Shamu Kills Trainer

A killer whale lived up to its name this afternoon at SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium in Orlando, Florida. The whale killed trainer Dawn Brancheau, 40, around 2 p.m.

Early reports indicate that she fell into the whale tank and was fatally injured by one of the whales, named Tillikum.

SeaWorld uses the name Shamu only as a stage name for any of the male or female orcas in its whale shows.

"One of our most experienced animal trainers drowned" in the accident, said Dan Brown, V.P. and general manager of SeaWorld Orlando. He added that a full investigation will be launched.

"We'll make our findings known in due course," he said. "We've never in the history of our parks experienced an incident like this. All standard operating procedures will be reviewed."

"Please bear with us. We've just lost a member of our family," he said.

Of course, the folks at PETA has already chimed in with their two cents.

A spokesman for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said that the death was "a tragedy that didn't have to happen."

Jaime Zalac said the organization had previously petitioned SeaWorld "to stop confining oceangoing mammals to an area that to them is like the size of a bathtub, and we have also been asking the park to stop forcing the animals to perform silly tricks over and over again. It's not surprising when these huge, smart animals lash out."

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