February 24, 2010, CNN — A killer whale killed a trainer Wednesday afternoon at SeaWorld’s Shamu Stadium in Orlando, Florida, a public information officer for the Orange County Sheriff’s Office said.

The 40-year-old woman, identified by sheriff’s spokesman Jim Solomons as Dawn Brancheau, was in the whale holding area about 2 p.m. when “she apparently slipped or fell into the tank and was fatally injured by one of the whales,” he said.

But a witness told CNN affiliate WKMG-TV that the whale approached the glass side of the 35-foot-deep tank at Shamu Stadium, jumped up and grabbed the trainer by the waist, shaking her so violently that her shoe came off.


Kristi and her then-fiancé, Mark, went to Playa del Carmen, Mexico, a few years ago.  The resort, just a few miles south of Cancun, turned out to be much too “touristy” for my taste, but that’s what they like.

dolphin

Notice the smile on the dolphins' faces

When they came home, she raved repeatedly about the wonderful adventure of “swimming with the dolphins.”  So naturally her mother, a wildlife enthusiast, wanted to try it and I must admit I was also slightly tempted, although having spent a number of years in and around zoos, I knew I would never do it.

Four or five years later, Marianne and I also ventured to Playa del Carmen, where the beach bar closest to our hotel had the best ceviche I’ve had in all of Mexico and Marianne felt the same way about its fish tacos.  Other than that (and the occasional American tourista sunbathing topless, of which I dutifully took photos), you had to rent a car to later claim you had actually left the United States.

If you rent a car (or take a bus, which is nowhere near as handy), you can visit the Mayan ruins at Chichén Itzá or Tulum.  The former, in particular, is an astounding sight and worth the trip all by itself.

But then there is the primo attraction for Mexicans and touristas alike: the animal-slash-water park called Xcaret.  Here you can spend an entire day watching folkloric performances and displays, looking at caged animals, swimming, snorkeling and – if you’re lucky – swimming with the dolphins. 

So we went to the performing dolphin show so Marianne could swim with the dolphins and have her picture taken, just like Kristi.  But one of the dolphins was refusing to perform.

“It’s O.K., folks,” soothed the announcer on the P.A. system in the best of idiomatic English.  “She’s not very happy because she’s separated from the baby she had just last month.  Now, could we have a few volunteers who would like to swim. with. the. dolphins??”

“That’s it.  I’m out of here,” I said, getting up from the bleachers in disgust.

“No, I need to see this,” Marianne replied stonily, so we sat and watched as happy, innocent dolphins – save one – frolicked with happy, innocent tourists from both north and south of the border.  Mama dolphin, meanwhile, inexplicably sulked.

Marianne had not stepped forward with the rushing crowd when the call for volunteers came.  And when the show was over, she admitted, “You were right.  I don’t want to swim with the dolphins.”

(CNN)  Fred Felleman, a marine consultant in Seattle, Washington, said keeping the social animals in what amounts to isolation is bound to cause problems.

“The fact is we don’t have the facilities to adequately accommodate not only the physical needs, the psychological and social needs of these animals,” he told CNN affiliate KIRO-TV.

“We respect lions and wolves and wild dogs as fantastic things, but we don’t go run into the Serengeti and try to jump on their back.”