A Look At The Terrifying Moment Orca Came Into View With Trainer In Its Mouth

This is actually not that surprising now that we know more about these orcas.

Daphnie

• Published in Animals
• September 9, 2024

Orcas are one of those animals that you may not ever have the pleasure to see in person but people travel from all over to visit SeaWorld just to have this exact experience. Now if you know anything about wild animals, they can be very unpredictable even if they are in their same environment all the time.

Working with wild animals can be extremely dangerous, although it’s an exciting job, many workers know exactly what the negativity’s of their jobs could mean for them. In this case, working at SeaWorld means you are around the biggest sea creatures in the world, including Orcas.

Now although trainers are experienced in what they do, there was one incident in particular that shook the globe when it happened. We are going to look more into the terrifying moment when an orca swam past the viewing window with its trainer in its mouth.

This devastating event shook the globe, and many spoke out against SeaWorld's practices afterward. If you want to hear more about this tragic event and see what people have to say about it, keep reading as we give you the details on this event that happened almost fifteen years ago.

This trainer worked at Sea World for fifteen years before this tragic event happened.

Dawn Brancheau was working at the Orlando resort with the orcas for over fifteen years and even became Sea World’s poster girl. In 2010, the forty year old woman ended up being pulled underwater while working with the twelve thousand pound killer whale Tilikum, also known as Tilly or Shamu.

Susanne De Wit was actually at the show at the time that this happened and saw the orca swim past the viewing window with Dawn in its mouth. An investigation into her death was immediately launched by Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

This event led to a ban on trainers entering the water with the whales during shows. De Wit actually came forward and told us more about what exactly she saw.

She told us more about what happened, what she saw, and what followed after this event.

De Wit said in a statement to the Sheriff’s Office, “They told us he was playing with the trainer. Suddenly, I saw Shamu grabbing the trainer by the shoulder and pulling her down in the water near the window. It did not look normal.”

"It was scary. He was very wild with the trainer still in the whale’s mouth. The whale’s tail was very wild in the water,” she continued.

“The tour guide pulled us out and there was a full alarm. We then saw them throw a net into the water."

Dawn’s family spoke out and said that they are still trying to understand what happened in that moment that Dawn was grabbed up.

Seeing tragic events like this happen goes to show that anything can happen and despite being someone who is experienced, bad things can happen. This is an unfortunate event that happened and many people have remembered this moment forever.

Daphnie