Related Video: In February 2020, SeaWorld paid $65 million to resolve a lawsuit related to the “Blackfish” documentary, examining the life of a performance with a killer whale in Orlando.
ORLANDO, Fla. (WFLA) – SeaWorld Orlando faces heavy fines after an employee was injured by a killer whale during a training exercise in September 2024.
Officials with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA) said the trainers were “not properly protected from danger” and labeling the type of violation as “serious.”
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The U.S. Department of Labor issued a $16,550 fine, and a serious quote “to allow employees to work in close contact with whales, and to be exposed to the potential risk of biting, striking and owning death.”
The fine comes from an incident in Medical Pool D on September 24th during a desensitization training with a killer whale, according to a departmental citation provided to wfla.com. In a 2010 lawsuit, “water desensitization” technique refers to adapting killer whales to the presence of trainers in a pool, training animals to ignore trainers unless signaled “to interact with specific learning behaviors.”
If the violation is not contested, Erin Sanchez, area director of the OSHA office, suggested that a viable measure to compensate for this risk is to use a physical barrier of glass or plastic or removable bars, or create a distance between the whale and the trainer.
The division’s announcement on March 21 revealed that the theme parks will have 15 working days since they received the quote to comply.
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SeaWorld Orlando has faced seven safety complaints since June 2022, according to an OSHA inspection report.
One of the most notable deaths from the Killer Whales took place in February 2010 at Sea World Orlando. This is when trainer Dawn Blancoe owns to Tirikum, a 29-year-old man orca in the park. Three quotations were issued in August 2010, and SeaWorld was fined $75,000. The company disputed these quotations.
When the lawsuit was concluded in June 2011, SeaWorld paid a $12,000 fine for two violations. Equipped with standard stair railings with two stairs on each side, animal trainers are struck and put in danger of own death when working with a killer whale during performance. To read the entire lawsuit, click here.
