Killed Trainer's Family OK With Whale Returning to Water Show
Family of the trainer killed last year OK with whale's return to SeaWorld show.
April 4, 2011— -- The family of the SeaWorld trainer who was killed by a whale last year said today they're OK with that whale returning to the water.
On Feb. 24, 2010, Dawn Brancheau was killed when a 12,000-pound orca named Tilikum grabbed her ponytail and drowned her. On Saturday, the whale returned to the Orlando theme park's big stage to thunderous applause.
"If that's what's best for Tili, that's what Dawn would want," Dawn Brancheau's sister Diane Gross said this morning on 'Good Morning America.' She said that decision should be left to Sea World. "They have the expertise."
Brancheau's death was caught on tape and watched by horrified spectators. The 40-year-old trainer was at ease with the killer whale and had just petted him on the nose just before it pulled her into the pool and began swinging her around in its mouth.
Thomas LoVerde, Brancheau's brother, said he does not know if his sister would have wanted the animal euthanized. "Obviously it's hard to speak on Dawn's behalf in this situation" he said.
Following Brancheau's death, the park banned trainers from being in the water with all killer whales. Tilikum is connected to the deaths of three others.
In 1991, trainer Keltie Lee Byrne fell into a tank holding Tilikum and two other whales at Sealand of the Pacific in Victoria, Canada. A homicide inquest found that the whales had prevented Byrne from climbing out of the tank and ruled her death an accident.
After Tilikum was transferred to SeaWorld in Orlando, Tilikum was again connected to the death of a person in 1999.
The body of Daniel Dukes, 27, was found naked and draped across the giant whale's body in July 1999. Dukes reportedly got past security at SeaWorld and remained in the park after it had closed. Wearing only his underwear, Dukes jumped, fell or was pulled into the frigid water of Tilikum's huge tank.
Tilikum had been brought to SeaWorld mostly to mate and trainers like Brancheau were not allowed in the water with him, but did interact with him on the pool ledge.
