Autopsy: SeaWorld Trainer Died From "Traumatic Injuries"

ORLANDO, Fla.,None — Sheriff's homicide investigators released details from an autopsy report for 40-year-old SeaWorld trainer, Dawn Brancheau, Thursday afternoon. The Orange County Medical Examiner has determined that Brancheau most likely died from multiple traumatic injuries and drowning after one of the park's killer whales pulled her into a pool behind Shamu Stadium Wednesday.

TRAINER PROFILE: Dawn Brancheau's Story ACTIVISTS CRITICIZE: PETA Reacts To Fatal Attack FREE TILLY? WFTV Investigates Possibilities HOME VIDEO: Whale Just Before Incident SEAWORLD OFFICIAL: Reads Family's Statement VIDEO REPORT: Ponytail To Blame

At a Thursday afternoon press conference, SeaWorld president Dan Brown read a statement from Dawn Brancheau's family.

"Being a trainer was a life-long dream that she achieved. She loved her job, she loved her animals. For her husband, family and friends, Dawn was so much more. She was a compassionate, loving person who lived life to the fullest," Dan Brown read. "Those who knew and loved her have suffered a tremendous loss, one so unexpectedly that it was extremely difficult to even process or comprehend at the time."

The trainer, who had 16 years of experience working with orcas, was interacting with the attraction's largest male whale, Tilikum, in knee-deep water when the animal grabbed her by her ponytail and pulled her underwater.

Investigators said rescuers were not able to jump in to try to save Brancheau due to the whale's aggressive nature. She was recovered from the whale by SeaWorld staff members after the animal was coaxed into a smaller pool and lifted out of the water by a large-scale platform that lay on the bottom of the smaller tank.

dawn brancheau with whale 1 See Images Of Dawn With Whale All evidence and witness statements indicate that the death was a tragic accident.

First responders to the accident scene at the stadium believed that the victim had somehow slipped or fell into the orca's pool, but after witness statements were taken and reviewed by homicide investigators it became apparent that the whale had in fact pulled Brancheau into the pool and was the cause of her fatal injuries.

Trainers will continue to work with the killer whale, but SeaWorld said Thursday it is reviewing its procedures.

A woman who saw the killer whale attack says the animal didn't seem to be biting her, but rather pushing her around like a toy.

SeaWorld's corporate curator, Chuck Tompkins, answered WFTV's tough questions, including whether the largely isolated killer whale might simply have been bored from a lack of stimulation.

"Is boredom a possibility?" WFTV reporter Kathi Belich asked.

"That is not accurate at all. We spend our entire day intellectually stimulating these animals," Chuck Tompkins said. "There's learning sessions and play times and relationship sessions and there's just so many things we do."

But a former SeaWorld contractor, who did not want to be identified, told WFTV Tilly was born in the wild and is kept separated from the other killer whales.

"He doesn't get as much social interaction as the other whales and he doesn't get any in-water training interaction," he said.

Sea World 09 Sea World 09 Images From Scene After Attack The former contractor, who spent hours with the whales, said long hair was identified as an issue in another deadly attack and says Dawn's ponytail might have triggered the killer whale's hunting instinct, or he could have thought it was a toy.

SeaWorld won't tell WFTV anything about how much trainers earn or whether they're paid hazard pay, but the former contractor said they are paid hazard pay and the positions for trainers who are allowed in the water with the whales are highly-coveted and strictly supervised. Postings online put trainers' salaries at anywhere from $40,000 to $250,000.

People lined up to get into the Orlando park a day after the fatal attack. Tilikum had been involved in two previous deaths, including a Canadian trainer dragged under water by him and two others whales in 1991. Killer whale shows are suspended indefinitely in Orlando and at the park's San Diego location.

"Many people are asking about the future care of Tilikum, the whale involved in the incident," a SeaWorld blog post said. "We have every intention of continuing to interact with this animal, though the procedures for working with him will change."

Chuck Tompkins, who is in charge of training at all SeaWorld parks, said Thursday that Tilikum will not be isolated from Orlando location's seven other whales. He fathered some of them and will continue to mate with others.

"We want him to continue to be part of that social group," he said.

Trainers will review safety procedures and change them as needed, but Tompkins said he doesn't expect much about the killer whale shows to change.

Brancheau, 40, was rubbing Tilikum from a poolside platform when the 12,000-pound creature reached up, grabbed her long braid in its mouth and dragged her underwater. Horrified visitors, who had stuck around after a noontime show, watched Tilikum charge through the pool with Brancheau in his jaws.

