Dubai’s Gulf News reported that witnesses saw water leaking from the mall’s massive fish tank, which holds more than 2 million gallons of water and 33,000 captive sea creatures. According to the Dubai newspaper, “It is believed that a leak occurred in the 270-degree acrylic walk-through tunnel, but it was sealed quickly.” A spokesman for the country’s civil defense force told The National, another Emirates newspaper, that “the situation is under control and a team is working on fixing the problem.” The National also reported that “as many as 300 cleaners were deployed to mop the water off the floors.” Gulf News published this amateur video, which shows patrons of the mall wading away from the leaking tank, on its Web site: On Thursday, reports on the death of Dawn Brancheau, the Sea World trainer who was pulled into the tank of a 12,000-pound orca named Tilikum, or Telly, focused on the same orca’s role in two previous deaths. As The Associated Press reported: A Sea World spokesman said Tilikum was one of three orcas blamed for killing a trainer in 1991 after the woman lost her balance and fell in the pool at Sealand of the Pacific near Victoria, British Columbia. [...] Tilikum was also involved in a 1999 death, when the body of a man who had sneaked by Sea World security was found draped over him. The man either jumped, fell or was pulled into the frigid water and died of hypothermia, though he was also bruised and scratched by Tilikum. A Sea World spokesman said Tilikum was one of three orcas blamed for killing a trainer in 1991 after the woman lost her balance and fell in the pool at Sealand of the Pacific near Victoria, British Columbia. [...] Tilikum was also involved in a 1999 death, when the body of a man who had sneaked by Sea World security was found draped over him. The man either jumped, fell or was pulled into the frigid water and died of hypothermia, though he was also bruised and scratched by Tilikum. In an interview with CNN on Thursday, Chuck Tompkins, Sea World’s head of animal training, insisted that the orca was getting a bad rap, saying, “those two incidents really don’t have anything to do with this and to mark him as a killer is very unfair.” Mr. Tompkins said that there was no reason to believe that the orca had turned on its trainer out of anger. He said that the orca had just finished a performance in which “he seemed to enjoy what he was doing” and was being rubbed down by the trainer as a reward. Nancy Black, an expert on marine mammals, told WKMG, a local news station in Orlando, that the orca could have been trying to relieve its boredom by playing with the trainer. “They are very intelligent creatures,” Ms. Black said. “They have emotions, and feelings. Maybe it was unhappy in the situation, maybe it was bored.” Animal rights activists described the death as a reminder that captive sea creatures might not happy with their plight. In a blog post, Debbie Leahy of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals called the orca “12,300 pounds of sheer rage.” Logan Scherer, a blogger for PETA, added: PETA has long been asking Sea World to stop taking wild, ocean-going mammals from their families and ocean homes and confining them with no semblance of a life to an area that, to them, is the size of a bathtub. No wonder these huge, intelligent animals, like the beaten elephants in the Ringling Bros. circus, lash out after being forced into subservience and forced to perform stupid circus tricks for their food for so long. PETA has long been asking Sea World to stop taking wild, ocean-going mammals from their families and ocean homes and confining them with no semblance of a life to an area that, to them, is the size of a bathtub. No wonder these huge, intelligent animals, like the beaten elephants in the Ringling Bros. circus, lash out after being forced into subservience and forced to perform stupid circus tricks for their food for so long. On Thursday a blogger for The Los Angeles Times pointed to this video, posted on YouTube in 2007, which appears to give a closer view of Tilikum in his tank: This video from Britain’s Channel 4 News includes aerial footage of the orca in a pool at Sea World after the trainer’s death: Source: Telegraph