Last night Florida's Orange County medical examiner released the autopsy report on the death of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau. The report cites "multiple traumatic injuries and drowning" as the cause of death. The excessive injuries she suffered are contradictory to earlier reports that her death, on February 24th, 2010, was accidental, the result of over-zealous horseplay on the part of a killer whale she had been working with. It is clear from her injuries—and subsequent witness accounts that her body had to be pried from the orca's mouth, that this was a brutally violent attack.
Initial reports indicated that Brancheau had fallen into the tank, but these reports were amended after investigators examined witness statements and concluded that Brancheau had been grabbed by her ponytail and pulled into the tank by the 12,000-pound killer whale named Tilikum. There was also speculation that Brancheau may have inadvertently provoked Tilikum into the playful frenzy that resulted in his holding her underwater until she drowned.
A seven-minute home video shot by a SeaWorld tourist just seconds before the attack, and released by Florida television station WESH, clearly shows Brancheau laughing and playing with Tilikum in the water literally seconds before her death. This video does not show the attack, and it also does not show how, or where, Brancheau entered the tank. But the video does show that she didn't seem to be panicked or in fear of Tilikum. Nor were her fellow trainers panicked in their calls to 911.
Perhaps Brancheau, and her co-trainers, should have been more concerned on that day. Dawn Brancheau was not Tilikum's first victim. He had already been blamed in the deaths of two other people. In 1991 he and two other orcas sharing his tank were blamed in the death of a marine trainer in British Columbia, Canada. Tilikum's horseplay was also blamed in the 1999 death of a 27-year-old man whose body was found mysteriously floating in the killer whale's holding tank.
Brancheau's family has requested that autopsy photos, as well as video from SeaWorld's surveillance cameras, not be released to the public, but the medical examiner has released his findings. According to a news video released this morning on The Today Show, the medical examiner found blunt force injuries, broken ribs, broken sternum, dislocated elbow/knee, abrasions and contusions. Parts of the autopsy report are extremely graphic, saying that Brancheau's arm had been ripped from her body, her scalp torn from her skull and her spinal cord severed.
Article comments
1 - El Bicho
I understand studying the animals and caring for them. Aside from the making money part, I don't get training them to entertain us.
2 - Greg Barbrick
I agree with Bicho. This incident reminds me of others involving elephants. These animals do not belong in such ridiculously artificial environments, trained to perform.
To me, the real question is, why haven't more of these attacks occurred?
3 - Dr Dreadful
Because orcas and elephants are extremely intelligent animals. Compared to life in the wild, they're on easy street and they know it. They won't bite the hand that feeds.
They'll mostly only get aggressive if they feel threatened or think they can get away with it.
4 - jmerch
This article did fail to report that the 27 yr old man had climbed the fence after hours @Seaworld & gotten into the tank. Also, the 1st incident in Canadaalso was a worker that fell into the tank. Tilicum was not meant to have anyone in the water w/ him & trainers didn't perform w/ him @ SeaWorld...
5 - John Wilson
Perhaps, someday in the distant future, humans will advance enough to not require animals to perform entertainment tricks for them.
6 - a
its not that the whales perform tricks. most of the behaviors have some build on something the whale does naturally which is then set to a cue and reinforced (to increase the chance of it occuring with the cue)negative reinforment or "force" can not be used on an animal this size. it is a terrible accident and maybe sea world needs to consider just how important it is to put trainers in the water at all (this is entertainment value) This is not the first attack and i am sure swim test to get the job are so extreme becasue they anticipate these types of issues. working free contact with an animal that size you are going to have these problems. i only hope that when he grabbed her, her death came as quickly as possible and that she didnt suffer the extent of those injuries...horrible tragedy
7 - elizabeth henry
my heart goes out to dawns family and thenk you for dawn for making my daughter want to be at 7 and 5 years old to want to be like her and be and work where she loved her life.
