The U.S. Court of Appeals has denied SeaWorld’s appeal and upheld citations issued by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
This all stems from the 2010 death of trainer Dawn Brancheau with Tilikum the killer whale.
After the death, OSHA ruled SeaWorld exposed workers to known hazards in the workplace.
SeaWorld was cited for three safety violations. OSHA mandated the park keep humans out of the water with killer whales, unless there were physical barriers.
The park’s appeals were heard in November. At that time, OSHA argued close interaction between humans and whales was not crucial to SeaWorld's business.
SeaWorld argued OSHA overstepped its bounds by issuing restrictions.
The court denied the theme park’s appeal by a 2–1 vote.
SeaWorld can petition for the U.S. Supreme Court to hear its case.
SeaWorld's reaction
SeaWorld sent us the following statement Friday:
We are obviously disappointed with today's decision from the U.S. Court of Appeals. Following the tragic death of Dawn Brancheau in 2010, we voluntarily deployed several new safety measures, including removing trainers from the water during shows.
In so noting in its opinion, the Court acknowledged that there will still be human interactions and performances with killer whales and, according to the Court, the decision simply requires that we continue with increased safety measures during our shows.
SeaWorld remains committed to providing a safe workplace for employees, healthy environments for the animals in our care, and inspirational and educational experiences with killer whales for our guests. We are still reviewing the opinion and no decision has been made on whether we will appeal.