In February 2010, Tilikum killed his trainer Dawn Brancheau during a performance at SeaWorld Orlando. The incident became the focus of the 2013 documentary Blackfish and sparked public outcry about the mistreatment of captive orcas.

Warning: This article contains graphic descriptions and/or images of violent, disturbing, or otherwise potentially distressing events.

Wikimedia CommonsTilikum was taken captive from the wild in 1983 and died at  SeaWorld in 2017.

The 2013 documentary Blackfish presented a scathing portrayal of SeaWorld in the wake of the infamous death of one of its employees, Dawn Brancheau, in 2010. Brancheau had been killed by a nearly 6-ton orca named Tilikum — the very same orca she herself had trained and performed with in countless shows. But this was not the first time Tilikum had killed.

In fact, though few people realized it, Tilikum had been involved in not just one, but two previous deaths. In 1991, the orca killed another trainer, and in 1999, a trespasser.

Yet, it was difficult to blame Tilikum. He was an orca, an apex predator, subjected to a demanding schedule of training and performances and used in captive breeding efforts. If anyone was to blame, many argued, it was SeaWorld.

The company’s reputation declined sharply following Brancheau’s death and the release of Blackfish, a trend which continued in 2017 following Tilikum’s death, ultimately leading to a series of protests against SeaWorld’s treatment of marine animals and the end of the company’s orca breeding program.

This is Tilikum’s story.

Tilikum’s First Years In Captivity

In 1983, in the waters off the coast of Iceland, a two-year-old male orca whale was taken from his family and held in a concrete holding tank at Hafnarfjördur Marine Zoo near Reykjavík.

Stuck in cramped conditions for months, the young orca, given the name Tilikum, could barely swim in circles — especially as he grew in size, reaching 22.5 feet. Then, in 1984, he was shipped off to Sealand of the Pacific in Vancouver.

But Tilikum’s new home brought with it a host of new problems. As The Sun reported, Tilikum was housed with two older female orcas, Haida II and Nootka IV, in yet another cramped tank. It was only 26 feet wide, and the female orcas didn’t take to their younger tank mate kindly.

They regularly asserted their dominance over Tilikum, raking him with their teeth and physically abusing him. He developed stomach ulcers and was soon transferred to an isolated medical pool to heal.

Wikimedia CommonsTilikum spent more than 30 years in captivity, subjected to conditions that ex-trainers say drove him “psychotic.”

Tilikum’s problems were just beginning, however. And in 1991, the now 12,000-pound orca found himself embroiled in the first of several deadly incidents.

Tilikum’s Killing Streak Begins

In February 1991, a 21-year-old part-time trainer and marine biology student named Keltie Byrne slipped and fell into the pool housing Tilikum, Haida, and Nootka. With little hesitation, the orcas swarmed, pulling Byrne down under the water and dragging her through the pool.

According to the Whale Sanctuary Project, Byrne made several attempts to get away from the orcas. She reached the edge of the pool and attempted to climb out, but the orcas pulled her away and submerged her again.

Other staff members attempted to rescue Byrne by throwing her a life ring, but the orcas kept her away from it, treating her like a “plaything,” according to The Mirror. Over the course of 10 minutes, Byrne surfaced three times, trying to escape the orca tank. Unfortunately, she couldn’t, and drowned there in the pool.

Several hours passed before Sealand staff were able to recover her body.

“They never had a plaything in the pool that was so interactive,” Sealand’s head of animal training at the time, Steve Huxter, said of the attack. “They just got incredibly excited and stimulated.”

Wikimedia CommonsSince 1961, 174 orcas have died in captivity — not including 30 who were miscarried or stillborn.

The incident left a dark cloud over Sealand — one it could never cast aside. A mere 18 months after Byrne’s death, Sealand shuttered its doors, and Tilikum and his tank mates were sent off to  SeaWorld.