gate crushed his
skull; and a female was killed after a
clash with her tankmate. She spouted
blood from her blowhole as her calf and
horrified patrons looked on. Many orcas
die from infections likely caused by
immunosuppression related to stress.
SeaWorld may seem happy and
shiny, with whales leaping spectacularly
from blue waters, but backstage, a darker
picture emerges. Once you learn the
truth, notes Blackfish director Gabriela
Cowperthwaite, you cant help but
realise youve been subjected to a
completely fraudulent experience.
Many whales break teeth on gates. All
adult males dorsal fins flop
over, most likely due to
hours spent idling at the
surface in the hot sun.
Experts say just one to five
per cent of wild adult male
orcas have been spotted
with collapsed fins, a figure
SeaWorld claims is too
low, but it fails to offer sound evidence.
Perhaps even more heartbreaking is
the separation of mothers and calves.
Wild orca families stay together for life.
Not so at SeaWorld. One of my worst
moments was watching Kalina, the first
Baby Shamu, being removed from her
mother to be moved to another park,
recalls Ray. The mother emitted wails
for two weeks. Ray also witnessed a huge
male, Kanduke, being raked by the
teeth of other orcas and attacked by
females, who dominate orca society.
Kanduke became unhinged. Watching
him ... intentionally injuring himself by
bashing his head and face into concrete
is another dreadful memory, says Ray.
Dr Ingrid Visser, who heads the New
Zealand-based Orca Research Trust,
recently went to inspect SeaWorld
Orlando. I was horrified, she says.
The tiny and totally featureless tanks
the orcas are kept in are despicable. Any
animal would go neurotic in such
conditions. When you do that to a large-
brained, self-aware animal it is
surprising we dont have more attacks.
Orcas in captivity are a poor
caricature of wild orcas, comments Dr
Visser. Despite what SeaWorld tells
you, that the behaviours you see are
natural, this isnt the case. In the wild
you never see an orca doing a 360-degree
spin out of water, or tossing people
around in rocket rides. A number of
behaviours that trainers teach are not
only unnatural, but may actually
provoke aggression; [for example] head
shakes, in what we perceive as a yes or
no, would normally be used to signify
displeasure or a warning signal.
While captive orcas have killed four
people since 1991, the only injury ever
recorded in the wild happened in 1972,
when an orca bit the leg of a surfer in
California and immediately released it,
perhaps mistaking the wet-suited man
for a seal. I regularly swim with orcas
in the wild, including those who hunt
marine mammals, comments Dr Visser.
Yet, Ive never been threatened.
Dr Rose agrees that captivity
assaults the orca psyche: For this very
intelligent, cognitively sophisticated
animal, the loss of family and community,
and of purpose, of making choices,
having a job of survival to do, creates
a highly neurotic, and sometimes
psychotic, individual. Some handle it
better, some worse, but they all suffer.
In its letter to film critics, SeaWorld
denied it broke up whale families, did
not adequately inform trainers about
Tilikum, or had tried to spin the story
of Brancheaus death. It also rejected
the notion that Tilikum had been driven
crazy in captivity, declaring, SeaWorld
is proud of its legacy of supporting
marine science and environmental
awareness in general, and the cause
of killer whales in particular.
Although Brancheau herself
supported the idea of captivity, her
death ushered in a new era of intense
scrutiny of the captive-orca industry,
at least in the US. It sparked an
Obama administration investigation,
a congressional hearing, a serious
safety violation and an order to keep
trainers away from the orcas a
prohibition SeaWorld is still contesting.
So what does the future hold for
orcas in captivity? Most advocates
want to see them retired to sea pens.
SeaWorld would still own the animals,
and could charge people to view them
in a more natural and educational
environment than a showbiz setting.
Ray hopes that people around the
world will show greater compassion
for these animals, and a better
understanding as to why they dont
belong anywhere but in the
wild. She states: I hope a new
generation will grow up
understanding that its morally
unacceptable to confine such
social, intelligent, self-aware
and emotional beings for our
entertainment. I hope people
see the tragedy in Tilikums
life, as well as in Dawns death.
As for Tilikum, these days he spends
much of his miserable life alone in one
of Shamu Stadiums small concrete
pools backstage. He cannot position
himself vertically without hitting the
bottom. Observers say he looks sick,
lonely and deflated. But he is still
sometimes brought out at the end of
the Shamu show to splash people in the
front rows with a whopping surge of his
mighty flukes (tail). Its a miracle hes
still alive, and hes still deadly dangerous.
Its highly
likely that captivity
drove Tilikum to
attack people, says
Dr Visser. And hes
a ticking time bomb
to do it again.
Blackfish is
in cinemas
November 21.
Animal-rights supporters hope that
Brancheaus legacy will be more natural
living conditions for orcas in captivity.
THE TINY, FEATURELESS
TANKS THE ORCAS ARE KEPT IN [AT SEAWORLD
ORLANDO] ARE DESPICABLE
ORCA RESEARCHER DR INGRID VISSER
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