8 - elizabeth henry
MY WHOLE LIFE IVE BEEN GOING TO SEA WORLD AND HAD THE CHANCE TO WATCH THIS WONDERFUL WOMAN AND SPEAK WITH HER.EVERYONE EVERYDAY HAS DANGEROUS JOBS.BUT SOMETIMES WE DONT GET THE CHANCE TO LOVE OUR JOBS!NEVER ONCE HAVE I HEARD SHE DIDNT.THE MEDIA HAS TOO MUCH TIME ON THERE HANDS.EVERYDAY SOMEONE GETS HURT A CRASH SHOOTING DEATHS CARRY ON BUT WE DO NOT KILL BACK.MUCH LESS MAKE OTHERS SUFFER.I THINK HE WOULDNT HAVE WAITED ALL THESE YEARS WITH HER WHO ONLY LOVED HIM TO PURPOSELY KILL HER.LIKE I SAID BEFORE MY CAUGHTERS LOVED HIM AND DAWN.THEY THOUGHT DAWN WAS THE GOD OF WHALES.WE LOVE HER.WERE SORRY FOR THE FAMILY BUT THE BEST THING ITS NOT A TRAGEDY ITS WHAT SHE LOVED.
LOVING ELIZABETH HENRY
9 - A Geek Girl
You can tell by that picture and video that Dawn was great at what she did and passionate about it. I do wish that they had all taken his past behaviors more seriously. Her death could have been avoided-- And should have been. I don't think he should have been at SeaWorld. The 911 recording says no trainers were allowed in the water with him. Orcas have a very high intelligence and adapt well, I've never heard of anyone abusing orcas as I have about elephants, tigers etc. But Tilikum seems to be the sociopath of killer whales. Not that he was acting out of his nature. Just go to youtube and you can see how killer whales treat seals. When I read the report I thought immediately of those videos. He treated her like a seal.
I can't really compare elephants with orcas. Orcas are very loyal and family/pod oriented. Every interview and documentary I've seen about trainers re-inforces this. They bond tightly with their trainers, a substitute family, and their trainers are just as attached. We rely on the intelligence of sea mammals in military ops. But not all orcas are going to be trainable.
The money they make on exhibitions is necessary, you can't house and study their behaviors without some type of income. I doubt seriously if Dawn ever considered what she did as a way to make a profit or exploitation. I think it would break her heart if people didn't want to come to SeaWorld to see the dolphins and whales. She wanted to share the beauty and intelligence of these magnificent mammals with the world. To build a respectful relationship.
I just saw Dawn in a commercial for SeaWorld last night. It ran twice--Back to back. My eyes welled up with tears. I couldn't help it. She looked so happy.
Elizabeth, I'm sorry to disagree, but I do think it's a tragedy. She did so much to forge the relationship between humans and sea mammals. It's an incredible loss for both sides.
10 - Brandy
knowing the extent of Dawn's injuries, it is clear that the whale was not "playing". Orcas are intelligent and know when they are doing bodily harm to another living creature. This is not the first time this whale has been involved with the death of a human and I'm sure he is fully aware of what it takes to kill the frail human. I would think it would be great if we could just release all these whales back to their real homes in the open ocean (including the ones born in captivity). However, I'm sure that SeaWorld and other theme parks are not ready to let go of their "cash cows" just yet. The only way this is going to stop is if the thousands of tourist a year attending these parks, make a stand and simply stop paying huge $$$ to see a whale jump through a hoop. Captivity for some of these animals drives them to the point of becoming suicidal and homicidal. They not only turn on their trainers, but they have turned on each other. I suppose if I was shoved in a phone booth for several years with about a dozen other people, I would get hostile from time to time also.
11 - Rhoda Kerr
love to Dawn/s family. Saw her there in 2009. Remember her from a distance entertaining in her athletic yet graceful
appearance. I remember the ponytail and my grandkids and i would like so much to have a
poster of Dawn. A picture of her in any
pose. At home, sea world, just a close up that we can place in our home with our ocean
scenes. Thank you for info on how to obtain a poster life size or close up
does not have to be with whales or at sea world but if it is that is great too.
Thanks for a wonderful show to Dawn and all
of the trainers and to the animals.
12 - Syched1
I remember the BC death...and that the Seaworld-type parks there decided it was not a good idea to have Orcas in their parks for shows etc. I never knew what happened to the Orcas they had there...until now. I guess after three deaths, perhaps it will be apparent that this creature is not some real-life version of some animated, talking, smiley whale from a kid's cartoon. While intelligent and beautiful, they aren't domestic house pets. Tilikum is a huge, meat-eating marine mammal. "Trained" or not, it is not unbelievable that instinct take over and someone dies. I think he should not be part of any show ever again.