0:00:02 > 0:00:05- Orange County Fire Rescue. - 16 600 Sea Harbour Drive.
0:00:05 > 0:00:08Shamu Stadium.
0:00:08 > 0:00:09OK.
0:00:10 > 0:00:14We actually have a trainer in the water with one of our whales.
0:00:14 > 0:00:17- The whale that they're not supposed to be in the water with.- OK.
0:00:17 > 0:00:20- We will get someone round. - Gate number three, Shamu Stadium.
0:00:20 > 0:00:22Gate three.
0:00:22 > 0:00:29This programme contains scenes which some viewers may find upsetting
0:00:29 > 0:00:31Orange County, Sheriff's Office.
0:00:31 > 0:00:34We need SO to respond for a dead person at SeaWorld.
0:00:36 > 0:00:39A whale has eaten one of the trainers.
0:00:41 > 0:00:43A whale ate one of the trainers?
0:00:43 > 0:00:45That's correct.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11'Do you believe?'
0:01:11 > 0:01:16My parents first brought me to a SeaWorld park when I was very young.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20From that point forward, I was hooked.
0:01:20 > 0:01:25It meant everything to me because I'd never wanted anything more.
0:01:25 > 0:01:27I remember probably being in first or second grade,
0:01:27 > 0:01:30watching National Geographic specials or Mutual of Omaha's
0:01:30 > 0:01:32specials and seeing whales and dolphins
0:01:32 > 0:01:35and as a little kid just being really incredibly inspired by it.
0:01:35 > 0:01:36I never went to SeaWorld.
0:01:36 > 0:01:38I grew up in New York, so I went to the Bronx Zoo.
0:01:38 > 0:01:42- Grew up on a lake with horses. We'd swim the horses. - I grew up around the ocean.
0:01:42 > 0:01:44I came from the middle of the country, Flatland Kansas.
0:01:44 > 0:01:46From Virginia, travelled down,
0:01:46 > 0:01:51did the theme park thing in Orlando when I was 17.
0:01:51 > 0:01:54And saw the night show at Shamu Stadium.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58Very emotional, you know, popular music.
0:01:58 > 0:02:01And I was just very driven to want to do that.
0:02:04 > 0:02:08And I saw what the trainers did and I said, "That's what I want to do!"
0:02:12 > 0:02:14One of the trainers there goes, "What are you doing out there?
0:02:14 > 0:02:18"You should be a trainer." I don't know how to train animals. I never trained animals in my life.
0:02:18 > 0:02:20How do you prepare yourself for an encounter with
0:02:20 > 0:02:23an 8,000lb Orcinus orca?
0:02:23 > 0:02:27I always thought you needed, like, a Masters degree in marine biology to be a trainer.
0:02:27 > 0:02:31It takes years of study and experience to meet the strict
0:02:31 > 0:02:34requirements necessary to interact in the water
0:02:34 > 0:02:36with Shamu.
0:02:36 > 0:02:40You come to find out, it really is more about your personality and how good you can swim.
0:02:40 > 0:02:45I went and tried out, got the job right away. Like, yeah, so excited. I was so, so excited.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48I really wanted to be there. I really wanted to do the job.
0:02:48 > 0:02:51I couldn't wait to get in the water with the animals.
0:02:51 > 0:02:53I really was proud of being a SeaWorld trainer.
0:02:53 > 0:02:57I thought this was the most amazing job.
0:02:57 > 0:03:01I showed up there on my first day, not really knowing what to expect.
0:03:01 > 0:03:04'I was told to put on a wet suit and get in the water.' Hi, Mom!
0:03:04 > 0:03:07Oh, I was scared out of my wits.
0:03:07 > 0:03:10First of all, I put my wet suit on backwards
0:03:10 > 0:03:12cos I was raised on a farm in Virginia.
0:03:12 > 0:03:17My first thought and memory of that time was that dolphins are a
0:03:17 > 0:03:21lot bigger than they look, when you get in the water next to them.
0:03:21 > 0:03:25Well, I watched this sea lion otter show and this guy, Mike Morocco.
0:03:25 > 0:03:30He comes out during the show with a dress on as Dorky,
0:03:30 > 0:03:32the alter ego of Dorothy.
0:03:32 > 0:03:35In a dress, with a sea lion, the coward sea lion, right?
0:03:35 > 0:03:38And he's walking along with his little basket and I go,
0:03:38 > 0:03:40"I will never ever do that!"
0:03:40 > 0:03:43Two months later, "Hi! I'm Dorky!"
0:03:43 > 0:03:46Walking out on stage with the sea lion.
0:03:53 > 0:03:57I was overwhelmed and I was so excited.
0:03:57 > 0:03:59I mean, just seeing a killer whale...
0:04:00 > 0:04:02..is breathtaking.
0:04:05 > 0:04:07I was just in awe.
0:04:07 > 0:04:11It's shocking to see how large they are and how beautiful they are.
0:04:11 > 0:04:15Being in the presence of a killer whale was inspiring and amazing and
0:04:15 > 0:04:18I remember seeing them for the first time,
0:04:18 > 0:04:21just not being able to believe how huge they were.
0:04:21 > 0:04:24You're there because you want to train killer whales
0:04:24 > 0:04:26and that's your goal.
0:04:26 > 0:04:29I didn't know it was going to happen,
0:04:29 > 0:04:31so I wasn't expecting it,
0:04:31 > 0:04:35and one day they say, "OK, Sam. You're ready to go.
0:04:35 > 0:04:39"You're going to stay on the whale, you're going to dive off the
0:04:39 > 0:04:42"whale, the whale's going to swim under you and pick you up again.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46"And then you're going to do a perimeter ride around the pool."
0:04:48 > 0:04:52They just told me to go do it and I did it.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Wow! I just rode a killer whale!
0:05:01 > 0:05:05When you look into their eyes, you know somebody is home,
0:05:05 > 0:05:06somebody's looking back.
0:05:06 > 0:05:10You form a very personal relationship with your animal.
0:05:10 > 0:05:16There's something absolutely amazing about working with an animal.
0:05:16 > 0:05:18You are a team.
0:05:18 > 0:05:20And you build a relationship together
0:05:20 > 0:05:24and you both understand the goal and you help each other.
0:05:24 > 0:05:28I've been with this whale since I was 18 years old.
0:05:28 > 0:05:32I've seen her have babies. We've grown up together.
0:05:32 > 0:05:37That's the joy I got out of it, it's a relationship like I've never had.
0:05:53 > 0:05:55I have to know, are you nervous?
0:05:55 > 0:05:56I'm scared.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58No! Nice hair, Jeff!
0:05:58 > 0:06:01LAUGHTER
0:06:04 > 0:06:06Jeff Ventre.
0:06:06 > 0:06:10Jeff Ventre is going to go over there, he's going to shine...
0:06:10 > 0:06:12- Dawn.- Oh, that's Dawn! Wow!
0:06:12 > 0:06:14Probably be my supervisor one day.
0:06:19 > 0:06:22I knew Dawn when she was new. She was a great person to work with
0:06:22 > 0:06:27and she obviously blossomed into one of SeaWorld's best trainers.
0:06:27 > 0:06:28This is Dawn Brancheau.
0:06:28 > 0:06:31Dawn is the senior trainer here at Shamu Stadium.
0:06:31 > 0:06:34I guess you could say I kind of knew Dawn in a past life.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38- It's a tough job, isn't it? - Yeah, we really do go through a lot of physical exertion.
0:06:38 > 0:06:41You can see in the show, we do a lot of deep water work, breath holds.
0:06:41 > 0:06:45High energy behaviours with the animals. They're giving out a lot of energy too,
0:06:45 > 0:06:47but we're working together and having a lot of fun as well.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50She's beautiful, she's blonde, she's athletic, she's friendly.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52Everybody loves Dawn.
0:06:52 > 0:06:55I mean this so sincerely, watching you perform yesterday,
0:06:55 > 0:06:57- you are amazing. - Thank you.- You really are!
0:06:57 > 0:07:01She captured what it means to be a SeaWorld trainer.
0:07:01 > 0:07:06She had so much experience. It made me realise, what happened to her could have happened to anyone.
0:07:12 > 0:07:14This is Detective Revere, Orange County Sherriff's Office.
0:07:14 > 0:07:18Today's date is February 24th 2010. The time is 4.16.
0:07:18 > 0:07:21In the room with me right now is Thomas George Tobin.
0:07:21 > 0:07:23- Is that correct?- Correct.
0:07:42 > 0:07:44- So the arm is nowhere...- Right.
0:07:51 > 0:07:55OSHA on behalf of the Federal Government is basically
0:07:55 > 0:07:58suggesting that swimming with orcas is inherently dangerous
0:07:58 > 0:08:00and that you can't completely predict the outcome
0:08:00 > 0:08:03when you enter the water, enter their environment.
0:08:03 > 0:08:05That's the crux of the OSHA case.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Stay out of proximity with the animals and you won't get killed.
0:08:10 > 0:08:13It will have a ripple effect through the whole industry.
0:08:13 > 0:08:15This was national headline news.
0:08:15 > 0:08:18SeaWorld's whale performances may never be the same.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21Right now, the theme park is arguing in court to keep whale
0:08:21 > 0:08:24trainers in the water, something OSHA says is extremely dangerous.
0:08:24 > 0:08:28These are wild animals and they are unpredictable because we don't
0:08:28 > 0:08:31speak whale, we don't speak tiger, we don't speak monkey.
0:08:31 > 0:08:34And tempers flared between the two sides today
0:08:34 > 0:08:37when OSHA's attorney suggested that SeaWorld only made changes
0:08:37 > 0:08:40after trainer Dawn Brancheau's death outraged the public.
0:08:40 > 0:08:43OSHA doesn't want the trainers going back in the water without
0:08:43 > 0:08:45a physical barrier between them and the whales.
0:08:45 > 0:08:49Being in close proximity to these top predators is too dangerous.
0:08:49 > 0:08:53They won't then be getting in the water, riding on the whales, things like that?
0:08:53 > 0:08:56If you were in a bathtub for 25 years, don't you think you'd
0:08:56 > 0:08:59get a little irritated, aggravated, maybe a little psychotic?
0:09:02 > 0:09:06The situation with Dawn Brancheau, it didn't just happen,
0:09:06 > 0:09:07it's not a singular event.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11You have to go back over 20 years to understand this.
