In Memory Of Dawn Brancheau

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About In Memory Of Dawn Brancheau

This group is in honor of Dawn Brancheau. She worked at SWF for about 10 years with the orcas. According to a profile of Brancheau in the Sentinel in 2006, she was one of SeaWorld Orlando's leading trainers. It was apparently a trip to SeaWorld at age 9 that made her want to follow that career path.
"I remember walking down the aisle (of Shamu Stadium) and telling my mom, 'This is what I want to do,'" she said in the article.
Brancheau worked her way into a leadership role at Shamu Stadium during her 12-year career with SeaWorld, starting at the Sea Lion & Otter Stadium before spending the past 10 years working with killer whales, the newspaper said.
She also addressed the dangers of the job.
"You can't put yourself in the water unless you trust them and they trust you," Brancheau said. She loved the whales like children and would want nothing bad to happen to them. After a Dine With Shamu on February 24th around noon something went terribly wrong. After DWS Dawn was in laying in the shallow part of the pool with a male orca named Tillikum(people don't get in deep water with him because of his power and aggression in the past). Her long ponytail touched Tillikum's nose. Then Tilly grabbed it pulling Dawn in. She was caught off guard. She took a panicked breathe and was pulled under. Tilly probably thought she was a toy. Tilly swam quickly around the pool and thrashed around. Sadly Dawn died from "multiple traumatic injuries and drowning" after a killer whale pulled her underwater by her long pony tail near the theme park's Shamu Stadium. I had only met Dawn a few times but she was an amazing person. Dawn was always smiling while working with the orcas. Most of her adult she did what she loved; worked with orcas. Her says that she would want nothing bad to come to Tilikum. May she rest in peace.