As most would know by now, a Sea World trainer was killed by a killer whale Wednesday afternoon when she slipped into the whale’s tank. PETA, in a statement shortly after, seemingly comes across as saying that it wasn’t the whale’s fault.

Dawn Brancheau, a female trainer in Sea World, was killed Wednesday afternoon when she allegedly slipped into Tillikum’s tank. The killer whale reportedly attacked right away, and pinned Brancheau underwater so that she couldn’t breathe.

Shortly after the incident, PETA released a statement on their website, suggesting that Tillikum killed because the Sea World trainers kept him locked up in an unnatural environment:

Earlier this afternoon, another trainer at SeaWorld in Orlando was killed after being pulled into the tank by an orca named Tilikum (or Telly, for short). According to a witness, the whale, who has been involved in two previous fatal incidents involving human beings and who our captive wildlife director, Debbie Leahy, describes as “12,300 pounds of sheer rage,” leapt out of the tank and grabbed the trainer by the waist, pulled her into the water, threw her around like a rag doll, and then held her underwater until she drowned.

SeaWorld officials canceled the dolphin and whale shows for the rest of the day, but SeaWorld remains open (have they no shame?!) and will continue to exploit and abuse these captive animals despite the many horrific injuries and deaths of trainers and animals that have occurred throughout the theme park’s history.

It was also made known that Tillikum was also involved in another trainer’s death back in 1991.

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