SeaWorld in San Diego has canceled its Shamu whale show at least for Wednesday after an Orlando SeaWorld employee was killed in an encounter with a whale at that theme park.
"We're terribly saddened by the loss of the member of our SeaWorld family, it doesn't matter what park," said SeaWorld San Diego spokesman David Koontz. "We have canceled our afternoon Shamu show here today."
Koontz said park officials had yet to make a decision about to whether to cancel Thursday's show.
Orlando SeaWorld officials are not revealing the identity of the victim, although a local TV station is reporting that a female employee was killed after she was grabbed by one of the theme park's whales at the start of a public show. Park guest Victoria Biniak told the station that the trainer was a veteran of SeaWorld and had just finished explaining to the audience the show they were about to see.At that point, Biniak said, the whale came up from the water and grabbed the woman.
"He was thrashing her around pretty good. It was violent," Biniak said.
Read more on the story from the Orlando Sentinel.
-- Amina Khan
Photo: Dolphins at SeaWorld San Diego. Credit: EPA
A trainer and a whale similar to the whale involved in the incident during a SeaWorld show on February 17, 2010. 

Dawn Brancheau, a whale trainer, died in an accident at the SeaWorld in Orlando, Florida on Wednesday, at around 14:00 local time. The incident involved an 18-year-old killer whale, Tillikum, also called Tilly. The Orange County Sheriff's Office report that trainer Brancheau has 16 years of experience. Brancheau was reported dead after being recovered from the pool.

Witness to the incident Victoria Biniak told WKMG-TV, "He was thrashing her around pretty good. It was violent. The whale ...took off really fast in the tank, and then he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing around, and one of her shoes flew off." 

In response to this accident, SeaWorld San Diego canceled its Shamu show, a show involving the whales at the San Diego location. "We're terribly saddened by the loss of the member of our SeaWorld family, it doesn't matter what park," David Koontz, a spokesperson for SeaWorld San Diego said.