PETA Statement: SeaWorld’s Death Toll May Be Mounting
For Immediate Release:
July 24, 2017
Contact:
Megan Wiltsie 202-483-7382
Below, please find a statement from PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman in response to reports that Kyara, the 3-month-old orca at SeaWorld, may have pneumonia—reportedly, one of the most common causes of illness or death in whales and dolphins:
Two orcas at SeaWorld are reportedly on the brink of death: Matriarch Kasatka hasn’t felt the ocean since she was taken from her family at just a year old, and now, her 3-month-old granddaughter may be dying—a death that would be sure to traumatize her mother, Takara. Kyara would become the 40th orca to die on SeaWorld’s watch, and not one of them has died of old age. SeaWorld had the opportunity to allow Takara to give birth in a seaside sanctuary but instead chose to make a buck off the birth. All the animals at SeaWorld’s abusement parks deserve to spend the rest of their lives in seaside sanctuaries where they’d be able to feel the sun and rain, dive deep, and raise their young, instead of floating in chemically treated water in concrete tanks.
PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment,” and more information is available at SeaWorldOfHurt.com.