SeaWorld San Diego
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SeaWorld
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When founded in 1964, SeaWorld San Diego was the first of its kind to feature a Dolphin Cove. In 1970, the second park SeaWorld Ohio was built in Aurora, Ohio, near Cleveland; it featured a Dolphin Cove. In 1973, the third Dolphin Cove opened together with SeaWorld Orlando. In 1988, the fourth Dolphin Cove in SeaWorld San Antonio opened its doors. In January 2001, SeaWorld Ohio was sold to Six Flags resulting in the exhibit's closure. 
SeaWorld was founded in March 21, 1964 by four graduates of the University of California, Los Angeles. Although their original idea of an underwater restaurant was not feasible at the time, the idea was expanded into a marine zoological park along the shore of Mission Bay in San Diego. After an investment of about $1.5 million, the park opened with 45 employees, several dolphins, sea lions, and two seawater aquariums, and hosted more than 400,000 visitors in its first year of operation. Initially held as a private partnership, SeaWorld offered its stock publicly in 1968 enabling them to expand and open additional parks. The second SeaWorld location, SeaWorld Ohio, opened in 1970, followed by SeaWorld Orlando in 1973 and SeaWorld San Antonio (the largest of the parks) in 1988. SeaWorld Ohio was later sold to Six Flags in January 2001. The parks were owned and operated by Harcourt Brace Jovanovich between 1976 and 1989, when they were purchased by Anheuser-Busch Companies, Inc. After Anheuser-Busch was acquired by InBev, SeaWorld San Diego and the rest of the company's theme parks were sold to the Blackstone Group in December 2009, which operates the park through its SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment division. SeaWorld currently leases the land from the City of San Diego with the lease expiring in 2048. The premises must be used as a marine mammal park, and no other marine park may be operated by SeaWorld within 560 miles of the City limits. 
SeaWorld's main attraction are its orcas, several of which are housed in 7-million-gallon habitats that are each known as Shamu Stadium. Shamu was the name of the first orca brought to SeaWorld San Diego in the 1960s from the Seattle Marine Aquarium. 'Shamu' is now used as a stage name for orcas in performances at SeaWorld parks. Currently, SeaWorld houses 23 orcas in its three parks. Ten orcas live at Seaworld San Diego: Corky, Kasatka, Ulises, Orkid, Nakai, Ikaika, Kalia, Keet, Shouka and Makani. Seven orcas live at SeaWorld Orlando: Katina, Tilikum, Kayla, Trua, Nalani, Makaio and Malia. Six orcas live at SeaWorld San Antonio: Kyuquot, Unna, Takara, Sakari, Tuar, and Kamea. SeaWorld also has five orcas on breeding loan: Keto, Tekoa, Kohana, Skyla and Adan. Lists of other animals that can be found at each SeaWorld park can be found on each park's individual pages (SeaWorld San Diego, SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Antonio). 
 On July 6, 1999, a 27-year-old homeless man was found naked in the pool draped over the back of the killer whale named Tilikum. The man had died of hypothermia. He had visited SeaWorld the previous day, stayed after the park closed, and evaded security to enter the Orca tank. A spokesman for the sheriff's office said, "there was no obvious signs of trauma to the body. He wasn't chewed. He wasn't dismembered." However, the coroner reported finding scrapes and bruises all over the body, some of which had occurred after the victim had died. The coroner also discovered more significant injuries, such as puncture wounds on the victim's leg and his scrotum having been "ripped open". Divers also found small pieces of the victim's body at the bottom of the pool. On February 24, 2010, a 40-year-old trainer with 16 years of experience at the park died in another incident involving Tilikum. SeaWorld's head of animal training said that during a rubdown after the show Tilikum pulled the trainer into the water by her left arm and she drowned. The autopsy report said she died from drowning and traumatic injuries including removal of her scalp. This was the third time since being first put on public display that Tilikum has been involved in a human death. By February 27, SeaWorld Orlando whale shows resumed with trainers practicing increased caution and not joining the whales in the water. SeaWorld announced they have invited experts from outside marine parks and aquariums to review SeaWorld's handling of killer whales and also Tilikum specifically. On August 23, 2010, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) fined the park US$75,000 for three infractions, two of which were directly related to this incident. One related citation was designated as "willful", and was "committed with plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health". The other related citation was a "serious" violation relating to a missing safety rail at Shamu Stadium. At the time of the fine, SeaWorld called OSHA's findings "unfounded". Later hearings revealed that SeaWorld had concealed an earlier incident when another whale, Ikaika, had bitten a trainer in 2006. During a hearing where SeaWorld continued their challenge of OSHA's findings, former SeaWorld trainer Jeff Andrews - being presented as an expert - stated his opinion that the victim died as a result of a mistake she had made while near the water. He continued that he did not agree that Tilikum showed "aggressive behavior" during the incident. On May 31, 2012 Occupational Safety and Health Administration administrative law judge Ken Welsch cited SeaWorld for two violations in the death of the trainer and fined the company a total of $12,000. The final decision was issued on June 11, 2012. On November 21, 2012 an eight-year-old girl was bitten by a dolphin at an attraction which allows visitors to feed dolphins. The victim said she lifted up a paper tray used to hold fish, the dolphin saw it and lunged for it. The girl suffered three puncture wounds to her hand and required medical treatment.  
SeaWorld was opened in 1964 by Milton C. Shedd, Ken Norris, David Demott, and George Millay. The four graduates of UCLA originally set out to build an underwater restaurant and marine life show. When the underwater restaurant concept was deemed unfeasible, they scrapped those plans and decided to build a park instead, and SeaWorld San Diego was opened on March 21, 1964. With only a few dolphins, sea lions, 6 attractions and , the park proved to be a success and more than 400,000 guests visited in the first 12 months. After considering other locations in the midwest, including the Lake Milton/Newton Falls area west of Youngstown, Ohio, it was decided that Aurora, Ohio would be the new home of a SeaWorld. The Aurora site was approximately northwest of the Lake Milton site, and southeast of Cleveland. By this time the founders of the company had captured a few more species of animals, including a killer whale that was brought to the new facility. The harsh winter climate permitted the park to be open only from mid-May until mid-September. The Walt Disney World Resort in Orlando, Florida opened near the end of the second operating season of SeaWorld of Ohio. The success of Disney in Orlando provided a location that was already popular with tourists. SeaWorld Orlando opened in 1973. Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc. (HBJ) purchased the company in 1976 and 12 years later they began a venture in Texas. In 1988, SeaWorld San Antonio opened just a few miles outside of San Antonio. Growth has pushed the city outwards, and now SeaWorld San Antonio lies in the Westover Hills community in West San Antonio. The park was open year-round like its sister parks in California and Florida in 1988 and 1989, then went to a seasonal schedule. The stress and financial resources it took to build and maintain a state-of-the-art marine mammal facility in the late '80s eventually took its toll on the company. HBJ, whose primary focus was producing school books, needed to reduce its assets in order to avoid a bankruptcy. The Anheuser-Busch Company made an offer to purchase the SeaWorld parks. However, HBJ also owned and operated two other parks, Cypress Gardens and Boardwalk and Baseball, and out of fear of not being able to find a buyer for the two other parks, HBJ refused to sell the parks individually. Despite a long negotiation, Anheuser-Busch bought all six parks in 1989: SeaWorld in San Diego, Aurora, Orlando and San Antonio as well as Cypress Gardens in Winter Haven and Boardwalk and Baseball in Haines City. Soon after the sale was final, Busch sold Cypress Gardens to the park's management and closed Boardwalk and Baseball. Anheuser-Busch put millions of dollars back into the parks to revive and to prolong their longevity. 