38 ‘Orcas’ to Hold ‘Die-In’: Protesters Say SeaWorld Captivity Kills
PETA Calls for Orcas to Be Released to Coastal Sanctuaries to Prevent More Premature Animal Deaths
For Immediate Release:
August 31, 2016
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
What: Wearing little more than black-and-white bodypaint, 38 PETA “orcas” will gather at the Plaza de Panama in Balboa Park on Thursday and, as one, fall “dead.” Each protester will hold a sign with the name of one of the 38 orcas who have died—not one of them of old age—on SeaWorld’s watch.
When: Thursday, September 1, 12 noon sharp
Where: Plaza de Panama, near the intersection of El Prado and Pan American Road E., San Diego
“Dozens of orcas have died in SeaWorld’s tiny tanks from pneumonia, infections, and other ailments brought on by captivity, and at alarmingly young ages,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA wants people to stay a pool’s length away from SeaWorld until it retires the surviving orcas to seaside sanctuaries—otherwise, they’ll be doomed to die young from awful causes, just like dozens of captive orcas before them.”
As noted by PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—in the wild, orcas work cooperatively to find food, share intricate relationships, and traverse up to 100 miles of ocean every day. At SeaWorld, orcas are housed in incompatible groups in tiny tanks have even been given the drug diazepam to manage stress-induced aggressive behavior.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—is calling on SeaWorld to build coastal sanctuaries where the orcas, bottlenose dolphins, walruses, and other animals it currently confines could lead a more natural life.
For more information, please visit SeaWorldOfHurt.com.
