Killer whale proximity to trainer key to shows, SeaWorld tells court

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Killer whale proximity to trainer key to shows, SeaWorld tells court

By Lacey Johnson WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Putting killer whales and their trainers together in close proximity is an important part of SeaWorld's shows, the marine park operator said on Tuesday in asking a federal court to overturn an order to put more space between orcas and humans. The case resulted from the February 2010 death of Dawn Brancheau, a 40-year-old marine life trainer at SeaWorld Entertainment Inc's Orlando park, and a U.S. Labor Department safety order that came after that tragedy. Brancheau drowned when a 12,000-pound (5,440-kg) bull killer whale, or orca, named Tilikum pulled her into a pool. Close interaction between whales and humans is "the premise of SeaWorld's entertainment," the company's attorney, Eugene Scalia, told a three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit.

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