0:09:23 > 0:09:28It was a really exciting thing to do until everybody wanted to do it.
0:09:28 > 0:09:31What were they telling you you were going to do?
0:09:31 > 0:09:33Capture orcas.
0:09:36 > 0:09:40They had aircraft, they had spotters, they had speedboats,
0:09:40 > 0:09:43they had bombs they were throwing in the water.
0:09:43 > 0:09:47They were lighting their bombs with acetylene torches in boats
0:09:47 > 0:09:51and throwing them as fast as they could to herd the whales into coves.
0:09:52 > 0:09:56But the orcas had been caught before and they knew what was going on
0:09:56 > 0:10:00and they knew their young ones would be taken from them.
0:10:00 > 0:10:04So the adults without young went east into a cul-de-sac
0:10:04 > 0:10:08and the boats followed them, thinking they were all going that way,
0:10:08 > 0:10:11while the mothers with babies went north,
0:10:11 > 0:10:13but the capture teams had aircraft
0:10:13 > 0:10:17and they have to come up for air eventually and when they did,
0:10:17 > 0:10:19the capture teams alerted the boats and said, "Oh, no.
0:10:19 > 0:10:22"They're going north, the ones with babies,"
0:10:22 > 0:10:26so the boats, the speedboats, caught them there and herded them in.
0:10:27 > 0:10:31And then they had fishing boats with nets that could stretch across,
0:10:31 > 0:10:35so none could leave, and then they could just pick out the young ones.
0:10:44 > 0:10:47We were only after the little ones.
0:10:47 > 0:10:51And the little ones are a big animal, still, but I was told
0:10:51 > 0:10:55because of shipping costs, that's why they only take the little ones.
0:10:57 > 0:11:01They had the young ones that they wanted in the corrals, so they
0:11:01 > 0:11:05dropped the nets and all the others could have left, but they stayed.
0:11:09 > 0:11:13We were there, trying to get the young orca into the stretcher,
0:11:13 > 0:11:21and the whole family is 25 yards away maybe, in a big line.
0:11:21 > 0:11:24And they're communicating back and forth.
0:11:24 > 0:11:31Well...you understand then what you're doing, you know?
0:11:35 > 0:11:40I lost it. I mean, I just started crying.
0:11:40 > 0:11:45I didn't stop working, but I...
0:11:45 > 0:11:48You know... Just couldn't handle it.
0:11:49 > 0:11:54Just like kidnapping a little kid away from a mother.
0:11:54 > 0:11:56Everybody's watching. What can you do?
0:11:59 > 0:12:01The worst thing I can think of.
0:12:01 > 0:12:04I can't think of anything worse than that.
0:12:04 > 0:12:10Now, this really sounds bad, but when the whole hunt was over,
0:12:10 > 0:12:15there were three dead whales in the net.
0:12:17 > 0:12:23So they had Peter and Brian and I cut the whales open,
0:12:23 > 0:12:28fill them with rocks, put anchors on their tails and sink them.
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Well...
0:12:36 > 0:12:41Really, I didn't even think about it being illegal at that point.
0:12:41 > 0:12:43I thought it was a PR thing.
0:12:43 > 0:12:48They were finally ejected from the state of Washington
0:12:48 > 0:12:50by a court order in 1976.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54It was SeaWorld by name that was told - do not come back
0:12:54 > 0:12:56to Washington to capture whales.
0:12:56 > 0:13:00Without missing a beat, they went from Washington to Iceland
0:13:00 > 0:13:02and began capturing there.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07I've been part of the revolution
0:13:07 > 0:13:10to change presidents in Central South America.
0:13:12 > 0:13:16And seen some things that are hard to believe.
0:13:16 > 0:13:19But this is the worst thing that I've ever done...
0:13:20 > 0:13:22..is hunt that whale.
0:13:56 > 0:14:00'Sealand has been a part of Victoria for over 20 years.
0:14:00 > 0:14:03'We specialise in the care and display of killer whales.'
0:14:06 > 0:14:08By the time I started, he was four.
0:14:08 > 0:14:11He was up to 16ft long and weighed 4,000lbs.
0:14:16 > 0:14:19I had actually seen Tilikum quite a number of times.
0:14:19 > 0:14:23He was right across the strait here in Victoria.
0:14:25 > 0:14:30All Sealand was was a net hanging in a marina with a float around it.
0:14:30 > 0:14:34Tilikum was the one we really loved to work with.
0:14:34 > 0:14:38He was very well-behaved and he was always eager to please.
0:14:38 > 0:14:41When he was first introduced, everything just went fine and dandy.
0:14:41 > 0:14:46But the previous head trainer used techniques that involved punishment.
0:14:46 > 0:14:50He would team a trained orca up with Tilikum, who was untrained.
0:14:50 > 0:14:53He would send them both off to do the same behaviour.
0:14:53 > 0:14:57If Tilikum didn't do it, then both animals were punished.
0:14:57 > 0:14:59Deprived of food to keep them hungry.
0:14:59 > 0:15:02This caused a lot of frustration with the larger animal,
0:15:02 > 0:15:05the established animal, and would in turn get frustrated with
0:15:05 > 0:15:08Tilikum and would rake him with his teeth.
0:15:08 > 0:15:11There would be times during certain seasons that Tilikum would be
0:15:11 > 0:15:13covered, head to toe, with rakes.
0:15:13 > 0:15:17Rakes are teeth on teeth and raking the skin and from head to toe,
0:15:17 > 0:15:19you could see blood and you could see scratches
0:15:19 > 0:15:22and he would just be raked up.
0:15:22 > 0:15:26Both females would gang up on him. Tilikum was the one we trusted.
0:15:26 > 0:15:28We never were concerned about Tilikum.
0:15:28 > 0:15:32The issue was really that we stored these whales at night in what
0:15:32 > 0:15:36we called a module, which was 20ft across and probably 30ft deep.
0:15:36 > 0:15:41As a safety precaution, because we were worried about people cutting the net and letting them go,
0:15:41 > 0:15:44the lights were all turned out, so no stimulation,
0:15:44 > 0:15:48they're just in this dark metal 20ft by 30ft pool
0:15:48 > 0:15:49for two-thirds of their life.
0:15:54 > 0:15:58When we first started, they were quite small and quite young, so
0:15:58 > 0:16:01they fit in there quite nicely, but they were immobile for the most part.
0:16:02 > 0:16:04It didn't feel good.
0:16:04 > 0:16:06It just didn't.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08And it was just wrong.
0:16:08 > 0:16:11We started having difficulty getting them all
0:16:11 > 0:16:14into this one small steel box, to be honest, that's what it was.
0:16:14 > 0:16:16It was a floating steel box.
0:16:16 > 0:16:18That's where food deprivation would come in.
0:16:18 > 0:16:20We would hold back food and they would know
0:16:20 > 0:16:25if they went in the module that they would get their food. So if they're hungry enough, they go in there.
0:16:25 > 0:16:29And during the winter, that would be from five at night till seven in the morning.
0:16:29 > 0:16:33When you let them out, you'd see these new tooth rakes and sometimes you'd see blood.
0:16:33 > 0:16:35Closing that door on him
0:16:35 > 0:16:39and knowing that he's locked in there for the whole night is like...
0:16:41 > 0:16:44It's a stab, it's a... Whoa!
0:16:44 > 0:16:49If that is true, it's not only inhumane and I'll tell them so,
0:16:49 > 0:16:53but it probably led to what I think is a psychosis
0:16:53 > 0:16:57that...he was on a hair-trigger.
0:16:57 > 0:16:59He'd...kill.
0:17:06 > 0:17:09SIRENS
0:17:09 > 0:17:11'An employee is dead after an encounter...'
0:17:11 > 0:17:14'..at a Canadian park called Sealand of the Pacific.'
0:17:14 > 0:17:17'The victim, Keltie Byrne, was a championship swimmer
0:17:17 > 0:17:19'and a part-time worker at Sealand.'
0:17:19 > 0:17:22'As seen in this home video, rescuers used a huge net...'
0:17:22 > 0:17:25'Rescue workers' efforts were hindered by the agitated whales.'
0:17:25 > 0:17:28I'd like to make the team this summer,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31but my more immediate goal is just to swim fast at Nationals.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39It was sort of a cloudy, grey day
0:17:39 > 0:17:42and we were looking for something to do,
0:17:42 > 0:17:44so we thought, why not go to Sealand?
0:17:44 > 0:17:48It was kind of like this dingy pool with these whales.
0:17:48 > 0:17:52It just felt a little bit like an amusement park that was
0:17:52 > 0:17:55kind of on its last legs and everything was a bit grey.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00- It was like a swimming pool. Three whales in a swimming pool.- Yeah.
0:18:00 > 0:18:02And they would come up and touch the ball
0:18:02 > 0:18:06and I think there was some tail splashing and there was...
0:18:06 > 0:18:09- Some jumping.- With the fish.
0:18:09 > 0:18:13They hold the fish and the whales jump up.
0:18:13 > 0:18:19I remember saying, "What a fun job. She's so lucky."
0:18:19 > 0:18:22And then I saw her walking with her rubber boots and she tripped
0:18:22 > 0:18:25and her foot just dipped into the edge of the pool
0:18:25 > 0:18:28and she lost her balance and fell in.
0:18:28 > 0:18:32And then she was pushing her way up to get out of the pool
0:18:32 > 0:18:36and the whale zoomed over, grabbed her boot and pulled her back in.
0:18:36 > 0:18:40At first, I didn't think it was that serious because you see
0:18:40 > 0:18:43the trainer in the pool with the whale and you think,
0:18:43 > 0:18:45"Oh, well. The whales are used to that."
0:18:45 > 0:18:48And then all of a sudden, it started getting...
0:18:48 > 0:18:51There was more swimming, more activity, more thrashing.
0:18:51 > 0:18:54And she was starting to get panicked and then as it progressed,
0:18:54 > 0:18:58you started to realise - something's not right here.
0:18:58 > 0:19:01She started to scream and she started looking around
0:19:01 > 0:19:04and her eyes were like bigger and bigger and realising -
0:19:04 > 0:19:06I really am in trouble here.
0:19:06 > 0:19:08And then they would pull her under.
0:19:08 > 0:19:12They would come up and then when she came up, she'd be, "Help me!
0:19:12 > 0:19:14"Help me!" And then they'd take her down again.
