The story of a trainer, Dawn Brancheau, killed by a Killer Whale in Seaworld is a big shock for my 8-year old daughter, Gillian. It was in the “breaking” news yesterday and headlines today. We tried hard to put some sense for her of what had happened. The impact of the news to Gillian is so sudden since we spend a couple of days in Seaworld just last summer. Weeks before that, Gillian was visited by her friends Renz and Danna. Both of them had been to Seaworld and they were so loco about it.

During our visit, I took tons of  pictures, most of them were that of the trainers and their animals, it could be Dawn or someone else, dancing, ridding, swimming with the whales, etc. And the whales performing in the show and the tricks they made were wonderful and amazing.

Gillian loves Seaworld. I can’t blame her for that! I, too, was very much impressed by the presentation. But because of the this latest unfortunate incident, Gillian needs to stop thinking about Shamu as cute and cuddly  and go back to documentary films where Killer Whales, just like any other predator in the wind, must kill in order to survive. This is their real and natural behavior. And this, for me, gives sense to what happened in Seaworld.

The following videos will give us some insights on the dangers these trainers, handlers, and owners (or in the case of the last video, a “privileged guest”) are facing everyday, especially during every performance.  These videos are not the recent attack that killed Dawn Brancheau.

 Video source: YouTube

 Top photo by Associated Press