UPDATED Sunday, February 28, 2010 --- 7:00 a.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Despite chilly weather, more than 2,000 packed into the SeaWorld stadium for the first killer whale show since a trainer was killed by one of the orcas.

Employees wept and audience members grew silent during a photo montage for the trainer at the Orlando, Fla. show.

One spectator called the memorial "a very emotional start." Another says the show was "very moving." Molly Geislinger also notes the trainers "looked very cautious" during Saturday's show.

Dawn Brancheau died Wednesday after a killer whale named Tilikum grabbed her ponytail and pulled her into the water in front of about 20 spectators.

Trainers weren't allowed in the water during Saturday's event. Despite some somber moments, the audience seemed thrilled with the mammals.

Copyright 2010 The Associated Press.

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UPDATED Saturday, February 27, 2010 --- 10:45 a.m.

By TAMARA LUSH and BRIAN SKOLOFF
Associated Press Writers

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Hundreds of people are watching killer whales perform at SeaWorld for the first time since one of the orcas dragged a trainer to her death underwater in front of horrified spectators three days ago.

The enormous outdoor amphitheater was about three-quarters full Saturday despite chilly, rainy weather, with the orca pool registering at 52 degrees.

Several people wept as a photo montage was shown in memory of Dawn Brancheau, the 40-year-old veteran trainer who was pulled into water by a 12,000-pound orca named Tilikum.

Before the show started, the whale trainers received a standing ovation as they approached the platform.

This show is different, however. SeaWorld said it temporarily was not allowing trainers in the water after Brancheau's death.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Friday, February 26, 2010 --- 12:20 p.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- SeaWorld says its Shamu Believe show with killer whales will resume this weekend after a whale killed its trainer at the Orlando park.

SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment President Jim Atchison says trainers won't get in the water with the killer whales for now until officials finish reviewing what happened to trainer Dawn Brancheau.

The veteran trainer was dragged into the water Wednesday by killer whale Tilikum. The medical examiner says she likely died of traumatic injuries and drowning.

Atchison says whale shows will resume Saturday at parks in Orlando and San Diego.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Friday, February 26, 2010 --- 8:15 a.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The former boss of a trainer drowned by a killer whale in Orlando says he believes the attack was triggered by the trainer's mistake.

Thad Lacinak, a former head trainer at SeaWorld, told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Friday that he has seen video of the moments preceding the fatal attack Wednesday. He said he believes trainer Dawn Brancheau made a mistake by letting her ponytail drift in the water in front of the killer whale.

Lacinak says the killer whale grabbed the ponytail in his mouth and pulled her in the water.

Lacinak says Brancheau, if she were alive, would acknowledge it was her mistake.

Lacinak says Brancheau was lying on an underwater shelf called a slideout. The killer whale named Tilikum was next to the shelf in the deeper water of a pool.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Thursday, February 25, 2010 --- 2:40 p.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Federal documents are providing more details about how a whale blamed for killing its trainer in Florida got to the U.S.

The whale named Tilikum dragged 40-year-old trainer Dawn Brancheau into the pool at SeaWorld Orlando on Wednesday, killing her.

Tilikum was one of the three orcas blamed for killing a trainer in 1991 after she lost her balance and fell in the pool at a park near Victoria, British Columbia.

Documents show SeaWorld asked federal marine officials for permission to temporarily house Tilikum in Orlando several months later because he needed medical care he couldn't get in Canada.

National Marine Fisheries Service official Nancy Foster said in a letter then that neither the Canadian park nor SeaWorld took precautionary steps necessary for Tilikum's health and welfare.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Thursday, February 25, 2010 --- 12:05 p.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The head trainer for SeaWorld says a whale that killed his trainer by dragging her underwater won't be isolated from other killer whales at the Orlando park.

Chuck Tompkins said Thursday that the whale named Tilikum plays an important role in the social group of eight whales who live at Shamu Stadium. He's the father of some whales and will continue to mate with other females.

SeaWorld says trainers will continue to interact with Tilikum but the procedures for doing so will change in the wake of trainer Dawn Brancheau's death.

The killer whale shows are on hold for now and Tompkins says they won't start again until trainers understand what happened to her.

He says the park will change safety protocols as needed but he doesn't expect drastic changes.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Thursday, February 25, 2010 --- 10:40 a.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Celebrity zookeeper Jack Hanna says a trainer killed at SeaWorld Orlando would not want anything to happen to the killer whale that dragged her from a platform and thrashed her around.

Hanna is the Columbus, Ohio, Zoo's director emeritus and says he knew trainer Dawn Brancheau professionally for the last 10 years.

Brancheau died Wednesday when the 12,000-pound whale Tilikum dragged her underwater.