0:19:14 > 0:19:18And she would be submerged for...several seconds, up to,
0:19:18 > 0:19:23I don't know, maybe a minute. You're not keeping track.
0:19:23 > 0:19:27So it was harder and harder for her to, you know, get the air in
0:19:27 > 0:19:29because she was screaming.
0:19:29 > 0:19:33And my sister remembers her saying, "I don't want to die."
0:19:36 > 0:19:40Condolences to Keltie's family.
0:19:42 > 0:19:43Yeah.
0:19:43 > 0:19:44We couldn't help her.
0:19:44 > 0:19:46It was pretty wretched.
0:19:48 > 0:19:54Sealand closed, it's probably a good thing. I mean, it was a little pond.
0:19:54 > 0:19:59I think the owner made the right decision, for whatever reasons.
0:19:59 > 0:20:01I don't believe he's a bad guy, a bad man.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03I think he was shocked by the whole affair too.
0:20:05 > 0:20:10The blush was gone from the business and he decided that that was it.
0:20:10 > 0:20:12We should set down.
0:20:12 > 0:20:14No-one ever contacted us. There was an inquest.
0:20:14 > 0:20:20No-one ever asked us to say what happened. We just left.
0:20:20 > 0:20:24There was no big lawsuits afterwards. There's no memorial.
0:20:24 > 0:20:26The only thing remaining of Keltie Byrne...
0:20:29 > 0:20:33..is what's left in the folk's minds who recalled the case.
0:20:33 > 0:20:36So in the newspaper articles, the cause of death was that she
0:20:36 > 0:20:41drowned accidentally, but she was pulled under by the whale.
0:20:41 > 0:20:43Well, there's a bit of smoke and mirrors going on.
0:20:43 > 0:20:48One of the fundamental facts is that none of the witnesses were clear
0:20:48 > 0:20:50about which whale pulled Keltie in.
0:20:50 > 0:20:53Yes, yeah, it was the large whale, Tilikum.
0:20:53 > 0:20:56The male is the one that went after her.
0:20:56 > 0:20:58The other two just circled around,
0:20:58 > 0:21:01but he was definitely the instigator.
0:21:01 > 0:21:05We knew it was that whale because he had a flopped over fin.
0:21:05 > 0:21:07It was very easy to tell.
0:21:11 > 0:21:14Sealand of the Pacific closed its doors and was looking,
0:21:14 > 0:21:17I guess, to make a buck on the way out.
0:21:17 > 0:21:19These whales are worth millions of dollars.
0:21:19 > 0:21:22When SeaWorld heard that Tilikum was available after this
0:21:22 > 0:21:26accident at Sealand of the Pacific, they really wanted Tilikum
0:21:26 > 0:21:28because they needed a breeder.
0:21:28 > 0:21:30So I don't even think that anybody was even questioning, like,
0:21:30 > 0:21:32"Is this a good idea?"
0:21:32 > 0:21:35My understanding of the situation was that Tilikum and the others
0:21:35 > 0:21:39would not be used in shows, they would not be performance animals.
0:21:39 > 0:21:40Our understanding of their behaviour was
0:21:40 > 0:21:43that it was such a highly stimulating event for them
0:21:43 > 0:21:44that they were likely to repeat it.
0:21:44 > 0:21:47Sealand was... We were all young and a bit of sea cowboys.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50We weren't so technical and scientific as SeaWorld,
0:21:50 > 0:21:52so we all had this vision that they knew more than us
0:21:52 > 0:21:55and they were better than us and Tilikum would have a bigger pool
0:21:55 > 0:21:57and he'd have a better life, he would have better care,
0:21:57 > 0:22:00he would have better food and it'd be a great life for him.
0:22:00 > 0:22:05So it was like, "OK, Tilikum. You're going to Disneyland."
0:22:05 > 0:22:06Lucky you.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15The orca's intelligence may be even superior to man's.
0:22:15 > 0:22:19As parents, they are exemplary - better than many human beings.
0:22:19 > 0:22:23Like human beings, they have a profound instinct for vengeance.
0:22:25 > 0:22:27Dino De Laurentiis presents...
0:22:30 > 0:22:34If you go back only 35 years, we knew nothing.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36In fact, less than nothing.
0:22:36 > 0:22:39What the public had was superstition and fear.
0:22:39 > 0:22:40A fight to the death...
0:22:42 > 0:22:45..between the two most dangerous animals on Earth.
0:22:45 > 0:22:47Where the hell are you?!
0:22:47 > 0:22:51These were the vicious killer whales that had 48 sharp teeth
0:22:51 > 0:22:53that would rip you to shreds if they got a chance.
0:22:58 > 0:23:01What we learned is that they're amazingly friendly
0:23:01 > 0:23:06and understanding, and intuitively want to be your companions.
0:23:06 > 0:23:07Are you recording this?
0:23:10 > 0:23:14And to this day there is no record of an orca doing any harm
0:23:14 > 0:23:15to any human in the wild.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30They live in these big families.
0:23:32 > 0:23:36And they have life spans very similar to human life spans.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39The females can live to about 100, maybe more.
0:23:39 > 0:23:42Males to about 50 or 60,
0:23:42 > 0:23:45but the adult offspring never leave their mother's side.
0:23:48 > 0:23:53Each community has a completely different set of behaviours.
0:23:55 > 0:24:00Each has a complete repertoire of vocalisations with no overlap.
0:24:02 > 0:24:03You could call them languages.
0:24:03 > 0:24:05The scientific community is reluctant to say,
0:24:05 > 0:24:08any other animal but humans uses languages,
0:24:08 > 0:24:11but there's every indication that they use languages.
0:24:11 > 0:24:17The orca brain just screams out intelligence, awareness.
0:24:17 > 0:24:19We took this tremendous brain
0:24:19 > 0:24:22and we put it in a magnetic resonance imaging scanner.
0:24:22 > 0:24:26What we found was just astounding.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30They've got a part of the brain that humans don't have.
0:24:30 > 0:24:33A part of their brain has extended out
0:24:33 > 0:24:36right adjacent to their limbic system.
0:24:36 > 0:24:38The system processes emotions.
0:24:38 > 0:24:41The safest inference would be -
0:24:41 > 0:24:46these are animals that have highly elaborated emotional lives.
0:24:46 > 0:24:50It's becoming clear that dolphins and whales have a sense of self,
0:24:50 > 0:24:54a sense of social bonding that they've taken to another level.
0:24:54 > 0:25:01Much stronger, much more complex than any other mammals, including humans.
0:25:01 > 0:25:06We look at mass strandings, the fact that they stand by each other.
0:25:06 > 0:25:10Everything about them is social. Everything.
0:25:10 > 0:25:13It's been suggested that their whole sense of self
0:25:13 > 0:25:17is distributed among the individuals in their group.
0:25:17 > 0:25:19Five of them.
0:25:19 > 0:25:23These orca are going to attack this seal.
0:25:23 > 0:25:27They've been breaking the ice off and swimming around him.
0:25:27 > 0:25:28Oh, here they come, two of them.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31Look, underneath there, you can see them underneath.
0:25:31 > 0:25:33They made a big wave. Look at that. Big wave.
0:25:33 > 0:25:35Oh, yeah.
0:25:35 > 0:25:37Oh, God. No! No, no!
0:25:38 > 0:25:39Oh, I can't stand it.
0:25:39 > 0:25:42If you can't watch the bull fight, you better leave.
0:25:42 > 0:25:44Here they go, look at this. Three of them.
0:25:47 > 0:25:48Oh, God. Oh, no!
0:25:48 > 0:25:50- Oh, God!- It's all over.
0:25:50 > 0:25:51- No, not quite.- Nope.
0:25:52 > 0:25:54Yeah, it's all over.
0:25:55 > 0:25:56It's all over.
0:26:10 > 0:26:14The first nation's people and the old fishermen on the coast,
0:26:14 > 0:26:15they call them black fish.
0:26:16 > 0:26:21They're an animal that possesses great spiritual power.
0:26:21 > 0:26:23They're not to be meddled with.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30I've spent a lot of time around killer whales
0:26:30 > 0:26:31and they're always in charge.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35I never get out of the boat. I never mess with them.
0:26:37 > 0:26:39The speed and the power is quite amazing.
0:26:46 > 0:26:48The rules are the same as the pool hall -
0:26:48 > 0:26:50keep one foot on the floor at all times.
0:26:55 > 0:26:57Even after seeing them thousands of times...
0:27:02 > 0:27:05..you see them and you, you know, wake up.
0:27:08 > 0:27:10MACHINERY WHIRRS
0:27:18 > 0:27:21He arrived, I think, in 1992.
0:27:21 > 0:27:23I was at Whale and Dolphin Stadium when he arrived.
0:27:23 > 0:27:28And he's twice as large as the next animal in the facility.
0:27:28 > 0:27:31Guys, right in at about 12,000lbs. That's-that's incredible.
0:27:31 > 0:27:33He looks fantastic.
0:27:33 > 0:27:37When Tilikum arrived at SeaWorld, he was attacked viciously,
0:27:37 > 0:27:40repeatedly, by Katina and others.
0:27:40 > 0:27:44In the wild, it's a very matriarchal society.
0:27:44 > 0:27:47Male whales are kept at the perimeter.
0:27:47 > 0:27:52In captivity, animals are squeezed into very close proximity.
0:27:52 > 0:27:57Tilikum, the poor guy is so large he couldn't get away because
0:27:57 > 0:28:02he just is not as mobile, relative to the smaller, more agile females.
0:28:02 > 0:28:04Where was he going to run? There's no place to run.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07I think he spent a lot of time in isolation.
0:28:07 > 0:28:10SeaWorld claims that, "Oh, no, he's always in with the females,"
0:28:10 > 0:28:13but from what I saw he was mostly put with the females
0:28:13 > 0:28:16for breeding purposes and he didn't spend a lot of time
0:28:16 > 0:28:19with the other whales.
0:28:19 > 0:28:22It's for his own protection. You know, he gets beat up.
0:28:22 > 0:28:25And so, by segregating him,
0:28:25 > 0:28:29it provides a physical barrier so the females can't kick his butt.
0:28:29 > 0:28:32Tilikum is pretty much kept in the back
0:28:32 > 0:28:36and then brought out at the very end as like the big splash.
