SeaWorld’s Proposal for New Orca Tanks Draws PETA Protest

Proposed Tanks Still Fail to Meet Orcas’ Needs

For Immediate Release:
January 6, 2015

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

As SeaWorld lays out its new plan to prop up its flagging attendance—minuscule “improvements” to its prison-like orca tanks—for a Mission Bay Park advisory committee today, a throng of local PETA supporters will gather just outside bearing signs that proclaim, “A Bigger Prison Is Still a Prison.” The protesters will call on SeaWorld to move the animals to coastal sanctuaries rather than investing resources into keeping frustrated orcas imprisoned and forcing them to continue to perform circus-style tricks for food.

When:   Tuesday, January 6, 5:30 p.m.

Where:  Santa Clara Recreation Center, 1008 Santa Clara Pl., San Diego

“The lush new look and feel of SeaWorld’s proposed ‘Blue World Project’ is for visitors, not for the orcas who will still swim in endless circles in a barren tank that’s still tiny and full of chemically treated water,” says PETA Foundation Director Jared Goodman. “Instead of making empty gestures, SeaWorld should heed the calls of PETA and kind people worldwide and start building coastal sanctuaries where these animals would finally have some semblance of a natural life.”

Orcas dive up to 1,000 feet in the wild and swim approximately 100 miles a day, a range SeaWorld’s proposed 50-foot-deep tank can’t hope to approximate. PETA, whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment,” encourages caring people to visit only interactive parks that don’t condemn animals to a lifetime of suffering.

For more information, please visit SeaWorldOfHurt.com.