How long had Dawn Brancheau worked as a marine animal trainer before her death?”
It was her dream job, but Dawn Brancheau never thought it would cost her life. “When she was 11 years old, we took the family to SeaWorld and she said, ‘I wanna be a Shamu trainer,'” Brancheau’s heartbroken mother, Marion LoVerde, told the Daily News on Wednesday night. An orca whale trainer at SeaWorld in Orlando, Brancheau, 40, was killed Wednesday by the same species that captured her imagination 29 years ago on a family vacation. “She loved her work,” said the tearful LoVerde, who spent last weekend with her daughter and son-in-law, Scott Brancheau. “I just never dreamed that it would end this way.” The youngest of six children, Dawn Brancheau was raised far from the ocean in Indiana, but would spend her adult life obsessed with the sea and one of its largest creatures. “She was a fantastic girl,” her mother said. “She was loved by all. Anyone who met her loved her. She had the best personality.” She said her daughter had two dogs she cherished, but no children. Brancheau graduated
New to Two Minute News? Then do not forget to subscribe to our newsletter! Enter your email address: Delivered by FeedBurner Or you can also subscribe to our RSS Feeds and read the news directly from your favorite reader. Links may be sponsored by Infolinks. If you have any inquiries, corrections, or concerns about the news, kindly contact us. Thank you and we hope you enjoy reading our news. SeaWorld Whale Attack – 40-year-old female SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed in an apparent attack by Tilikum, a killer whale – which means “friend” in the Native American language Chinook – and is among the killer whales, dolphins and seals whose shows have made Florida’s SeaWorld so popular. SeaWorld authorities said that Brancheau died after falling into the whale’s tank. On the other hand, an eyewitness claimed that Tilikom leapt out of the water and grabbed the victim in its mouth. Dan Brown, SeaWorld’s general manager explained the yet unconfirmed cause of the trainer’s death, “…one
Brancheau graduated from the University of South Carolina with degrees in psychology and animal behavior and wasted no time landing a job at SeaWorld. Brancheau’s mother, Marion LoVerde, said her daughter was ecstatic when she was hired at SeaWorld in the mid-1990s. “She worked with the sea lions for a couple of years and then she got into Shamu Stadium,” the proud mom said. LoVerde said her daughter loved the killer whales she trained and performed with, cuddling with them like they were children. Brancheau was killed by a killer whale on Wednesday, February 24, 2010.