0:28:40 > 0:28:44He was...always happy to see you in the morning.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47- There we go. - That's a boy.- Look at his chompers.
0:28:47 > 0:28:49'Maybe because he was alone, maybe because he was hungry,
0:28:49 > 0:28:51'maybe because he just liked you.
0:28:51 > 0:28:53'Who knows what was going on in his head?'
0:28:53 > 0:28:54Want to whistle?
0:28:54 > 0:28:55TILIKUM WHISTLES
0:29:00 > 0:29:02That was really loud.
0:29:04 > 0:29:06Come on, big boy.
0:29:06 > 0:29:09He seemed to like to work, he seemed to be interested.
0:29:09 > 0:29:11He seemed to want to learn new things.
0:29:11 > 0:29:13He seemed to be enjoying working with the trainers.
0:29:16 > 0:29:19He, for me, was a joy.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21He really responded to me and I...
0:29:21 > 0:29:24Every day I went to work, I was happy to see Tilly.
0:29:27 > 0:29:28That's cute.
0:29:33 > 0:29:35You're being too cute.
0:29:35 > 0:29:40I never got the impression of him, while I was there, "Oh, my God.
0:29:40 > 0:29:42"He's a scary whale." No, not at all.
0:29:42 > 0:29:46Maybe some of it's just our naivety or whatever.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48You know...
0:29:48 > 0:29:52Because we weren't given the full details of Keltie's situation.
0:29:52 > 0:29:55Turn around. Smile, buddy.
0:29:55 > 0:29:56I was under the impression
0:29:56 > 0:29:59that Tilikum had nothing to do with her death specifically,
0:29:59 > 0:30:01that it was the female whales responsible for her death.
0:30:01 > 0:30:03What I found really odd at first was the way
0:30:03 > 0:30:06they were acting round this whale and what they had told us
0:30:06 > 0:30:08seemed to me to be two different things.
0:30:08 > 0:30:09The first day he arrived,
0:30:09 > 0:30:13I remember one of the senior trainers at SeaWorld...
0:30:13 > 0:30:16Tilikum was in a pool and she was walking over a gate.
0:30:16 > 0:30:19She had her wet suit unzipped and it was tied around her waist.
0:30:19 > 0:30:21She was making cooing noises and was going,
0:30:21 > 0:30:23"Hey, Tilikum, what a cute little whale."
0:30:23 > 0:30:26She was just play talking at him and one of the supervisors said,
0:30:26 > 0:30:29"Get her out of there!" Just screamed at her.
0:30:29 > 0:30:30"Get her away from there,"
0:30:30 > 0:30:33like they were so worried that something was going to happen.
0:30:33 > 0:30:36I remember thinking, "Why are you guys making such a big deal
0:30:36 > 0:30:38"out of this when he didn't actually kill her?"
0:30:38 > 0:30:41Well, clearly management thought that there was some reason
0:30:41 > 0:30:43to exercise caution around him.
0:30:43 > 0:30:46Clearly they knew more than they were telling us.
0:30:46 > 0:30:49Ladies and gentlemen, the next few behaviours you're going to be seeing,
0:30:49 > 0:30:52you can only see here right here at SeaWorld.
0:30:52 > 0:30:56Jeff was out in the audience, filming one of the Shamu shows.
0:30:56 > 0:30:58It was a perfect show.
0:30:58 > 0:31:02All the hot-dog sequences, the waterworks sequences went off great.
0:31:04 > 0:31:06I was really excited just to be capturing this
0:31:06 > 0:31:09cos it was kind of turning out to be a great show.
0:31:11 > 0:31:14A show that's kind of complete.
0:31:14 > 0:31:18It probably only happens a few times a week.
0:31:20 > 0:31:23At the very end of the show, Liz was working Tilikum,
0:31:23 > 0:31:25and apparently Tilikum lunged out the water at her.
0:31:25 > 0:31:29I captured Tilikum coming out of the water, kind of turning sideways,
0:31:29 > 0:31:32and appeared to me to try to grab Liz.
0:31:32 > 0:31:36At that moment, the tape became unusable.
0:31:36 > 0:31:39I was just kind of basically instructed to get rid of the tape.
0:31:39 > 0:31:43Wanting to kind of preserve the tape, I actually used the editing equipment
0:31:43 > 0:31:45and snipped out that little half second or second
0:31:45 > 0:31:48when he did that and stitched it back together,
0:31:48 > 0:31:50so it just looked like a glitch in the tape.
0:31:50 > 0:31:52I was like, "Look at this."
0:31:52 > 0:31:54And it was like, "No, this is no longer useable."
0:31:54 > 0:31:55So we had to destroy the tape.
0:32:32 > 0:32:35It's pretty outrageous that SeaWorld would claim
0:32:35 > 0:32:37there was no expecting Tilikum to come out of the water
0:32:37 > 0:32:40because they had witnessed him coming out of the water
0:32:40 > 0:32:42and it's written into his profile.
0:32:43 > 0:32:45He lunges at trainers.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52When we visit SeaWorld, we tend to take for granted the fact
0:32:52 > 0:32:56that Shamu has been provided with a safe and comfortable habitat.
0:32:56 > 0:32:58And everything trained is to make sense to them -
0:32:58 > 0:33:00the killer whales' natural behaviour.
0:33:00 > 0:33:05I spewed out the party line during shows. I'm totally mortified now.
0:33:05 > 0:33:10There was like, something like... "Look at Namu.
0:33:10 > 0:33:12"Namu's not doing that because she has to.
0:33:12 > 0:33:15"Namu is doing this because she really wants to."
0:33:15 > 0:33:17Oh, my gosh.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21Like, some of the things I'm embarrassed by. So embarrassed by.
0:33:22 > 0:33:25At the time, I think I could have convinced myself
0:33:25 > 0:33:29that the relationships we had were built on something stronger
0:33:29 > 0:33:31than the fact that I'm giving them fish.
0:33:31 > 0:33:33You know, I like to think that.
0:33:35 > 0:33:37But I don't know that that's the truth.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43I had been there a while and I had seen a few other things
0:33:43 > 0:33:47along the way that made me question why I was there
0:33:47 > 0:33:49and what we were doing with these animals.
0:33:53 > 0:33:55November 4th, 1988.
0:33:55 > 0:34:00A killer whale at SeaWorld gave the performance of a lifetime.
0:34:07 > 0:34:12Don't miss this small miracle. Come see our new baby Shamu.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17I know it was naive of me, but I thought that...
0:34:20 > 0:34:22..it was our responsibility to do as much as we could
0:34:22 > 0:34:24to keep their family units together
0:34:24 > 0:34:27since we knew that, in the wild, that's what happens.
0:34:27 > 0:34:29# Yes, sir, that's our baby. #
0:34:29 > 0:34:31Kalina was the first baby Shamu.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Baby Shamu, SeaWorld's newest star.
0:34:34 > 0:34:38She had become quite disruptive and challenging her mum a little bit
0:34:38 > 0:34:41and disrupting some shows and that kind of thing.
0:34:41 > 0:34:43# She's got the whole place jumping
0:34:43 > 0:34:46# Shamu, she's our baby whale. #
0:34:47 > 0:34:48It was decided by the higher-ups
0:34:48 > 0:34:50that she would be moved to another park
0:34:50 > 0:34:52when she was just four, four-and-a-half years old.
0:34:52 > 0:34:56That was news to us as trainers that were working with her.
0:34:56 > 0:34:58To me, it had never crossed my mind
0:34:58 > 0:35:02that they might be moving the baby from her mom.
0:35:05 > 0:35:09The supervisors basically were kind of mocking me,
0:35:09 > 0:35:12"Oh, you're saying, 'poor Kalina'?" You know?
0:35:12 > 0:35:15"What's she going to do without her mommy?"
0:35:15 > 0:35:17And that, of course, just shut me up.
0:35:19 > 0:35:23So the night of the move, we had to deploy the nets to separate them
0:35:23 > 0:35:26and get Kalina, the baby, into the med pool.
0:35:26 > 0:35:31Katina was generally a quiet whale. She was not an overly vocal whale.
0:35:31 > 0:35:35After Kalina was removed from the scene and put on the truck
0:35:35 > 0:35:40and taken to the airport and Katina, her mum, was left in the pool,
0:35:40 > 0:35:45she stayed in the corner of the pool, literally just shaking
0:35:45 > 0:35:49and screaming, screeching, crying.
0:35:49 > 0:35:52I'd never seen her do anything like that.
0:35:52 > 0:35:54The other females in the pool,
0:35:54 > 0:35:56maybe once or twice during the night,
0:35:56 > 0:35:58they'd come out and check on her.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01She'd screech and cry and they would just run back.
0:36:03 > 0:36:05There was nothing that you could call that, watching it,
0:36:05 > 0:36:07besides grief.
0:36:09 > 0:36:11Those are not your whales.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14You know, you love them and you think,
0:36:14 > 0:36:18"I'm the one that touches them, feeds them, keeps them alive,
0:36:18 > 0:36:21"gives them the care that they need."
0:36:21 > 0:36:22They're not your whales.
0:36:22 > 0:36:23They own them.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27Kasatka and Takara were very close.
0:36:27 > 0:36:30Kasatka was the mother, Takara's the calf.
0:36:31 > 0:36:34Takara was special to me.
0:36:34 > 0:36:36They were inseparable.
0:36:36 > 0:36:39When they separated Kasatka and Takara,
0:36:39 > 0:36:41it was to take Takara to Florida.
0:36:41 > 0:36:46Once Takara had already been stretchered out of the pool,
0:36:46 > 0:36:48put on the truck, driven to the airport...
0:36:50 > 0:36:56..Kasatka continued to make vocals that had never been heard before.
0:36:57 > 0:37:01They brought in the senior research scientist to analyse the vocals.
0:37:01 > 0:37:03They were long-range vocals.
0:37:05 > 0:37:08She was trying something that no-one had even heard before -
0:37:08 > 0:37:10looking for Takara.
0:37:10 > 0:37:12That's heartbreaking.
0:37:13 > 0:37:17How can anyone look at that
0:37:17 > 0:37:20and think that that is morally acceptable?
0:37:20 > 0:37:22It's not.
0:37:22 > 0:37:24It is not OK.
0:37:26 > 0:37:28Stand by, Dean.
0:37:28 > 0:37:32Let's go live to SeaWorld where Dean is joining us for a sneak peak.
