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Click here to visit the new home of Politics Daily!It has been one of those weeks in California. A week of heavy rain, snow and mudslides has left behind a mess of epic proportions in the Golden State. Here are just a few of the highlights from the storm's wrath so far: Blaming mudslides, Amtrak suspended service between San Diego and San Juan Capistrano today. After a creek bed collapsed in San Juan Capistrano, officials evacuated hundreds of residents. Heavy rains forced the closure of Sea World in San Diego and flooded Qualcomm Stadium. Downtown Laguna Beach streets were buried in mud and sand following days of torrential ...
Dawn Brancheau, the SeaWorld performer who died last February, had not crossed my mind in months. But last night I saw some year-end stories on 2010 newsmakers and what they were doing with their 16th minute of fame. One was Isaiah Mustafa, who found fame and fortune on a Super Bowl commercial for Old Spice. Another was Antoine Dodson, who scared away a would-be rapist from his sister's bedroom and whose comments to a news crew led to the "Bed Intruder Song." Tilikum, the killer whale, became a household name on Feb. 24, after he turned on his trainer Dawn Brancheau. When I first saw her ...
I'm afraid my trip to SeaWorld was much less stirring than my colleague Donna Trussell's -- my most salient memory being that I thought the killer whale's flopped-over dorsal fin was creepy. Of course, I was also seven at the time, and deeply disappointed that the whale in the tank didn't look like whales in pictures. Now I know that many scientists attribute the wonky-looking fins of killer whales in captivity to the same problem Donna identified: big animal, small tank. But, beyond physical challenges, orcas in captivity can have mental and emotional ones as well. The name 'killer whale' ...
I remember Sea World trainer Dawn Brancheau. Years ago I saw her perform with the killer whales she loved. On Wednesday one of them, a large male named Tilikum, killed her. A seven-minute tourist video shows Brancheau interacting with the whale up until just seconds before the attack. An autopsy revealed Brancheau died from multiple traumatic injuries and drowning. When I heard the trainer had wanted to work with Shamu since her first trip to Sea World at the age of 9, I realized I'd heard that story before. Brancheau was the woman I'd made my way downstage to see after the show. ...
(Feb. 26)--SeaWorld will resume its public killer whale performances on Saturday, just three days after they were suspended due to a fatal whale attack on a trainer in front of a live audience at the Orlando park. But the company will not be allowing trainers at any of its three U.S. locations into the water with those animals, pending the results of multiple investigations into Wednesday's deadly incident, SeaWorld President Jim Atchison announced. "We will only resume in-water interactions with our killer whales after the review is complete and we have implemented any changes in procedure ...
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