Orca to be spared in trainer's death

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http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2010-02-25-killer-whale-seaworld_N.htm

Orca to be spared in trainer's death

By Donna Leinwand, USA TODAY

Trainers at SeaWorld's Orlando park will continue working with Tilikum, the

12,000-pound killer whale that attacked and drowned one of its primary handlers

in front of a horrified audience Wednesday.

" We have every intention of continuing to interact with this animal, though the

procedures for working with him will change, " SeaWorld wrote in its blog

Thursday.

SeaWorld, which opened as usual Thursday, did not specify how it would change

its killer whale performances and did not return calls for comment. It suspended

Dine with Shamu and other killer whale shows at its three parks — in San

, Orlando and San Diego — indefinitely.

Chuck Tompkins, chief of training for all SeaWorld parks, said that Tilikum, a

male orca dolphin known commonly as a " killer whale, " will remain with the

park's seven other orcas where he can still mate, the Associated Press reported

Thursday. " We want him to continue to be part of that social group, " Tompkins

said.

MEDICAL EXAMINER: Drowning, trauma killed whale trainer

Tilikum, nicknamed " Tilly, " is valuable to SeaWorld as a breeder and already has

fathered several offspring, says dolphin-trainer-turned-activist Russ Rector of

Fort Lauderdale.

" Tilikum is a monster. This is his third killing, " Rector says.

Yet SeaWorld won't euthanize Tilikum " because as a breeder, he's worth

millions, " says Rector, who spent eight years as a trainer at Fort Lauderdale's

now-closed Ocean World and runs Dolphin Freedom Foundation, which encourages sea

parks to release their animals from captivity.

Trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, was interacting with Tilikum in knee-deep water in a

poolside platform behind Shamu Stadium when the animal grabbed her ponytail and

pulled her underwater, Orange County, Fla., sheriff's spokesman Jim s

said Thursday. Rescuers could not jump in to save her " due to the whale's

aggressive nature, " he said.

The medical examiner ruled the death accidental Thursday, saying Brancheau died

of drowning and traumatic injuries.

" This has happened before, and it'll happen again as long as SeaWorld keeps an

angry, frustrated orca in captivity, " said Debbie Leahy, director of captive

animals for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), an animal rights

group based in Norfolk, Va. " There's no way you can safely have contact with a

killer whale. They are predators. "

SeaWorld has not responded to letters from PETA asking the park to release its

dolphins into coastal sanctuaries, she said.

" It's a real tragedy. SeaWorld's only concern is profits, " she said. " Animal

welfare is not their priority. "

In the wild, these animals can swim for 100 miles a day, form social groups and

communicate among themselves, Leahy said. The conditions in captivity don't

allow the animals to behave normally, she said.

" They develop neurotic behaviors and all sorts of health problems, " Leahy said.

" There are definitely some species that experience extraordinary suffering in

captivity, and whales and dolphins are among them. "