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SeaWorld has been fined with $75,000 following the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau during a show at the popular amusement park. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration cited SeaWorld Orlando for 3 safety violations, one of which was considered “willful”.

“SeaWorld recognized the inherent risk of allowing trainers to interact with potentially dangerous animals,” said Cindy Coe, OSHA’s regional administrator in Atlanta, Ga. “Nonetheless, it required its employees to work within the pool walls, on ledges and on shelves where they were subject to dangerous behavior by the animals.”

Ina press release, SeaWorld said that they will fight the fine for the Dawn Brancheau case and the violations that have been cited on the documents:

“SeaWorld disagrees with the unfounded allegations made by OSHA today and have already informed the agency that we will contest this citation,”

“OSHA’s allegations in this citation are unsupported by any evidence or precedent and reflect a fundamental lack of understanding of the safety requirements associated with marine mammal care. Killer whales at SeaWorld are displayed under valid federal permits and under thesupervision of two government agencies with directly applicable expertise: The U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the U.S. Department of Commerce National Marine Fisheries Service. SeaWorld is a member in good standing of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums and the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums. Both associations make employee safety a central feature of rigorous accreditation processes,”