IN MEMORY OF DAWN BRANCHEAU

IN MEMORY OF DAWN BRANCHEAU 1969 - 2010

R.I.P Dawn Brancheau


This is for those people who want to leave a msg of condolence for this lady who tragically died Wednesday Feb 24 2010....this is purely to show respect for this lady who died doing what she loved


Dawn Brancheau lived her dream at Orlando SeaWorld before losing her life in Shamu whale attack


I have not been to the Sea World Orlando but when we were in Florida at Disney we thought about it but the year before we went to the one in Texas and loved it! I hate that this has happened.


Here is a little of what I seen and or have heard on the news..Lacinak said the whale likely first grabbed the ponytail as a toy, then dragged the trainer into the water in more of a playful, investigative manner. Once the whale had her in the water, it likely became a game.

"It was more novelty, he's like, 'Hey look, you're in the water, I'm going to play with you,"' Lacinak said.

However, he added, once other trainers dropped nets in the water, trying to separate the whale from the woman, it may have become more aggressive trying to "keep his toy."

The killer whale shows have been suspended at SeaWorld's three parks in Orlando, San Antonio and San Diego. Chuck Tompkins, chief of animal training at SeaWorld parks, said Thursday that the shows won't resume until trainers understand what happened to Brancheau. He also said trainers will review safety procedures and change them as needed.

The park says Tilikum will not be destroyed, transferred or released and that he is an important member of the eight-whale pod.

Brancheau was killed in front of about 20 visitors who had stuck around after the noontime show. They watched in horror as Tilikum charged through the pool with her in his jaws.

Authorities said that trainers trying to help her could not get into the water because Tilikum was so aggressive. They had to coax him into a smaller pool and raise him out of the water on a platform before they could free her.

She likely died from multiple traumatic injuries and drowning, the Orange County medical examiner's office said Thursday.

Dawn Brancheau loved whales like they were her own children, her sister told The Associated Press. But the 40-year-old trainer was killed by one of the animals she loved most - Tilikum, a 12,000 pound killer whale.


Here is a little more this is so sad..
It was her dream job, but Dawn Brancheau never thought it would cost her life.

"When she was 11 years old, we took the family to SeaWorld and she said, 'I wanna be a Shamu trainer,'" Brancheau's heartbroken mother, Marion LoVerde, told the Daily News on Wednesday night.

An orca whale trainer at SeaWorld in Orlando, Brancheau, 40, was killed Wednesday by the same species that captured her imagination 29 years ago on a family vacation.

"She loved her work," said the tearful LoVerde, who spent last weekend with her daughter and son-in-law, Scott Brancheau.

"I just never dreamed that it would end this way."

The youngest of six children, Dawn Brancheau was raised far from the ocean in Indiana, but would spend her adult life obsessed with the sea and one of its largest creatures.

"She was a fantastic girl," her mother said.

"She was loved by all. Anyone who met her loved her. She had the best personality."

She said her daughter had two dogs she cherished, but no children.

Brancheau graduated from the University of South Carolina with degrees in psychology and animal behavior and wasted no time landing a job at SeaWorld.

"She stuck to her dreams and accomplished them," her mother said. "She stuck to her guns."

LoVerde, of Sun City Center, Fla., said her daughter was ecstatic when she was hired at SeaWorld in the mid-1990s.

"She worked with the sea lions for a couple of years and then she got into Shamu Stadium," the proud mom said.

LoVerde said her daughter loved the killer whales she trained and performed with, cuddling with them like they were children.

"They [the trainers] were always on guard," LoVerde said.

"They relied on each other," she added. "Sometimes somebody would get hurt or something, but I thought this would never be. This is just an unfortunate accident."