Killer Whale Fatally Attacks Trainer in Orlando

The story broke on Wednesday, February 25, as an experienced trainer, 40-year old Dawn Brancheau, was twice dragged and drowned underwater by the 30-year old killer whale, Tilikum. Tilikum is one of the largest, and oldest, killer whales in captivity today.

Sea World in Orlando is struggling to deal with the incident and the controversies it faces with the public and with scientists.

Tilikum was captured in 1983 in Iceland at approximately 2 years of age. There are only six or seven, of the now 42, killer whales older than Tilikum presently in captivity around the world.

There are 42 Orcas in marine parks and zoos today in the world, and Tilikum is known as the one of the more controversial captive cetaceans, having already been implicated in the deaths of two people in '91 (female trainer in Sealand of the Pacific, British Columbia, Canada) and in a 27-year old visitor in Sea World Orlando in '99 (a man who had breached security and perhaps had jumped into the pool and died of hypothermia).

Tilikum weighs in at approximately 12,300 lbs. and is nearly 22' in length. Sea World in Orlando currently has eight Orcas, members of the Order of toothed whales, odontocetes, in captivity. Orca orcinus, is the largest member of the dolphin family, the Delphinidae.

Since 1960, over 150 killer whales have died while in captivity in ocean parks around the world. Scientists agree that females in the wild can live up to 50 years and males up to 30 years.

In 2004, this well documented attack in at Sea World in Texas involved trainer Steve Aibel and further illustrates the dangers of close contact and unpredictable work with these wild marine animals.
In 2006, Kasatka, a 30-year old killer whale in San Diego dragged an experienced 33-year old trainer underwater and held him at the bottom of the pool. The trainer escaped with his life fortunately.