Trainer's death reopens debate on dangerous animals in captivity

Dawn Brancheau, 40, had just finished a show with Tilikum, a 12,000-pound killer whale, when the animal grabbed her by her ponytail and dragged her underwater.

The Orlando Sentinel
By KEITH MORELLI The Tampa Tribune
and RAY REYES The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 25, 2010

The debate has raged for years.

Animals used in theme park shows are important in educating the public on particular species, some say.

Then again, these shows are fraught with danger and people should not share the same tank or cage with aggressive animals, others say.

The old arguments flared up again after orca trainer Dawn Brancheau died Wednesday at SeaWorld in Orlando. Brancheau, 40, had just finished a show with Tilikum, a 12,000-pound killer whale, when the animal grabbed her by her ponytail and dragged her underwater.

Autopsy results show Brancheau most likely died from multiple traumatic injuries and drowning after the whale pulled her into a pool, authorities said.

Chuck Tompkins, the corporate curator of zoological operations for SeaWorld, said all procedures were followed and the death of Brancheau was a tragic accident. Orca shows have been suspended indefinitely.

But the park has been offering marine mammal shows for 46 years and the programs are an important part of learning about the animals, Tompkins said.

"Obviously, we need to evaluate our safety procedures and how we work with these animals, Tompkins said. "But we need to move forward knowing these animals are an incredible, valuable tool for us to learn about them."

Robert Rose, the curator of the Miami Seaquarium, agreed.

"These animals serve a very specific purpose," he said. "They're ambassadors to animals out in the wild. Through parks like ours, you can be entertained and learn about these animals."

But Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with The Humane Society of the United States, said the image presented by the theme parks that the animals are "happy performers" is not true.

As long as orcas are used in interactive shows, incidents involving injury and death are "absolutely going to happen again," Rose said. Orcas, she said, are large predators, "unsuited to permanent confinement, often exhibiting neurotic behaviors in these settings."

Whales and dolphins are intelligent, socially-complex predators that often hunt in pods, Nancy Black, a marine biologist and orca expert with the Monterrey Bay Whale Watch in California said.

"We know so much about their intelligence, their social structures," Black said. "We know they need a lot of space. Living in a tank only stresses them. They are too intelligent for that."

She rejected arguments that parks with orcas in captivity offer educational opportunities and do research into the species. Black promotes excursions into whales' natural habitats.

"There are so many opportunities to see these animals in the wild," she said. "And it costs just as much to go whale watching than go to SeaWorld."

Tompkins agreed that orcas are social animals but said Tilikum exhibited no strange behavior before he pulled his trainer into the water.

"Everything seemed absolutely normal with him," Tompkins said. "There was no abnormal behavior with any other killer whale in the environment, so nothing would lead me to believe that there was anything different in the environment or wrong."

SeaWorld said Tilikum will be kept in isolation and not released into the wild. Russ Rector, a former dolphin trainer at Ocean World in Ft. Lauderdale, said Tilikum won't be set free because the orca would probably attack beachgoers.

"Once an animal kills, it's going to kill again," Rector said.

As for the orca's isolation, Rector said it's because Tilikum is used in breeding and he's worth millions to the theme park.

"If this was a big cat or an elephant that hurt somebody, it would be put down," said Rector, who left the industry after he became vocal about how trainers and marine mammals were treated. He is now a marine animal activist and a rescuer who founded the Dolphin Freedom Foundation.

"This industry is a monster with a happy face," Rector said.

Robert Rose, the Seaquarium curator, said the care and wellbeing of the animals is the trainers' top priority.

"This is what we do for a living," Rose said. "We care for these animals 365 days a year, building a relationship and rapport."

Tompkins said orca trainers at SeaWorld parks are highly specialized.

"Obviously, you don't step in front of a whale on your first day," he said. "It's years before you interact with these killer whales. They're taught about the animals; how to train, how to handle themselves, how to react in just about every environment."

Rector said it doesn't take much to become a marine animal trainer who starts with dolphins and move up the ranks.

"If you look good in a bathing suit, you can do it," he said.

Marine theme parks also downplay the daily injuries trainers receive from agitated or aggressive animals.

"They hurt trainers every day. You just don't show your bites," Rector said. "Captivity dements dolphins. They get tired of people. They go crazy when you put them in pools and make them do stupid pet tricks."

Robert Rose said aquatic parks have an enormous amount of safety protocols in place and trainers form strong bonds with animals to be able to sense when something is wrong.

But Rector said there's only one reason why humans even risk getting in the same tank with megaton predators that dwarf them.

"One word: money," he said. "Orcas are worth more than people. It's a cash cow."

There are 24 orcas in parks across the U.S. and 42 in captivity around the world, said Naomi Rose, the marine mammal scientist from the Humane Society. The last wild capture of an orca was in 2005 when Russia netted a pair, she said.

"Both died within a month," she said.

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