Sheriff's Office Failed to Interview Executives or Examine Flawed Emergency Procedures; Group Calls Report a Whitewash 

For Immediate Release:
July 29, 2010

Contact:
Jeffrey S. Kerr, Esq. 757-622-7382

Orlando -- After obtaining the investigation file of the Orange County Sheriff's Office on the February 24 killing of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau, who was fatally attacked by an orca named Tilikum, PETA is calling on Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum to intervene in the case and pursue involuntary manslaughter charges against SeaWorld and its senior executives. In a 12-page complaint backed by 165 pages of exhibits, PETA shows how the file exposes the sheriff's grossly negligent investigation and failure to file any charges in the trainer's death as well as the state attorney's rubber-stamping of these failures--all of which PETA believes amounts to dereliction of their duties. Prior to the attack on Brancheau, Tilikum had killed twice before.

"The sheriff's office and the state attorney have not done justice in a case in which all the evidence shows that SeaWorld knowingly exposed its trainers to harm and the possibility of being killed," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. "When huge, wild animals such as orcas are removed from the ocean, confined to small tanks, and constantly dominated as Tilikum has been for 30 years, they are ticking time bombs."

Unanswered questions from the investigation include the following:

*  Why are all 911 calls made from SeaWorld routed through SeaWorld instead of going directly to the police?

*  Why did the sheriff fail to interview a single SeaWorld executive or investigate SeaWorld's flawed emergency protocols?

*  Why did it take at least 40 minutes to get the trainer out of the orca's mouth?

In addition to two previous attacks in which Tilikum killed other human beings, there have been at least six publicized attacks on trainers at SeaWorld parks since 2002. Following a 2006 incident in which an orca attacked a SeaWorld trainer in San Diego, the California Division of Occupational Safety and Health concluded that it was "only a matter of time" before someone was killed. The agency withdrew its findings under pressure from SeaWorld.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.