Investigators said today in a press conference that trainer Dawn Brancheau died from “multiple traumatic injuries and drowning” after the park’s killer whale pulled her underwater.
They released a statement shortly after an official at SeaWorld Orlando said that the killer whale, Tilikum, is being evaluated and that the theme park will keep the animal. The same killer whale that killed Brancheau has been linked to two previous deaths since 1991.
Dawn Brancheau, who was 40 years old, had been “interacting” with the killer whale in knee-deep water “when the animal grabbed her by the hair, and pulled her underwater.” Rescuers were not able to immediately jump in and render assistance” to Brancheau due to Tilikum’s “aggressive nature.”






February 25th, 2010 at 12:03 pm
The Killer Whale is being “evaluated”? For what? It’s pretty much confirmed it’s still a killer whale, a wild species from the sea that belongs in the sea…not in a tank being exploited and “trained” for our amusement.