Today SeaWorld is fighting a federal ban placed on the company discontinuing water work between trainers and killer whales, also called orcas. A judge for the Labor Department ordered SeaWorld to keep trainers out of the water with the large mammals after one of their orcas killed a trainer in 2010. Senior SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau was pulled into the water from a platform while doing a "Dine with Shamu" show. Tilikum, the whale Brancheau was working with, grabbed the trainer by her arm, thrashing her in the water until she died.
Tilikum is a 12,000-pound bull orca and is implicated in two other deaths, one almost 20 years to the day prior to Dawn Brancheau's death. SeaWorld went to court Tuesday in order to fight the ban which caused them to reinvent all of their killer whale shows. In the past trainers and orcas would be in the water together with the whales pushing the trainers around the pools shooting them into the air. High performance acrobatics were a staple of the "Shamu Shows" until OSHA brought SeaWorld to court.
After Dawn Brancheau was killed the Occupational Safety and Health Administration hit SeaWorld with a lawsuit saying that the company was knowingly placing its employees in danger by having them in close contact with the orcas. SeaWorld was ordered to keep trainers out of the water with the whales and was repeatedly fined for violating the order. In June of 2013 OSHA fined SeaWorld $38,500 for "hazards that were causing or likely to cause death or serious physical harm to employees in that employees were exposed to struck-by and drowning hazards."
Today, SeaWorld will go before a panel of three judges asking them to overturn the federal ban on water work with their killer whales. SeaWorld has appealed this decision in the past and judges have upheld the OSHA ban, agreeing that trainers are in danger when in the water with the whales. Following the death of Dawn Brancheau a number of ugly truths came out about SeaWorld and their orcas. Before Brancheau was killed there were a number of serious and near fatal attacks on humans by SeaWorld's orcas.
In 2006 an experienced trainer by the name of Ken Peters was attacked and repeatedly dragged to the bottom of one of the pools by a killer whale named Kasatka. The female orca grabbed Peters by the foot pulling him down a number of times. The attack began during and evening performance in front of a horrified audience. The entire incident was captured on tape. Another attack featured in the documentary "Blackfish" shows a SeaWorld trainer being pulled from a gate by her foot.
This attack was also caught on camera by park guests. The female trainer was held under water by two orcas. When she was finally released the woman emerged from the pool with a compound fracture to her arm. Two months before Dawn Brancheau was killed by Tilikum a whale named Keto (one of Tilikum's offspring) attacked and killed a trainer at Loro Parque in the Spanish Canary Islands. Alexis Martinez was killed by an orca belonging to SeaWorld on loan to the Spanish park.
SeaWorld is being represented by attorney Eugene Scalia the son of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. SeaWorld's lawyer is arguing that close contact between humans and orcas is not only educational but important for the care and wellbeing of the animals. SeaWorld also says that it is rare for a killer whale to be considered dangerous. OSAH is arguing that SeaWorld knows their animals are dangerous and pose a significant risk to humans. SeaWorld compared banning interactions between humans and whales to banning tackling in the NFL.
The death of trainer Dawn Brancheau caused an outcry of anti-captivity sentiment. Those who would not consider themselves animal activists are looking to have SeaWorld end their "Shamu Show" and release their orcas to sea pens for retirement. The 2010 attack by Tilikum also inspired a documentary called "Blackfish," which sought to explore why America's loveable Shamu would turn on his human companions. After "Blackfish" aired on CNN in October, many people are looking at SeaWorld and their practices in a new light.
More From Latin Times
SeaWorld Killer Whale: 4 Things To Know About Tilikum And The Captive Cetacean Controversy [VIDEO]
Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade 2013: Animal Activists Outraged Over SeaWorld Killer Whale Float Start Petition To Cancel Float [VIDEO]
'Blackfish' Documentary: SeaWorld Upset Over 'Misleading' Anti-Captivity Film Featuring Their Killer Whale Tilikum That Killed His Trainer Dawn Brancheau In 2010 [TRAILER AND REVIEW]
© 2024 Latin Times. All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.
