(Reuters)
SeaWorld expert cites trainer mistake in death: lawyer
8:43pm EST
By Barbara Liston
SANFORD, Fla (Reuters) - A SeaWorld expert blamed a mistake by trainer Dawn Brancheau at least in part for her 2010 drowning by a killer whale, according to a government lawyer who cited the expert's written report at a federal hearing on Friday.
SeaWorld had not previously revealed its conclusion about the cause of Brancheau's death at the hearing or in the standard incident reports the company maintains on aggression by killer whales, according to employees who testified on previous days.
The expert's opinion was raised on the final day of SeaWorld's challenge of federal safety charges resulting from the death of Brancheau, who drowned after being pulled into a pool by her ponytail.
The U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) charged SeaWorld with a "willful violation," meaning SeaWorld showed "plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health."
But the judge in the case blocked a government lawyer from reading aloud or asking about the conclusion reached by the expert, John Andrews, a former SeaWorld trainer who is now associate curator of mammals at the San Diego Zoo.
"I think it potentially raises a lot of other issues that really are not before me," Judge Ken Welsch said. OSHA lawyer John Black argued that Andrews' opinion that Brancheau made a "mistake" was important.
"The mistake allegedly made by Ms. Brancheau reflects on the credibility of the witness, especially when we've heard (from other witnesses) she did nothing wrong," Black said.
Brancheau had been laying on a pool ledge next to Tilikum, a 12,000 pound bull orca, when he grabbed her by her ponytail and thrashed around with her for 40-45 minutes.
Before Welsch stopped the questioning, Andrews testified he believed Tilikum became curious about Brancheau's hair floating in the water. Andrews said Tilikum was not accustomed to floating hair despite previous testimony by trainers that all the killer whales had been "desensitized" to hair.
WHALE NOT ACTING AGGRESSIVELY
Tilikum had been involved with two other deaths in 1991 and 1999. As a result, SeaWorld had special rules for handling Tilikum, and warned all new employees in what they called the "Tilly Talk" that they would not survive if they fell in the pool with the killer whale.
Andrews testified Tilikum was not an aggressive whale and was not acting aggressively toward Brancheau during the tragedy. He stood by that opinion even after Black pointed to SeaWorld's profile of Tilikum describing "aggressive tendencies" when frustrated, including lunging toward his control trainer.
"We would need to know more about the lunging behavior itself," Andrews said. "I'm not agreeing it is definitely an aggressive behavior."
Black listed a series of events in Tilikum's life in the weeks leading to Brancheau's death, including Tilikum receiving a series of injections, having limited contact with other whales, being confined for 10 days to one pool, and being excluded from performing in shows in Shamu Stadium.
Andrews said those events were unimportant to the incident.
Immediately after Brancheau's death, SeaWorld stopped allowing trainers to enter pools with killer whales. But the company argues that behavioral training for the whales enabled park staff to better care for the animals.
Earlier in the day, a SeaWorld veterinarian testified that the company's hands-off policy with killer whales following the death might have contributed to the death later that year of 25-year-old killer whale Kalina.
Kalina died at the SeaWorld Orlando park in October 2010 after a sudden illness, park officials reported at the time.
Dr. Chris Dold said trainers who previously had close physical contact with Kalina had often recognized when something was wrong with her on prior occasions even before lab tests revealed an inflammation.
"I don't know that it (close physical contact) would have saved her life, but it would have warned us," Dold said.
(Editing by Colleen Jenkins and Cynthia Johnston)
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