‘Orca’ in Tank to Urge Tourists to Stay Away From SeaWorld

PETA Will Continue to Call for Coastal Sanctuaries, Not More Years of Killer Whale Jail

For Immediate Release:
June 8, 2016

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

PETA is taking SeaWorld’s cruelty to captive orcas straight to shoppers and tourists in downtown Orlando on Thursday, where a PETA “orca” will swim in place in a tiny tank of water for an hour to demonstrate how SeaWorld confines orcas to concrete tanks that, to them, are the size of a bathtub.

Where:           City Commons, 400 S. Orange Ave., Orlando

When:             Thursday, June 9, 12 noon

“The orcas imprisoned in SeaWorld’s tiny tanks have nothing to do but swim endlessly in circles and gnaw on metal bars,” says PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange. “PETA urges tourists to steer clear of the park until it moves the orcas to coastal sanctuaries where they can finally feel the ocean currents, hear their families’ calls, and have some semblance of a natural life.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—notes that in the wild, orcas share intricate social relationships, work cooperatively to find food, and traverse up to 100 miles of ocean every day. At SeaWorld, they are housed in incompatible groups in tiny tanks, break their teeth by gnawing on metal tank bars, and are often given the drug diazepam to manage stress-induced, aggressive psychotic behavior.

For more information, please visit SeaWorldOfHurt.com.