Hanna says Brancheau was a beautiful person and probably the best at what she did. He says the animals at SeaWorld are not mistreated or suffering.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Thursday, February 25, 2010 --- 8:00 a.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- The chief of animal training at SeaWorld said there was no sign of problems with a killer whale before it killed a trainer in front of horrified onlookers in Orlando.

Chuck Tompkins told the CBS "Early Show" on Thursday it was not true that the whale was misbehaving, as some witnesses have said.

Veteran trainer Dawn Brancheau was rubbing the whale named Tilikum after a noontime show Wednesday when the whale grabbed her and pulled her into the water, killing her.

Tompkins said the 12,000-pound whale had done really well during the show and the trainer was rewarding him by rubbing him. Some witnesses said they had heard the whale was not responding earlier to commands.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Wednesday, February 24, 2010 --- 4:55 p.m.

By MIKE SCHNEIDER
Associated Press Writer

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- An official says 40-year-old Dawn Brancheau is the trainer killed by a whale at SeaWorld in Orlando.

The law enforcement official with knowledge of the incident spoke on condition of anonymity because he had not been cleared to officially release her identity.

According to a 2006 Orlando Sentinel profile, Brancheau had worked her way into a leadership role at Shamu Stadium after spending more than a decade working with killer whales.

She was inspired by a trip to SeaWorld when she was 9.

Park president Dan Brown would say only that the trainer killed was one of the park's most experienced. She was killed when she slipped or fell into the whale's tank Wednesday afternoon.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Wednesday, February 24, 2010 --- 3:51 p.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Officials in Florida say a veteran 40-year-old trainer at SeaWorld was killed by a whale when she slipped and fell in its tank.

SeaWorld Orlando President Dan Brown says officials are investigating but it appears to be an accident.

He says the trainer was one of the park's most experienced.

Spectator Victoria Biniak told WKMG-TV that the trainer had just finished explaining to the audience a show they were about to see Wednesday when the whale appeared to grab the trainer and thrash her around.

Brown says SeaWorld has never experienced an incident like this.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Wednesday, February 24, 2010 --- 3:45 p.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Officials: Sea World Orlando trainer slipped and fell in tank, where she was killed by whale.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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UPDATED Wednesday, February 24, 2010 --- 3:25 p.m.

From MSNBC.com:
ORLANDO - A SeaWorld trainer was killed Wednesday when an orca pulled her into the water as she was talking to visitors.

The same orca, or killer whale, has been tied to two earlier deaths in 1991 and 1999, according to the Humane Society of the United States, which has campaigned to keep marine mammals out of theme parks.

Orange County Fire Rescue spokesman John Mulhall said paramedics were called to the Shamu Stadium at the theme park resort where they found a worker who could not be revived.

WKMG-TV reported that a witness, Victoria Biniak, said she saw the incident from a viewing area where the orca, or killer whale, is housed.

"The trainer was explaining different things about the whale ... and then the trainer that was down there walked away from the window ... and then Telly (the whale) took off really fast in the tank and he came back, shot up in the air, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started thrashing (her) around," Biniak said.

The theme park was closed shortly after the incident.

WKMG reported Biniak as saying that the killer whale — a 30-year-old, 12,300-pound male orca that also is called Tillikum — does not typically have a trainer in its tank because it is too large.

In 1991, the orca, "along with two female (killer) whales, drowned a young part-time trainer named Keltie Byrne at Sealand of the Pacific in Canada," the Humane Society stated.

The orcas "weren't trying to kill Byrne, but Tillikum and his orca companions didn't know that humans can't hold their breath as long as whales," Humane Society scientist Naomi Rose said in a report on the group's Web site.

Tillikum was later shipped to SeaWorld of Orlando, the Humane Society noted, and in 1999, "a man who had apparently stayed in the park after closing hours jumped into Tillikum's tank ... He was found dead the next morning, naked and draped across the whale. The man's swim trunks were found in the water, and his body was scraped up, a sign that Tillikum had dragged him around the bottom and sides of the tank."

Killer whales, or orcas, are not actually whales but the largest member of the dolphin family. The name killer whale comes from them being observed as sometimes killing whales for food.

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Posted Wednesday, February 24, 2010 --- 2:50 p.m.

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- An employee at SeaWorld Orlando has died after being attacked by a killer whale.

Orange County Fire Rescue spokesman John Mulhall says paramedics were called Wednesday afternoon to the Shamu Stadium at the theme park where they found a worker who could not be revived.

Park guest Victoria Biniak told WKMG-TV that the trainer had just finished explaining to the audience the show they were about to see.

Biniak told the station the whale suddenly came up from the water, grabbed the trainer around the waist and "thrashed her all around" to the point the trainer's shoe fell off.

The guests were evacuated and the park was closed.

Copyright 2010 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.