0:37:32 > 0:37:34Hi, Dean, tell us about the new show.
0:37:34 > 0:37:35Good afternoon, Richard.
0:37:35 > 0:37:38The new show is the Whale and Dolphin Discovery.
0:37:38 > 0:37:39What it does is it shows the relationship
0:37:39 > 0:37:42we have between all our animals...
0:37:42 > 0:37:44'There's so many things that were told to us'
0:37:44 > 0:37:47that they tell you so many times that you start believing it.
0:37:47 > 0:37:50All the animals here get along very well.
0:37:50 > 0:37:52It's just like training your dog, really.
0:37:52 > 0:37:53'I was blind.
0:37:53 > 0:37:56I was a kid, I didn't know what I was doing, really.
0:37:56 > 0:37:58- HE LAUGHS Nice!- Good job!
0:38:07 > 0:38:09Ladies and gentlemen, this is David from Maryland.
0:38:09 > 0:38:12Go ahead and wave at everyone, David.
0:38:12 > 0:38:14I just really bought into what they told us.
0:38:14 > 0:38:17I learned to say what they told us to the audience.
0:38:17 > 0:38:20Hello out there. Children are some of Shamu's biggest fans.
0:38:20 > 0:38:23We can do just about anything we want.
0:38:23 > 0:38:26I thought I knew everything about killer whales when I worked there.
0:38:26 > 0:38:27Everything about these animals.
0:38:27 > 0:38:29I really know nothing about killer whales.
0:38:29 > 0:38:32I know a lot about being an animal trainer or a killer-whale trainer,
0:38:32 > 0:38:35but I don't know anything about these animals' natural history
0:38:35 > 0:38:36or their behaviour.
0:38:36 > 0:38:38In some ways I believed a lot of what I was learning from them
0:38:38 > 0:38:40because, "Why would they lie?"
0:38:40 > 0:38:45Because the whales in their pools die young,
0:38:45 > 0:38:50they like to say that all orcas die at 25 or 30 years.
0:38:50 > 0:38:53- 25-35 years.- 25-35 years.
0:38:53 > 0:38:58They're documented in the wild living to be about 35, mid-30s.
0:38:58 > 0:39:00They tend to live a lot longer in this environment
0:39:00 > 0:39:02cos they have all the veterinary care.
0:39:02 > 0:39:03Of course, that's false.
0:39:03 > 0:39:07We knew by 1980, after a half a dozen years of the research,
0:39:07 > 0:39:11that they live the equivalent to human life spans.
0:39:11 > 0:39:16Every other potentially embarrassing fact is twisted and turned
0:39:16 > 0:39:18and denied one way or another.
0:39:18 > 0:39:21- So in the wild they live...?- Less.
0:39:21 > 0:39:22Like the floppy dorsal fins.
0:39:22 > 0:39:2725% of whales have a fin that turns over like that as they get older.
0:39:27 > 0:39:32Dorsal collapse happens in less than 1% of wild killer whales.
0:39:32 > 0:39:33We know this.
0:39:33 > 0:39:37All the captive males, 100% have collapsed dorsal fins.
0:39:37 > 0:39:40And they say that they're a family
0:39:40 > 0:39:42cos the whales are in their family, they have their pods.
0:39:42 > 0:39:47But that's just an artificial assemblage of their collection,
0:39:47 > 0:39:51however management decides they should mix them.
0:39:51 > 0:39:55Whichever ones happen to be born or bought or brought in.
0:39:55 > 0:39:57That's not a family. Come on.
0:39:58 > 0:40:01You've got animals from different cultural subsets
0:40:01 > 0:40:03that have been brought in from various parks.
0:40:03 > 0:40:04These are different nations.
0:40:04 > 0:40:06These aren't just two different killer whales.
0:40:06 > 0:40:11These animals, they've got different genes. They use different languages.
0:40:13 > 0:40:15What can happen as a result of them
0:40:15 > 0:40:18being thrown in with other whales that they haven't grown up with,
0:40:18 > 0:40:23that are not part of their culture, is there's hyper aggression.
0:40:25 > 0:40:26A lot of violence,
0:40:26 > 0:40:30a lot of killing in captivity that you don't ever see in the wild.
0:40:31 > 0:40:34ANNOUNCER: For the health and safety of the animals,
0:40:34 > 0:40:36please do not put your hands in the water.
0:40:36 > 0:40:37There was always this backdrop,
0:40:37 > 0:40:41this underpinning of tension between animals.
0:40:41 > 0:40:47Whale-on-whale aggression was just part of the daily existence.
0:40:47 > 0:40:50We ask that you use the stairs an aisleways as you exit.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53Please do not step on the seats.
0:40:53 > 0:40:57These areas may become wet and therefore slippery to some footwear.
0:40:57 > 0:40:59Thank you.
0:41:01 > 0:41:03In the wild, when there's tension, they've got
0:41:03 > 0:41:08thousands of square miles to exit the scene and they can get away.
0:41:08 > 0:41:11You don't have that in captivity.
0:41:11 > 0:41:14Can you imagine being in a small concrete enclosure for your life
0:41:14 > 0:41:17when you're used to swimming 100 miles a day?
0:41:21 > 0:41:23Sometimes this aggression became very severe.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26In fact, whales have died in captivity
0:41:26 > 0:41:28because of this aggression.
0:41:28 > 0:41:29I think it was 1988.
0:41:29 > 0:41:34Kandu, trying to assert her dominance over Corky, rammed Corky.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38It fractured her jaw, which cut an artery in her head
0:41:38 > 0:41:40and then she bled out.
0:41:42 > 0:41:44That's got to be a hard way to go down.
0:41:47 > 0:41:51I saw that there were just a lot of things that weren't right.
0:41:51 > 0:41:55There was a lot of misinformation. Something was amiss.
0:41:55 > 0:41:57I sort of compartmentalised that part of it
0:41:57 > 0:42:00and did the best that I could with the knowledge that I had
0:42:00 > 0:42:03to take care of the animals that were there.
0:42:03 > 0:42:05I think all the trainers there have the same thing in their heart -
0:42:05 > 0:42:09they're trying to make a difference in the lives of the animals.
0:42:09 > 0:42:13You think, "If I leave, who's going to take care of Tilikum?"
0:42:13 > 0:42:16That's why I stayed, cos I felt sorry for Tilikum.
0:42:16 > 0:42:18I mean, if you want to get down to the nuts and the bolts of it,
0:42:18 > 0:42:21I stayed because I felt sorry for Tilikum.
0:42:21 > 0:42:24I couldn't bring myself to stop coming
0:42:24 > 0:42:25and trying to take care of him.
0:42:38 > 0:42:40Gosh, do I love coming out here every day
0:42:40 > 0:42:43and having the audience just love what we're doing with the animals?
0:42:43 > 0:42:45How do I make this animal as beautiful as they are
0:42:45 > 0:42:48and have people walk away loving this animal?
0:42:48 > 0:42:50They're touched and they're moved
0:42:50 > 0:42:53and I feel like I made a difference to them.
0:42:53 > 0:42:55I left in January of 2010.
0:42:55 > 0:42:58A month before Dawn passed away.
0:42:58 > 0:43:01She was like a safety guru.
0:43:01 > 0:43:03She was always double-checking,
0:43:03 > 0:43:06making sure that everyone was doing the right thing.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09She would record every show that she did and she would watch it
0:43:09 > 0:43:11and critique herself.
0:43:11 > 0:43:14And she was constantly trying to be better.
0:43:14 > 0:43:18When I found out it was Dawn, I was shocked.
0:43:19 > 0:43:22That could have been me, I could have been the spotter.
0:43:22 > 0:43:24What if I was there and I could have saved her?
0:43:24 > 0:43:26All these things go through your mind.
0:43:38 > 0:43:40John Sillick is the guy who, in 1987,
0:43:40 > 0:43:44was crushed between two whales at SeaWorld of San Diego.
0:43:44 > 0:43:46Now, even though I'd been working at SeaWorld for six months,
0:43:46 > 0:43:48I had no idea that that had even happened.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50I never even heard that story.
0:43:50 > 0:43:53The SeaWorld party line was that it was a trainer error.
0:43:53 > 0:43:57It was John's fault. He was supposed to get off that whale.
0:43:57 > 0:43:59For years, I believed that. I told people that.
0:44:07 > 0:44:12I actually started at SeaWorld five days after that event occurred.
0:44:12 > 0:44:15We weren't told much about it, other than it was trainer error.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20Especially when you're new into the programme,
0:44:20 > 0:44:22you don't really question a whole lot.
0:44:22 > 0:44:24Years later, when you look at the footage, you go,
0:44:24 > 0:44:27"He didn't do anything wrong. That whale just landed on him."
0:44:27 > 0:44:29That whale just went to the wrong spot.
0:44:29 > 0:44:31It could have been aggression, who knows?
0:44:31 > 0:44:34But it was not the trainer's fault at all, watching that video.
0:44:38 > 0:44:42When I saw the video of the killer whale landing on John,
0:44:42 > 0:44:44it just absolutely took my breath away. I gasped.
0:44:44 > 0:44:46I watched it two or three times and every time I saw that,
0:44:46 > 0:44:49I just gasped. I could not believe what I was seeing.
0:44:49 > 0:44:52What kept his body together is his wet suit basically held him together.
0:44:52 > 0:44:54I know he's had multiple surgeries
0:44:54 > 0:44:56and he's got tonnes of hardware in his body.
0:44:56 > 0:44:59It's hard for me to believe that I didn't actually see that video
0:44:59 > 0:45:02while I was actually an animal trainer,
0:45:02 > 0:45:05cos it seems to me that every person who works with killer whales
0:45:05 > 0:45:06should have to watch that video.
0:45:11 > 0:45:13Tamarie.
0:45:13 > 0:45:15Tamarie made mistakes.
0:45:15 > 0:45:18The most important one was interacting with whales
0:45:18 > 0:45:19without a spotter.
0:45:21 > 0:45:24So she's putting her foot on Orkid.
0:45:24 > 0:45:27She's taking her foot off, she's putting her foot on Orkid,
0:45:27 > 0:45:29her rostrum, she's taking it off.
0:45:29 > 0:45:32Watching the video knowing Orkid, your stomach drops
0:45:32 > 0:45:35because you know what's probably going to happen.
