Former killer whale trainers are raising questions about safety at SeaWorld Orlando following the death of a trainer on Wednesday.
Veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, was dragged by her ponytail into the water to her death by a killer whale named Tilikum. The orca thrashed Brancheau around underwater as a horrified crowd watched.
Thad Lacinak, the former head of animal training at the SeaWorld Olando, said the rules in place at the Florida park when he left in 2008 would not have allowed a trainer to lie down on a submerged shelf next to the whale as Brancheau did just prior to her death.
"She lay completely down, which is a very vulnerable position to be in with an animal like Tilikum. And apparently her ponytail drifted into the water. He just opened his mouth, sucked it in and pulled her in the water," Lacinak said.
Tilikum's trainer at the now-closed Sealand in Victoria, B.C., Steve Huxster, told CBC on Thursday that he was surprised to hear the whale was performing at all.
"It was my understanding from when Tilikum was acquired by the SeaWorld organization that he would not be a display animal. The intent was that he was to be part of the breeding program and that was it," said the whale's former trainer of eight years.
Breeding animals do not perform and are not on public view.
Huxster, referring to Tilikum's past involvements in two other human deaths, said that the intelligent animal would want to recreate, what he described as, "highly stimulating situations."
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