Tragic Death of Sea World Trainer Not Enough To Close Orca Shows
The show must go on—but why? Because, “killer whales remain big moneymaker.”
The body of Dawn Brancheau is hardly cold. Last Wednesday, she was dragged underwater and killed by killer whale Tilikum, in front of an audience at SeaWorld, Orlando. The massive controversy forced the organizers to cancel their shows. However, they resumed the shows on Saturday, three days after Dawn died.
Dawn, “the girl with a bright smile” was a star in her hometown of Merrillville, Indiana. She was a cheerleader in her school, a member of the golf team, student council president, and a homecoming queen. Young and dynamic, she had many avenues open to pursue in her life, but she knew her calling was with the animals. She loved animals, specially the whales; therefore, she left her native town for Orlando to be a trainer at SeaWorld. Dawn became a top trainer and was widely photographed to become the face of SeaWorld.
Dawn, though married, adored the whales so much she considered them as her children and decided not to have her own. On Wednesday, she was rubbing Tilikum, the 12000 lb orca at the end of her show, when the whale abruptly grabbed her by her pony tail and pulled her under water. Tilikum thrashed her violently several times all around the pool until she succumbed.
In an early report, the police said that Brancheau had slipped or fell into a tank, and witnesses stated that the whale came to the surface to attack her, yet the blame game began immediately. On Friday, the Sea World’s former head of animal training said that it was Brancheau’s fault for being so close to the animal with her ponytail within the whales’ reach.
Bob Barker, the retired game show host and life long animal advocate, urged SeaWorld owners to close down its whale shows and stop breeding of the killing orcas. The President of International Theme Park Services, Dennis Speigel, said, “Sea World operations are built around Shamu and the orca. So quantitatively they mean literally hundreds of millions of dollars to that company.”
So the show must go on.
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