ORLANDO, Fla. -- Tilikum the killer whale is slated to give a public performance at SeaWorld Orlando on Wednesday for the first time since he dragged a trainer underwater by her ponytail, killing her, over a year ago, the Orlando Sentinel reported.
The six-ton male orca will feature in Wednesday's 11:30am ET performance of "Believe," SeaWorld's main killer whale show, after the company's President Jim Atchison signed off on the decision.
"Participating in shows is just a portion of Tilikum's day, but we feel it is an important component of his physical, social and mental enrichment," Kelly Flaherty Clark, SeaWorld Orlando's animal training curator, said in a statement.

AP
In this photo taken March 7, 2011, Kelly Flaherty Clark, left, director of animal training at SeaWorld Orlando, and trainer Joe Sanchez work with killer whales Tilikum and Trua, right, during a training session at the theme park's Shamu Stadium in Orlando, Fla.

The whale dragged and thrashed 40-year-old trainer Dawn Brancheau underwater in front of horrified tourists following a "Dine with Shamu" whale show on Feb. 24, 2010. A medical examiner determined that the 16-year SeaWorld veteran died of drowning and blunt force trauma.
SeaWorld is challenging a $75,000 citation issued by the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration last summer, accusing the company of exposing its killer whale trainers to danger without adequate protection. The agency recommended that trainers never again work directly with Tilikum.
SeaWorld said that it has made changes to its marine park stadium to further protect its trainers and that it might invest in an underwater distraction device to attract a killer whale if it dragged a trainer under the surface, WESH-TV reported.
Tilikum had been involved in the death of a trainer who fell in the whale tank at Sealand in British Columbia in 1991. Then in 1999, a homeless man who broke into SeaWorld Orlando's killer whale complex after hours was found dead in Tilikum's pool.
SeaWorld's critics worried that the killer whale could strike again.
"If you had a friend that had a dog that had mauled three people, would you go play with that dog?" Russ Rector, a former dolphin trainer who opposes keeping marine mammals in captivity, told the Sentinel. "These people only care about the show. They never learn."


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