1.5-Mile-Long Banner to Demand Orca’s Freedom From SeaWorld

PETA Is Calling for Longest-Held Captive Orca in the World to Be Retired to Her Home Waters, Near Her Family

For Immediate Release:
May 12, 2017

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

What:    In 1969, Corky the orca was captured rodeo-style off the coast of British Columbia—and on Saturday, 48 years later, dozens of PETA supporters will unfurl an enormous 1.5-mile-long banner on the beach demanding that she be released into a retirement facility in a protected bay within her home waters. Constructed in the 1990s by whale research group OrcaLab, the quilt-like banner displays over 17,000 messages and drawings supporting Corky’s freedom.

When:    Saturday, May 13, 11 a.m.

Where:    200 Santa Monica Pier (on the beach), Santa Monica

“For nearly 50 years, Corky has known nothing but concrete tanks, chemically treated water, and gawking crowds,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on SeaWorld to move her to her home waters, where she’ll be able to swim long and fast, feel ocean currents, and finally be reunited with her family.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—notes that a seaside sanctuary would allow Corky to relearn natural types of behavior and communicate with her siblings, Fife and Ripple, who often visit the adjacent Blackfish Sound. Corky has been forced to endure seven pregnancies, but none of her calves survived more than 47 days. Her last stillborn fetus was found at the bottom of the holding tank.

Photos will be available after the event. For more information, please visit SeaWorldOfHurt.com.