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Killer Whale Kills Again
A SeaWorld killer whale snatched a trainer from a poolside platform on Wednesday in its jaws and thrashed the woman around underwater, killing her in front of a horrified audience. It marked the third time the animal had been involved in a human death.
On the 24th Of February 2012, Dawn Brancheau, 40, was rubbing Tilikum after a noontime show when the 12,000-pound whale grabbed her and pulled her in. The oldest and largest killer orca in captivity.
"What he did in the previous two incidents were not attacks - to him, the people were toys, and to a whale, being under water for 20 minutes is nothing. This sounds a little more like an attack," said Naomi Rose, a senior scientist at the Humane Society of the United States. In 1999, there was a case so bizarre it made headlines around the world: A man sneaked into Tilikum's pool at SeaWorld and his naked corpse was found the next day splayed on the whale's back. Experts chalked up both incidents to the orca's misguided attempts at playing. The huge, scary-looking mammals do not generally attack humans. Brancheau was aware of the dangers posed by the giant marine mammals. "You can't put yourself in the water unless you trust them and they trust you," she told The Orlando Sentinel for a profile published four years ago. By Chris |
