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SeaWorld to Dive into 2011 with a New Shamu Show and Sea Turtle Attraction

SeaWorld has taken some hits this past year, most notably the highly publicized death of a trainer from a killer whale at the Orlando location. But the San Diego, Orlando and San Antonio theme parks are looking to revamp their offerings in hopes of getting out of its slump for 2011.

To avoid tragedies like the February incident, in which the trainer was killed by the orca during a live performance, the parks will pull their signature five-year-old "Believe" show. It'll be replaced with another Shamu show, but this one won't have trainers interacting with the mammals. And hopefully it'll have a better name than "Believe."

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Death Reported at Shamu Stadium Inside SeaWorld Orlando

UPDATE 2.26.10: SeaWorld Orlando's website has only updated on the show schedule page to say that the Believe shows at Shamu Stadium will resume again tomorrow, February 27. The Dine with Shamu experience, which enables guests to have lunch while observing the whales and was the scene of the horrifying incident, has been suspended until further notice.

Park authorities say the killer whale, Tillikum, will not be transferred, released or destroyed but whether he will perform is still not certain.

UPDATE: 5:26pm EST: A Twitterer in the audience, SapphicKitty, snapped a couple of Twitpics just before the show and Tweeted, "The killer whales are have a "moment" They don't feel like performing right now...." Later, the Twitterer found out it was because of all the action that happened just before the show started. Sad.

UPDATE 4:10pm EST: It has been confirmed that a trainer was attacked by a whale at the start of the show. Alarms went off and the stadium was evacuated. The park is still open but the whale stadium is closed.

However, it looks like the whale, Tillikum, has a history of doing this as he was the reason a trainer drowned in 1991 at Sealand of the Pacific in British Columbia. Another man was found dead laying on Tillikum's back in 1999 at SeaWorld. The man had snuck into the park and was later believe to have drowned but Tillikum had torn his shorts and bit him as well.

It's a tragic day for SeaWorld to lose one of its trainers doing the job they loved. But also, animals in captivity: still not a good idea.

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