0:45:36 > 0:45:38She grabbed her foot.
0:45:38 > 0:45:41Tamarie whips around and she grabs the gate.
0:45:41 > 0:45:43You see her just ripped from the gate.
0:45:45 > 0:45:48At this point, Tamarie knows that she's in trouble.
0:45:48 > 0:45:52She's under the water. Splash and Orkid both have her.
0:45:52 > 0:45:56She's totally out of view. No other trainer knows that this is happening.
0:45:56 > 0:46:00People start to scream, you know, the park guest that was filming it.
0:46:00 > 0:46:06You hear... You don't see her, but you hear Tamarie surface.
0:46:06 > 0:46:09You hear her just scream out, "Somebody, help me!"
0:46:09 > 0:46:14The way she screamed it was just such a blood-curdling...
0:46:14 > 0:46:16She knew she was going to die.
0:46:18 > 0:46:21Rob, when he ran over, he made a brilliant decision.
0:46:21 > 0:46:24He told the trainer to run and take the chain off Kasatka's gate.
0:46:25 > 0:46:28By taking that chain off, it would give the precursor to Orkid
0:46:28 > 0:46:30that Kasatka was coming in.
0:46:30 > 0:46:36Kasatka's more dominant than Orkid, so Orkid let her go.
0:46:36 > 0:46:39Her arm...it was U-shaped.
0:46:40 > 0:46:42It was compound-fractured.
0:46:44 > 0:46:47She's very lucky to be alive, that's for sure.
0:46:59 > 0:47:03I believe it's 70 plus, maybe even more.
0:47:03 > 0:47:05Just killer whale trainer accidents.
0:47:05 > 0:47:09Maybe 30 of them happened actually prior to me being hired at SeaWorld.
0:47:09 > 0:47:11And I knew about none of them.
0:47:15 > 0:47:17I've seen animals come out at trainers.
0:47:22 > 0:47:23Something's wrong.
0:47:23 > 0:47:25I've seen people get slammed.
0:47:38 > 0:47:40The whales...either they're just playing
0:47:40 > 0:47:42or they're upset for a second.
0:47:50 > 0:47:52It was just something that happened, you know?
0:47:52 > 0:47:53There was this culture of,
0:47:53 > 0:47:56"You get back on the horse and you dive back in the water.
0:47:56 > 0:48:00"If you're hurt, then we've got other people that will replace you.
0:48:00 > 0:48:02"You came a long way, are you sure you want that?"
0:48:11 > 0:48:14A SeaWorld trainer is recovering today after a terrifying ordeal
0:48:14 > 0:48:16in front of a horrified audience.
0:48:41 > 0:48:45For some reason, the whale just took a different approach
0:48:45 > 0:48:47to what it was going to do with
0:48:47 > 0:48:50a very senior, very experienced trainer, Ken Peters,
0:48:50 > 0:48:54and dragged him to the bottom of the pool and held him in the bottom.
0:48:55 > 0:48:59Let him go. Picked him up, took him down again.
0:49:06 > 0:49:10And these periods he was taken down were pretty close to the mark.
0:49:11 > 0:49:14You know, a minute, a minute 20.
0:49:19 > 0:49:21When he was at the surface, he didn't panic,
0:49:21 > 0:49:23he didn't thrash, he didn't scream.
0:49:23 > 0:49:27Maybe he's just built that way. But he stroked the whale.
0:49:31 > 0:49:34The whale let go of one foot and grabbed the other.
0:49:51 > 0:49:53That's a pretty deep pool.
0:49:53 > 0:49:57He took him right down. I think that's to two atmospheres' pressure.
0:49:57 > 0:50:00Apparently, Mr Peters is an experienced scuba diver
0:50:00 > 0:50:03and I think that knowledge probably contributed to how he was able
0:50:03 > 0:50:07to be hauled down there that quickly and stay calm and know what to do.
0:50:10 > 0:50:11He knew what he was doing.
0:50:11 > 0:50:14You can see him in the film - the def is so good - see him ventilating.
0:50:14 > 0:50:16See him ventilating really hard.
0:50:16 > 0:50:19So he knows about swimming and diving and being underwater.
0:50:19 > 0:50:23He may have been assuming he was going under again.
0:50:23 > 0:50:25I did not walk away unimpressed by his...
0:50:25 > 0:50:28his calm demeanour during that whole affair.
0:50:32 > 0:50:34I would be scared shitless.
0:50:51 > 0:50:53He was near to the end.
0:50:55 > 0:51:00Presumably, Ken Peters had a relationship with this whale.
0:51:00 > 0:51:02Maybe he did - maybe that's what saved him -
0:51:02 > 0:51:06but Peters got the whale to let him go...
0:51:07 > 0:51:09..and they strung a net across.
0:51:18 > 0:51:22And Ken Peters pulled himself over the float line
0:51:22 > 0:51:25and swam like a demon to a slide-out,
0:51:25 > 0:51:26because the whale was coming
0:51:26 > 0:51:28right behind him!
0:51:28 > 0:51:30The whale jumped over it and came after him!
0:51:30 > 0:51:34He tried to stand up and run but his feet were damaged.
0:51:34 > 0:51:36He just fell. He scrambled.
0:51:36 > 0:51:40They take this as a prime example of their training working.
0:51:40 > 0:51:46They say, well, "Stand back and stay calm" and that did work.
0:51:46 > 0:51:51They claim this as a victory of how they do business.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59And...maybe so. But it can also be interpreted
0:51:59 > 0:52:03as a hair's-breadth away from another fatality.
0:52:09 > 0:52:13- ALL:- Hi, Shamu! Hi, everybody. We're the Johnsons from Detroit, Michigan.
0:52:13 > 0:52:16We had a great time when we visited SeaWorld!
0:52:16 > 0:52:17It's one of our favourite places.
0:52:17 > 0:52:20Yeah! I like the part where Shamu gets everybody wet!
0:52:20 > 0:52:23When the whales get close to the glass,
0:52:23 > 0:52:24and start kicking up the water?
0:52:24 > 0:52:26Whamo! You're a goner!
0:52:27 > 0:52:31SQUEALING
0:52:35 > 0:52:39Orange County's sheriff deputies have identified the 27-year-old man
0:52:39 > 0:52:42found dead in a killer whale's tank at SeaWorld.
0:52:42 > 0:52:46The victim is Daniel P Dukes from South Carolina.
0:52:46 > 0:52:49Dukes was found yesterday draped over the back of Tilikum -
0:52:49 > 0:52:51the largest orca held in captivity.
0:52:52 > 0:52:55All I know is the public relations version of it.
0:52:55 > 0:52:58He was a young man that had been arrested
0:52:58 > 0:53:00not long before he snuck into SeaWorld.
0:53:00 > 0:53:03Maybe he climbed the barbed wire fence around the perimeter,
0:53:03 > 0:53:05and stayed after-hours.
0:53:05 > 0:53:09Perfect storyline - a mentally disturbed guy
0:53:09 > 0:53:12hides in the park after hours, and strips his clothes off
0:53:12 > 0:53:15and decides he wants to have a magical experience with an orca,
0:53:15 > 0:53:18and drowns because he became hypothermic.
0:53:18 > 0:53:19Right. So, that's the story line,
0:53:19 > 0:53:22and none of us were there to know the difference.
0:53:22 > 0:53:25He was not detected by the night-watch trainers
0:53:25 > 0:53:27who were presumably at that station.
0:53:27 > 0:53:29There are cameras all over SeaWorld,
0:53:29 > 0:53:31there are cameras all over the back of Shamu Stadium,
0:53:31 > 0:53:33pointing every which way.
0:53:33 > 0:53:35There are underwater cameras.
0:53:35 > 0:53:37I find it hard to believe that nobody knew
0:53:37 > 0:53:40until the morning that there was a body in there.
0:53:40 > 0:53:43They have a night-watch trainer every night.
0:53:43 > 0:53:46That person didn't hear any splashing or screaming?
0:53:46 > 0:53:49I mean, I just find that really suspicious.
0:53:49 > 0:53:51One of the employees -
0:53:51 > 0:53:54I don't know if it was a physical therapist or somebody,
0:53:54 > 0:53:57was coming in in the morning and there was Tilikum
0:53:57 > 0:53:59with a dead, naked guy on his back...
0:53:59 > 0:54:04parading him around the back pool.
0:54:04 > 0:54:06The public relations spin on this
0:54:06 > 0:54:10was that he was kind of a drifter and died of hypothermia,
0:54:10 > 0:54:16but the medical examiner reports were more graphic than that.
0:54:16 > 0:54:20Tilikum stripped him, bit off his genitals,
0:54:20 > 0:54:23there was bite marks all over his body.
0:54:23 > 0:54:27Now, whether that was post death or pre-death I don't know,
0:54:27 > 0:54:29but all I can comment on
0:54:29 > 0:54:32is that the guy definitely jumped in the wrong pool.
0:54:39 > 0:54:42So why keep Tilikum there?
0:54:42 > 0:54:45This guy, he's got a proven track record of killing people.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47He's clearly a liability to the institution.
0:54:47 > 0:54:50Why keep him around? Well, it's quite simple.
0:54:50 > 0:54:52The answer is that his semen is worth a lot of money.
0:55:02 > 0:55:04Over the years, Tilikum has been
0:55:04 > 0:55:07one of the main breeding whales at SeaWorld.
0:55:10 > 0:55:13It's brilliant, because they can inseminate way more female whales
0:55:13 > 0:55:16because they can just get his sperm and freeze it.
0:55:16 > 0:55:19He's basically operating as a sperm bank.
0:55:19 > 0:55:21In a reputable breeding programme,
0:55:21 > 0:55:24rule number one is you certainly would not breed an animal
0:55:24 > 0:55:27that has shown a history of aggression towards humans.
0:55:27 > 0:55:31Imagine if you had a pit bull who had killed -
0:55:31 > 0:55:32that animal would've likely been put down.
0:55:32 > 0:55:34But in the entire SeaWorld collection...
0:55:34 > 0:55:37it's like 54% of the whales in SeaWorld's collection
0:55:37 > 0:55:40now have Tilikum's genes.
0:55:48 > 0:55:51CROWD APPLAUDS
0:55:53 > 0:55:56The fall is to assume that all killer whales are like Tilikum.
0:55:56 > 0:55:58You have to look at their learning history from birth.
