SeaWorld Orlando has always known that Tilikum, a 12,000-pound orca that killed trainer Dawn Brancheau on Wednesday, could be a particularly dangerous killer whale.
SeaWorld trainers were forbidden from swimming with Tilikum, as they often did with the resort's seven other orcas.
Only about a dozen of 28 handlers, including Brancheau, had been specifically trained to work with him from the edge of SeaWorld's pools.
That was in part because of his size: At an average weight of nearly 6 tons, Tilikum — nicknamed Tilly — was the largest orca at any of SeaWorld's parks.
Dawn Brancheau's death came as a result of being pulled into the tank, reportedly by her ponytail, and gripped in the jaws of the whale, shaken, and dragged underwater. Spectators watched in horror as park workers sounded an alarm and rushed the tank with nets, but it was too late for the 40-year-old trainer. Workers could not jump in right away, or they may have been killed as well. The workers hurried to get onlookers away from the scene. Check out the video below...
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