A leading animal trainer at SeaWorld Orlando has defended the park"s performances with killer whales following the death of a trainer yesterday.
Horrified spectators looked on as Dawn Brancheau was dragged her to her death by a six-ton killer whale. After diving, the whale known as Tilikum held Ms Brancheau, 40, under water until she drowned at the popular Florida attraction.
Dawn Brancheau was filmed feeding the killer whales just moments before she was attacked and killed
Chuck Tompkins, Corporate Curator of Zoological Operations at SeaWorld Parks, said it was too early to say what would happen to the whale following the tragedy and defended remarks from animal rights organisation PETA that whales were kept in areas "that to them is like the size of a bathtub".
Mr Tompkins told TravelMail: Obviously, youre going to have all of these activists coming out ofthe woodwork to try to take advantage of a very sad situation. More...Last moments of trainer caught on video as she is dragged to her death by killer whale Airline introduces in-flight health monitor to help sick passengersFirst Choice face court battle over Dominican Republic holiday from hell
"Dawn spent her entire career taking care of these animals. She loveddoing it, she loved working with these killer whales. To say theseanimals have the wrong environment is so incorrect."
Mr Tompkins said it is thought Ms Brancheau was targeted because of her long hair which may have swished across the rostrum - nose - of the whale. He added that Tilikum, who first came to the SeaWorld Orlando park in 1992, is currently being kept in the Shamu stadium.
Brancheau had reportedly dreamed of working at SeaWorld since she was nine. Colleague Chuck Tompkins said:"Dawn spent her entire career taking care of these animals. She loved doing it, she loved working with these killer whales."
"He has several pools that he lives in and hes being kept safely now - were interacting very carefully around him and making sure that we have the safest possible environment for our trainers.
Asked why he thought the killer whale had acted in the way he did, Mr Tompkins said: I dont have a good answer to that. I dont know what was goingthrough his head. These are wild animals and we try and prepareourselves for all situations and this is one of those times when wedont have an immediate answer.
Killer whales swim in tanks at the SeaWorld park in Orlando, Florida. The "Believe" show plays up to three times a day in a stadium that can hold more than 5,000 people.
It is not the first time Tilikumhas been involved in an attack. Nicknamed "Tilly", he was blamed forthe drowning of one of his trainers in 1991 when he was at Sealand inBritish Columbia.
The world"s theme park capital
Orlando in Florida remains the world"s theme park capital with some 50million visitors spending around $30billion there every year.
Originally built around a former army base in the mid 19th century, the city now has in excess of 100 attractions, 112,000 hotel rooms and more than 5,000 restaurants.
Orlando"s status as a tourism hotspot was sealed when Walt Disney chose the flat land around Kissimmee to build Walt Disney World Magic Kingdom in 1971.
SeaWorld Orlando followed in 1973 and the region"s second most popular attraction, Universal Orlando, opened its doors in 1990.
Soldto SeaWorld as a stud in 1992, the whale was also involved in anincident when a homeless man"s dead body was found across his back in1999.
The man is thought to have drowned in the stadium"s icy water, but investigators said it appeared that the whale had bitten him and tore off his swimming trunks thinking he was a play toy.
Because of his size and the previous deaths, trainers were not supposed to get into the water with Tilikum, and only 12 of the park"s 29 trainers worked with him.
To say that Tilikum is a vicious killer is wrong. Wevehad thousands of interactions with this animal where he has been safe," added Tompkins.
Performances by killer whales are among the park"s most popular attractions and a host of celebrities including Uma Thurman, Tiger Woods and British Olympic diver Tom Daley have been among previous audience members.
The 30-minute "Believe" show isusually performed three times a day in a stadium that seats more than5,000 people.
A UK spokesperson for SeaWorld said that the show was likely to be cancelled for "possibly weeks" while thetragedy is investigated. The rest of the park in Orlando is still opento visitors.
In California, sister park SeaWorld San Diego has alsoclosed the Believe show although the rest of the park is operating asnormal. A third SeaWorld park, in San Antonio, Texas, is currentlyclosed for the winter season. A further update is expected at lunchtimetoday.
12 million people visit the threeSeaWorld parks across America every year with tens of thousands ofBritons heading to the flagship park in Orlando annually.
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