KILLER WHALE's VIOLENT PAST

The killer whale that slew its trainer in Sea World has been linked to other deaths.

Tillikum the killer whale that attacked and killed Dawn Branchaur at SeaWorld Orlando has been involved in the deaths of at least two other victims, CBS reports.

First, a trainer drowned in the tank with Tillikum at Sealand of the Pacific in British Columbia in 1991.

After the whale was shipped to SeaWorld Orlando, the nude body of a man was found maimed, extremely bruised and draped over the mammal in 1999.   Police believe that David Dukes, 27, had stripped down to his underwear and either jumped or fell into the tank.

Because of these incidents, the Orlando Sentinel quotes a former Seaworld employee that no trainer was allowed in the tank with the seemingly treacherous whale.

"He's not an aggressive animal," a park official said in 99. "He's good with the trainers. He has a good relationship with a lot of the trainers. He understands people."

A Seaworld visitor, Victoria Biniak, who witnessed the tragic death of Dawn the pony-tailed handler who had 16 years experience handling orcas said," Tilly took off really fast, and then he came back around to the glass, jumped up, grabbed the trainer by the waist and started shaking her violently.

"The last thing we saw was her shoe floating."

Yet marine biologists agree that the term "killer whale" is something of a misnomer.  The orca are highly intelligent and have reportedly never killed a human in the wild.