0:55:58 > 0:56:01You have to understand why Tilikum was a hazard
0:56:01 > 0:56:03to anybody in the water.
0:56:03 > 0:56:06And you have to understand that none of the other killer whales
0:56:06 > 0:56:08at SeaWorld, or in that system, are that way.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10What about the incident at Loro Parque?
0:56:10 > 0:56:12First of all, I can't...
0:56:12 > 0:56:14I can't...speak with specificity about Loro Parque.
0:56:14 > 0:56:16I wasn't there.
0:56:16 > 0:56:20I... I... In fact, I know very little about it.
0:56:20 > 0:56:23Probably about as much as the general public knows.
0:56:47 > 0:56:51SPEAKS SPANISH
0:57:23 > 0:57:25Loro Parque is in the Canary Islands,
0:57:25 > 0:57:28which is an autonomous region of Spain.
0:57:28 > 0:57:31It's the largest tourist attraction in all of Spain.
0:57:31 > 0:57:34TRAINER SPEAKS SPANISH
0:57:36 > 0:57:39And when SeaWorld sent the orcas to Loro Parque
0:57:39 > 0:57:42everybody was always questioning, like,
0:57:42 > 0:57:46how did they make that leap to send four young orcas
0:57:46 > 0:57:51to a park off the west coast of Africa with trainers who,
0:57:51 > 0:57:54a lot of them, had never been around orcas before.
0:57:56 > 0:58:00Nothing was ready. The venue wasn't ready.
0:58:00 > 0:58:02It wasn't ready for the orcas, it wasn't ready for a show.
0:58:02 > 0:58:05The owner of the park didn't want to lose revenue
0:58:05 > 0:58:08by shutting down the pools and repairing them.
0:58:08 > 0:58:10So for three years, the animals ate the pools,
0:58:10 > 0:58:12and for three years the animals had problems -
0:58:12 > 0:58:15with their teeth, with their stomachs.
0:58:15 > 0:58:17So that's the reason why these animals were enduring
0:58:17 > 0:58:19the endoscope procedures.
0:58:21 > 0:58:24Those are still SeaWorld's animals.
0:58:24 > 0:58:27They are responsible for those animals.
0:58:27 > 0:58:31HIGH PITCHED CALL
0:58:32 > 0:58:35CLICKS AND WHINES
0:58:35 > 0:58:38Loro Parque doesn't have a good reputation.
0:58:38 > 0:58:42People that work in the business know the reputation of places
0:58:42 > 0:58:45and Loro Parque does not have a good reputation.
0:58:45 > 0:58:48They didn't spend the same amount of time as the SeaWorld trainers.
0:58:48 > 0:58:53Did not go through the same regimen SeaWorld trainers went through.
0:58:53 > 0:58:56Alexis really was the best trainer.
0:58:56 > 0:58:59And I did say, "You're the only trainer there
0:58:59 > 0:59:02"that can hold its own with a SeaWorld trainer."
0:59:02 > 0:59:04And I said "But you need to be careful."
0:59:36 > 0:59:39Anywhere along the line it could've been stopped.
0:59:39 > 0:59:42Because everyone knew it was a tragedy waiting to happen.
0:59:42 > 0:59:44But no-one did anything about it.
0:59:44 > 0:59:48And in the end, it was the best trainer who lost his life.
1:02:00 > 1:02:02Those were SeaWorld's whales.
1:02:02 > 1:02:05They were trained using SeaWorld's techniques.
1:02:05 > 1:02:09And their training was being supervised at the time
1:02:09 > 1:02:11of the fatal accident
1:02:11 > 1:02:13by one of their senior trainers from San Diego.
1:02:35 > 1:02:38For somebody to get up and say in a court of law
1:02:38 > 1:02:40that they have no knowledge
1:02:40 > 1:02:45of the linkages between SeaWorld and this park in Tenerife is, well,...
1:02:48 > 1:02:50..either she doesn't know and is telling the truth,
1:02:50 > 1:02:52or it's just a bald-faced lie.
1:02:55 > 1:02:59As trainers, we never forget Shamu's true potential.
1:02:59 > 1:03:01We see it each and every day.
1:03:01 > 1:03:04That's why all of our interactions are very carefully thought out,
1:03:04 > 1:03:07especially our water work interac... WHOA!
1:03:13 > 1:03:16HE LAUGHS
1:03:18 > 1:03:20..especially our water work interactions,
1:03:20 > 1:03:22because they're potentially the most dangerous.
1:03:22 > 1:03:26I'd been expecting it since the second person was killed.
1:03:26 > 1:03:29I'd been expecting somebody to be killed by Tilikum.
1:03:29 > 1:03:31I'm surprised it took as long as it did.
1:03:31 > 1:03:35First tonight, a six-ton killer whale has lived up to its name -
1:03:35 > 1:03:38killing an experienced trainer at SeaWorld Orlando today.
1:03:38 > 1:03:42A tourist at an earlier show said the animal seemed agitated.
1:03:42 > 1:03:45Trainers complained the whales weren't co-operating.
1:03:45 > 1:03:49The whole show - the main show - was a disaster that day.
1:03:49 > 1:03:51There was whales chasing each other.
1:03:51 > 1:03:53Eventually, the trainers decided they had to stop the show
1:03:53 > 1:03:55because they couldn't get the whales under control.
1:03:55 > 1:03:58Tilikum was in the back pool
1:03:58 > 1:04:02set up to do a Dine With Shamu performance with Dawn.
1:04:02 > 1:04:06Likely she saw what had gone on during the main show
1:04:06 > 1:04:10and so she probably felt more pressure to do a good show.
1:04:13 > 1:04:14When you watch the whole video,
1:04:14 > 1:04:17you can see that Tilikum is really with Dawn
1:04:17 > 1:04:19in the beginning of the video.
1:04:22 > 1:04:25There's a couple of behaviours that she asks him to do,
1:04:25 > 1:04:27where Tilikum just jumps right in
1:04:27 > 1:04:30and he does exactly what she asks him to do.
1:04:35 > 1:04:37There seemed to be a point in the session
1:04:37 > 1:04:39where things went south, so to speak.
1:04:39 > 1:04:44And in my humble opinion it was at that missed bridge - whistle bridge -
1:04:44 > 1:04:46on the perimeter pec wave.
1:04:46 > 1:04:49She asked him to do a perimeter pec wave -
1:04:49 > 1:04:53where she asked him to, basically, go all the way around the pool
1:04:53 > 1:04:55and wave his pectoral flipper.
1:04:56 > 1:04:59And she blows her whistle...
1:04:59 > 1:05:02which is a bridge which tells the animal that -
1:05:02 > 1:05:04"OK, you've done a good job, come back and get food."
1:05:04 > 1:05:06But he missed that cue.
1:05:10 > 1:05:14And he went all the way around the pool on this perimeter pec wave.
1:05:17 > 1:05:19My interpretation is that he didn't hear the whistle.
1:05:19 > 1:05:22So not only did he not hear the bridge,
1:05:22 > 1:05:24then he went and did a perfect behaviour and came back
1:05:24 > 1:05:27and what he got was what we call three-second neutral response -
1:05:27 > 1:05:29which is a way to let the animal know
1:05:29 > 1:05:31"No, you didn't do the correct thing,
1:05:31 > 1:05:33"you're not going to get rewarded, and then we move on."
1:05:33 > 1:05:35And you can also see through the video
1:05:35 > 1:05:38that Dawn is running out of food.
1:05:38 > 1:05:40The animals can sense when you're getting to the
1:05:40 > 1:05:42bottom of your bucket of fish,
1:05:42 > 1:05:44because they can hear the ice clanging around
1:05:44 > 1:05:46in the fishy, soupy water at the bottom.
1:05:46 > 1:05:49And the handfuls of fish that they're getting delivered
1:05:49 > 1:05:51by the trainer are all getting smaller.
1:05:51 > 1:05:55So they know that they're coming down to the end of session.
1:05:55 > 1:05:56When you see the difference between
1:05:56 > 1:05:58the beginning and the end of the video,
1:05:58 > 1:06:02you can see that he is just not quite on his game any more.
1:06:02 > 1:06:03There was no food left,
1:06:03 > 1:06:06she kept asking for more and more behaviours,
1:06:06 > 1:06:09he wasn't getting reinforced for the behaviours he was doing correctly -
1:06:09 > 1:06:11he probably was frustrated towards the end.
1:06:14 > 1:06:17And then she walked around the perimeter of G pool.
1:06:17 > 1:06:19He followed her.
1:06:23 > 1:06:26And then continued over into the rocky ledge area
1:06:26 > 1:06:28where she lay down with him
1:06:28 > 1:06:30to do a relationship session.
1:06:30 > 1:06:33Which is quiet time, basically.
1:06:34 > 1:06:37Tilikum, at some point, grabbed a hold of her left forearm
1:06:37 > 1:06:38and started to drag her,
1:06:38 > 1:06:41and eventually did a barrel roll and pulled her in.
1:06:41 > 1:06:43It may have started as play,
1:06:43 > 1:06:46or frustration, and clearly it escalated to be
1:06:46 > 1:06:48very violent behaviour,
1:06:48 > 1:06:51that I think was anything but play.
1:06:51 > 1:06:54In the end, he even, basically, just completely mutilated
1:06:54 > 1:06:56that poor girl.
1:06:59 > 1:07:02They were gathering all of the trainers at the Texas Park.
1:07:02 > 1:07:07He said there's been an accident at the Florida Park,
1:07:07 > 1:07:09and a trainer was killed.
1:07:11 > 1:07:14Hearing that it was Dawn, I was... I couldn't believe it.
1:07:14 > 1:07:18I just remember saying to myself "Not Dawn, it can't be Dawn."
1:07:18 > 1:07:21He said that, erm... "..and he still has her."
1:07:22 > 1:07:24And I just...
1:07:25 > 1:07:27..was so disturbed by that
1:07:27 > 1:07:31and the reality of how powerless we are.
1:07:31 > 1:07:35Avulsion, laceration, abrasion, fractures.
1:07:35 > 1:07:37Fractures and associated haemorrhages.
1:07:37 > 1:07:40Blunt-force traumas
1:07:40 > 1:07:43to the main body, to the extremities.
1:07:43 > 1:07:46To see this meted out against a trainer,
1:07:46 > 1:07:49and I cannot fathom the reason.