Tompkins said the whale was lying in front of Brancheau when her braid swung in front of him and he apparently grabbed onto it.

"We like to think we know 99.9 percent of the time what an animal is doing," he told The Associated Press on Thursday. "But this is one of those times we just don't know."

Kelly Vickery, 24, of Tallahassee was at the noon show Wednesday and said the whales seemed to be acting odd, swimming around the tank rapidly. Trainers said the whales "were having an off day, that they were being ornery," she said.

Tompkins disputed that, saying nothing seemed abnormal with any of the whales.

Vickery returned Thursday with her sons, ages 1 and 5, so they could see the areas of the park they had missed a day earlier, though she acknowledged being there felt "weird" a day after the tragedy.

"But it's an animal, and it's an accident," she said.

Audience member Eldon Skaggs, who saw the attack, said Brancheau's interaction with the whale appeared leisurely and informal at first. But then, the whale "pulled her under and started swimming around with her."

Because of his size and the previous deaths, trainers were not supposed to get into the water with Tilikum, and only about a dozen of the park's 29 trainers worked with him. Brancheau had more experience with the 30-year-old whale than most.

A SeaWorld spokesman said Tilikum was one of three orcas blamed for killing a trainer in 1991 after the woman lost her balance and fell in the pool at Sealand of the Pacific near Victoria, British Columbia.

Steve Huxter, head of Sealand's animal care and training department then, said Wednesday he's surprised it happened again. He says Tilikum was a well-behaved, balanced animal.

Tilikum was also involved in a 1999 death, when the body of a man who had sneaked by SeaWorld security was found draped over him. The man either jumped, fell or was pulled into the frigid water and died of hypothermia, though he was also bruised and scratched by Tilikum.

Brancheau's older sister, Diane Gross, said the trainer wouldn't want anything done to the whale. Brancheau was married and didn't have children.

"She loved the whales like her children, she loved all of them," said Gross, of Schererville, Ind. "They all had personalities, good days and bad days."

Celebrity zookeeper Jack Hanna said he has known Brancheau professionally for the last 10 years and also believes she would not want anything to happen to Tilikum.

"Dawn was just a beautiful person and probably the best at what she did," he said.

Brancheau was the youngest of six children who grew up near Cedar Lake, Indiana. Her passion for marine life began at the age of nine, Gross said, on a family trip to Sea World.

Billy Hurley, chief animal officer at the Georgia Aquarium -- the world's largest -- said there are inherent dangers to working with orcas, just as there are with driving race cars or piloting jets.

"In the case of a killer whale, if they want your attention or if they're frustrated by something or if they're confused by something, there's only a few ways of handling that," he said. "If you're right near pool's edge and they decide they want a closer interaction during this, certainly they can grab you."

And, he added: "At 12,000 pounds there's not a lot of resisting you're going to do."

Mike Wald, a spokesman for the Occupational Safety and Health Administration office in Atlanta, said his agency had dispatched an investigator from Tampa.

Wednesday's death was not the first attack on whale trainers at SeaWorld parks.

In November 2006, a trainer was bitten and held underwater several times by a killer whale during a show at SeaWorld's San Diego park.

The trainer, Kenneth Peters, escaped with a broken foot. The 17-foot orca that attacked him was the dominant female of SeaWorld San Diego's seven killer whales. She had attacked Peters two other times, in 1993 and 1999.

In 2004, another whale at the company's San Antonio park tried to hit one of the trainers and attempted to bite him. He also escaped.

Wednesday's attack was the second time in two months that an orca trainer was killed at a marine park. On Dec. 24, 29-year-old Alexis Martinez Hernandez fell from a whale and crushed his ribcage at Loro Parque on the Spanish island of Tenerife. Park communications director Patricia Delponti said the whale, a 14-year-old named Keto, came from SeaWorld but is not a son of Tilikum.

SeaWorld says its trainers are taught to have great respect for the potential dangers of animals with teeth. The trainers sign waivers acknowledging they understand the danger and will not hold SeaWorld responsible.

Previous Stories: February 25, 2010: Personal Story: SeaWorld Trainer Dawn Brancheau February 25, 2010: PETA Speaks Out On SeaWorld Trainer Death

February 25, 2010: Should Tilikum Be Returned To The Wild? February 25, 2010: Whale Pulls Trainer Off Platform By Hair In Fatal Attack

February 25, 2010: Trainer Killed At SeaWorld Loved Killer Whales February 24, 2010: Whale Kills Female Trainer At SeaWorld's Shamu Stadium

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