Humans Killed by Orcas

Name: Keltie Byrne

Date of death: February 20, 1991

Age at death: 21

Location of death: Sealand of the Pacific, Victoria, British Columbia, Canada

Whale(s) involved in death: Tilikum, Haida II, and Nootka IV

Keltie Byrne was a part time employee at Sealand of the Pacific. She was a national champion swimmer and marine biology student. At Sealand of the Pacific, trainers never entered the water with the whales, and the husbandry conditions were subpar and would probably be considered illegal today. According to eyewitnesses, Keltie was walking by the side of the whales' pool when she slipped and fell into the pool. Before she could fully extract herself, Tilikum took her boot and foot in his mouth and pulled her to the center of the pool. All three whales pulled her underwater repeatedly, while Byrne screamed for help to those on deck. Efforts were made to separate Byrne from the whales, or to extract her, with nets and rescue tubes, but they didn't make it in time. Furthermore, the whales ere very excited, and would not allow Byrne to be taken from their possession. Byrne died from drowning, as the whales continuously pulled her underwater.

Name: Daniel Patrick Dukes

Date of death: June 6, 1999

Age at death: 27

Location of death: SeaWorld Orlando, Orlando Florida, USA

Whale(s) involved in death: Tilikum

Daniel Dukes' death is shrouded in mystery. It is rumored that he was a drifter who wanted to enter the water with a whale. It seems that he stayed in SeaWorld Orlando after hours, and waited until night, then entered the pool where Tilikum was resting. The next morning, Dukes was found dead, bitten, and unclothed, on Tilikum's back by park employees. SeaWorld claims that no one knows what happened between Dukes' entry of the pool and the arrival of the morning staff, but I think there is probably more to it than that. 

For one, SeaWorld is completely covered in cameras, both inside and outside the pools. There are very few blind spots. I find it questionable that there is absolutely no tape of this incident. Additionally, there are trainers with the whales 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. To me, it doesn't exactly make sense that the night shift trainer was completely unaware of a person entering the tank and dying until the morning. 

Additionally, Tilikum had a history. He had killed, or aided in killing, a person just eight years before. To me, it seems very unlikely that Tilikum would be unaware of a person in his pool, or that he would not engage with that person. Dukes definitely had injuries that could not have been sustained from drowning. His body was bitten up quite a lot.

The official cause of Dukes' death was ruled as hypothermia, but his injuries point to something more sinister.

Name: Alexis Martinez

Date of death: December 24th, 2009

Age at death: 29

Location of death: Loro Parque, Puerto de la Cruz, The Canary Islands, Tenerife, Spain

Whale(s) involved in death: Keto

Alexis Martinez was the senior orca trainer at Loro Parque. During a Christmas Eve training session in 2009, Keto had been repeatedly refusing to complete at a variety of behaviors. It was not the first time this had happened. Martinez himself described Keto as frustrated and unruly. 

The whale came between Martinez and the slideout. He had done this before. Then, he pulled Martinez under the water. Keto then rammed the trainer's body into the bottom of the pool, causing destruction of his ribcage and spine, and complete collapse of most of his internal organs, as well as copious amounts of internal bleeding. This is likely what killed Martinez. Keto carried the deceased Martinez around in his mouth and on his rostrum. Eventually, other park employees were able to remove Martinez from the water and onto the slideout, but there was nothing they could do. The injuries he had sustained were unsurvivable. Witnesses describe blood pouring out of his mouth, nose, eyes, and ears. 

Name: Dawn Brancheau

Date of death: February 24, 2010

Age at death: 40

Location of death: SeaWorld Orlando, Orlando Florida, USA

Whale(s) involved in death: Tilikum

Dawn Brancheau was performing a 'Dine with Shamu' show in G pool of SeaWorld Orlando with Tilikum on February 24, 2010. She was a senior trainer at the park and known for her attention to detail and safety. She was a Senior 1 trainer, the highest possible.

As the show wound down, she asked Tilikum to perform a half-perimeter pec wave, where he swam around the pool and waved his fin at the audience. When he made it halfway around the pool, Brancheau gave him a whistle, signaling for him to come back and receive his reward. However, Tilikum either did not hear or ignored this signal, and did a full perimeter pec wave instead. He performed this behavior well, but it was not what Brancheau had asked him to do, and so she gave him a neutral whistle signal and did not reward him. She did a few more behaviors with him around G pool, giving him fish and gelatin. This concluded the show. Dawn then signaled Tilikum to meet her at the slideout on the left side of G pool from the audience point of view and laid down in front of him. This is called a relationship session, and whales at SeaWorld do them multiple times a day. Whales are very tactile and like to be rubbed, hugged, and scratched. They are desensitized to the sensation of being touched by human hair and other things that might otherwise upset them.

This is where things become controversial. Some believe that Tilikum grabbed Dawn's arm, whereas others maintain that he grabbed her ponytail or her head. Regardless, Tilikum took Dawn in his mouth and pulled her into the pool. Tilikum, due to his past behaviors, was not supposed to have trainers in the water with him at all. Eyewitnesses claim that Tilikum tossed Brancheau around in the water, and that the trainer curled herself into a defensive ball in attempt to protect herself. Eyewitness accounts also maintain that Brancheau screamed when Tilikum initually grabbed her. Things escalated. He blocked her from getting out of the pool, or from getting away from him at all. 

Some describe Tilikum shaking her back and forth in an almost canine manner. By this point, Brancheau had certainly died, but it took a significant amount of time for park employees to retrieve Dawn's body. During this time, the park was in full emergency procedures. Employees had tried a variety of techniques to regain control over the whale, such as signals, whistles, underwater sound signals, and sirens. None of them helped. At this point, the other whales in the park, (Kayla, Kalina, Katina, Trua, Malia, Taima, Nalani, and Trua) were becoming agitated because of the sounds and sirens. However, none of them were involved in this incident or in G pool or the med pool, where these events took place. 

Eventually, Tilikum was herded into the med pool with a net, and the floor was lifted out from under him, beaching him. He was extremely agitated and refused to release Brancheau's body. Eventually, trainers whom Tilikum knew and recognized were able to help him relax enough for Dawn's body to be removed from his possession. In the struggle, Dawn's right arm was separated from her body, but her entire body was recovered from the scene. 

Dawn's is perhaps the most well known death on this page. It was not her fault. She was acting just as her coworkers acted. She did nothing out of line or turn. Tilikum simply decided to take violent action.