1:07:49 > 1:07:50It's shocking.
1:07:52 > 1:07:56A lawyer for OSHA asked me what I thought we'd learned,
1:07:56 > 1:07:59and I was sitting in the courtroom
1:07:59 > 1:08:01and I've got the Keltie Byrne case file in one hand,
1:08:01 > 1:08:04and I've got Dawn Brancheau in the other,
1:08:04 > 1:08:07and they are almost to-the-day 20 years apart
1:08:07 > 1:08:10and I'm looking at these two things - my only answer is "Nothing".
1:08:10 > 1:08:12In fact, it's not a damn thing.
1:08:12 > 1:08:13We have not learned a damn thing
1:08:13 > 1:08:17for something like that to happen 20 years apart.
1:08:17 > 1:08:19Could you tell us if it was an accident, or if this...?
1:08:19 > 1:08:22Did this female trainer work with this whale on a regular...?
1:08:22 > 1:08:25What apparently happened was we had a female trainer
1:08:25 > 1:08:27back in the whale-holding area.
1:08:27 > 1:08:29She apparently slipped or fell into the tank,
1:08:29 > 1:08:31and was fatally injured by one of the whales.
1:08:31 > 1:08:34At first, SeaWorld reported that a trainer slipped and fell
1:08:34 > 1:08:36in the water and was drowned.
1:08:36 > 1:08:38So that was the first report.
1:08:38 > 1:08:40It wasn't until eyewitness accounts disputed that
1:08:40 > 1:08:42that they had to go back in their huddle and say,
1:08:42 > 1:08:44"We gotta come up with a new plan."
1:08:44 > 1:08:46SeaWorld has confirmed the killer whale
1:08:46 > 1:08:48pulled the woman into the water.
1:08:48 > 1:08:50She didn't fall into the tank,
1:08:50 > 1:08:52as the Sheriff's Department initially reported.
1:08:52 > 1:08:55The new plan is that... he grabbed her ponytail.
1:08:55 > 1:08:58This is a subtle way of placing the blame on Dawn's shoulders.
1:08:58 > 1:09:01She shouldn't have had a long ponytail,
1:09:01 > 1:09:03or if she did have that ponytail it should've been up in a bun.
1:09:03 > 1:09:06Dawn, if she was standing here with me right now,
1:09:06 > 1:09:09would tell you that it was her... That was her mistake.
1:09:09 > 1:09:11In allowing that to happen.
1:09:11 > 1:09:12They blamed her.
1:09:12 > 1:09:15How dare you!
1:09:15 > 1:09:18How disrespectful for you to blame her
1:09:18 > 1:09:22when she's not even alive to defend herself.
1:09:22 > 1:09:25He grabbed her ponytail and pulled her into the water.
1:09:25 > 1:09:26That's as simple as it gets.
1:09:26 > 1:09:29There are photographs of plenty of other trainers
1:09:29 > 1:09:31doing exactly the same thing that she was doing.
1:09:31 > 1:09:33So, I knew that SeaWorld was lying about the fact
1:09:33 > 1:09:35that this was her fault.
1:09:35 > 1:09:38The ponytail in all likelihood is just a tale.
1:09:38 > 1:09:39Erm...
1:09:39 > 1:09:43The safety spotter, who apparently didn't actually see the take-down,
1:09:43 > 1:09:45came up with that.
1:09:47 > 1:09:49And during the spotter's testimony,
1:09:49 > 1:09:51OSHA pushed him to say that he wasn't really sure
1:09:51 > 1:09:54that it was her ponytail that was in the whale's mouth,
1:09:54 > 1:09:57that he just saw her underwater and he assumed it was the ponytail.
1:09:57 > 1:10:01OSHA contends that the whale came up and grabbed Dawn Brancheau's arm,
1:10:01 > 1:10:04saying that that was another level of aggressiveness.
1:10:04 > 1:10:07SeaWorld is saying it was not an aggressive move.
1:10:07 > 1:10:09One of SeaWorld's top curators, Chuck Tompkins,
1:10:09 > 1:10:11said when Dawn Brancheau was pulled off the ledge
1:10:11 > 1:10:14it wasn't necessarily aggressive behaviour by the whale.
1:10:14 > 1:10:17The initial grab was not an act of aggression.
1:10:17 > 1:10:20This is not a crazed animal.
1:10:20 > 1:10:23The industry has a vested interest in spinning these
1:10:23 > 1:10:26so that the animals continue to appear like...
1:10:26 > 1:10:29cuddly teddy bears that are completely safe, you know?
1:10:29 > 1:10:32'That sells a lot of Shamu dolls, it sells a lot of tickets at the gate,'
1:10:32 > 1:10:35and...that's the storyline that they're going to stick with
1:10:35 > 1:10:37for as long as they can.
1:10:54 > 1:10:59Recognise that those that say this is a crazed animal that acted out
1:10:59 > 1:11:02and grabbed on maliciously,
1:11:02 > 1:11:07they want to prove the theorem that captivity makes animals crazy,
1:11:07 > 1:11:09and that is just false.
1:11:09 > 1:11:11All whales in captivity have a bad life,
1:11:11 > 1:11:13they're all emotionally destroyed,
1:11:13 > 1:11:16they're all psychologically traumatised.
1:11:16 > 1:11:20So they are ticking time bombs. It's not just Tilikum.
1:11:20 > 1:11:23We have to separate what happened to Dawn,
1:11:23 > 1:11:26and, as tragic as it is, no-one wants to ever see it happen again.
1:11:26 > 1:11:30Can SeaWorld create an environment where it never happens again?
1:11:30 > 1:11:32Yes, I absolutely believe they can.
1:11:35 > 1:11:37What if there were no SeaWorlds?
1:11:37 > 1:11:41I can't imagine a society with the value we put on marine mammals
1:11:41 > 1:11:43if those parks didn't exist.
1:11:43 > 1:11:48I'm not at all interested in having my daughter, who is 3½,
1:11:48 > 1:11:51grow up thinking that it's normalised
1:11:51 > 1:11:54'to have these intelligent, highly evolved animals
1:11:54 > 1:11:55'in concrete pools.'
1:11:55 > 1:11:58I don't want her to think that's how we treat the kin
1:11:58 > 1:12:01'that we find ourselves around on this planet.'
1:12:01 > 1:12:02I think it's atrocious.
1:12:02 > 1:12:04This hearing's expected to last all week,
1:12:04 > 1:12:07with OSHA continuing to work towards this theory
1:12:07 > 1:12:11that SeaWorld knew there was a calculated risk of injury or death
1:12:11 > 1:12:13'but put trainers in the water with the whales anyway,
1:12:13 > 1:12:16'while SeaWorld will say that Dawn Brancheau's death
1:12:16 > 1:12:18'was an isolated incident.'
1:12:18 > 1:12:21Reporting live at Seminole County, Dave McDaniel, WESH 2 News.
1:12:30 > 1:12:34There's something wrong, you know, with Tilikum, that there's...
1:12:34 > 1:12:36There is something wrong, and that's, uh...
1:12:36 > 1:12:39When you have a relationship with that animal and you...
1:12:39 > 1:12:41HE SNIFFS
1:12:41 > 1:12:45..you understand that he's killing not to be a savage,
1:12:45 > 1:12:48'he's not killing cos he's just crazy,
1:12:48 > 1:12:50'he's not killing cos he doesn't know what he's doing.
1:12:50 > 1:12:55'He's killing because he's frustrated and he's got aggravations
1:12:55 > 1:12:58'and he doesn't know how to...
1:12:58 > 1:13:01'He has no outlet for it.'
1:13:01 > 1:13:04'Now, Tilikum is spending a great deal of time by himself'
1:13:04 > 1:13:08and basically floating lifeless in a pool.
1:13:09 > 1:13:11- WOMAN:- Three hours now...
1:13:11 > 1:13:14and he hasn't moved.
1:13:14 > 1:13:16They try to sugar-coat it by saying,
1:13:16 > 1:13:19"He comes out in the front pool every once in a while. He's doing shows."
1:13:19 > 1:13:21You know what he does in his show?
1:13:21 > 1:13:24'He does a few bows,'
1:13:24 > 1:13:27then he goes back in to his little...jail cell.
1:13:27 > 1:13:30That's his life.
1:13:30 > 1:13:32'I feel sad for Tilikum.'
1:13:32 > 1:13:34A regal thing like him,
1:13:34 > 1:13:38'swimming around a tank with his fin flopped over like that.
1:13:38 > 1:13:40'Compared to a wild bull killer whale that size,'
1:13:40 > 1:13:44which is one of the most kinetic and dynamic things you can imagine.
1:13:47 > 1:13:49'I feel sad when I see him.'
1:13:55 > 1:13:57'It's time to stop the shows,
1:13:57 > 1:14:01'it's time to stop forcing the animals to perform in basically a circus environment,'
1:14:01 > 1:14:04and they should release the animals that are young and healthy enough
1:14:04 > 1:14:07to be released, and the animals like Tilikum who are old and sick
1:14:07 > 1:14:10'and have put in 25 years in the industry should be released'
1:14:10 > 1:14:12to an open ocean pen so they can live out their lives
1:14:12 > 1:14:14and experience the natural rhythms of the ocean.
1:14:14 > 1:14:17This is a multibillion-dollar corporation that makes its money
1:14:17 > 1:14:20'through the exploitation of orcas.'
1:14:20 > 1:14:22They're not suitable to have in captivity.
1:14:22 > 1:14:25The whales are really bored.
1:14:25 > 1:14:29'You deprive them of all this environmental stimulation.'
1:14:29 > 1:14:32'I think that in 50 years we'll look back and go,'
1:14:32 > 1:14:34"My God, what a barbaric time."
1:15:12 > 1:15:16Dawn Brancheau, DB, Dream Big.
1:15:16 > 1:15:20'Dawn was the most loving, giving person you ever met.
1:15:20 > 1:15:22'Her smile just radiated.'
1:15:31 > 1:15:34She's... She fulfilled her life.
1:16:20 > 1:16:26'We saw whales swimming in straight lines with straight dorsal fins.'
1:16:27 > 1:16:29'I was so honoured to be there.'
1:16:34 > 1:16:37'And I was so thankful that I had sunglasses on,'
1:16:37 > 1:16:41cos...the tears were kind of coming out, and, erm,
1:16:41 > 1:16:43it was moving.