Whether it’s an escaped gorilla or a serial-killing whale, every once in a while, a captive animal grabs headlines for attacking a human.

The incident usually sparks a national debate over the morality and safety of holding wild animals in captivity. But once the next big story breaks, the headlines quickly subside and the animals remain caged.

It’s been just over a year since Tilikum, a 30-year-old killer whale at SeaWorld Orlando took the life of experienced trainer Dawn Brancheau just before a public performance. What was most shocking about the attack was that Tilikum had killed before — twice.

After a yearlong hiatus, it was recently announced that Tilikum is back to performing in SeaWorld’s shows.  

While trainers can no longer swim with the whale, they will still be conducting shows from the shallow portion of the pool. This has caused outcry because Brancheau was not actually underwater when Tilikum attacked her, yet she still suffered fatally.

The fact that Tilikum is once again performing in SeaWorld’s shows is outrageous, not because of the danger to just the trainers but to the whale’s wellbeing.

There have only been a handful of wild killer whale attacks on humans throughout recorded history, and none of them resulted in a fatality. However, according to ABC News, captive whales have attacked humans approximately two dozen times since the rise of marine parks in the 1970s. Many have been fatal.

This statistical disparity suggests that it is highly dangerous to hold whales in captivity. But it is not just unfortunate for the humans who interact with them; captivity also takes a devastating toll on whales’ quality of life.

SeaWorld’s slogan reads, “As real as it gets,” but there is nothing real about the stark walls and claustrophobic habitats that confine the animals, in many cases for their entire lives.

Killer whales have much shorter life spans in captivity. They are deprived of the highly structured, matrilineal social orders and long-standing migration patterns that characterize their lives in the wild. They are also robbed of many of their natural food sources. Killer whales are considered apex predators, meaning they have no natural predators in the wild. That view from the top of the food chain, coupled with the stress of captive life, could be responsible for their attacks on humans.

When SeaWorld opened in 1964, it was probably the first time many visitors saw a killer whale outside of shaky nature documentaries and encyclopedia photographs. But in a world of Planet Earth, YouTube and Animal Planet, we can now learn more about these creatures than ever before without having to venture into the “Splash Section.”

But what happens now? After nearly 28 years in captivity, SeaWorld cannot exactly throw Tilikum back into the ocean like some catch-and-release fish. Once an individual animal has its own Wikipedia page, it’s safe to say it probably isn’t a great candidate for life in the wild.

Hopefully, Tilikum’s transgressions will serve as a reminder that marine parks are relics of the past, made increasingly obsolete with time. The more we learn about these species, the clearer it is that they belong in the wild.