City Council Meeting to Face PETA Uproar Over SeaWorld Sweetheart Settlement
For Immediate Release:
January 24, 2025
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Bearing signs reading, “SeaWorld Owes San Diego Taxpayers $12 Million,” PETA supporters will swarm Monday’s San Diego Council Meeting before taking to the podium to slam the City’s proposed settlement with SeaWorld—under which the City is set to forfeit millions of dollars in exchange for SeaWorld admission coupons.The action comes on the heels of PETA’s formal objection to the settlement on the grounds that it would amount to a financial windfall and free advertising for SeaWorld—which has come under fire for its long and sordid history of exploiting marine mammals.
“The City of San Diego wants to forfeit public funds to cater to a deadbeat, billion-dollar company that forces marine mammals to spend their dismal lives in concrete cells every day at SeaWorld,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA urges San Diegans to call on their councilmembers to fight this absurd deal tooth and nail.”
Where: San Diego City Council, 202 C Street, 10th Floor, San Diego
When: Monday, January 27, 9 a.m.
Why: The proposed settlement stems from a lawsuit filed by the City in 2023 that sought to recover more than $12 million in unpaid rent, late fees, audit costs, and interest from SeaWorld. Under the terms of the agreement, SeaWorld would pay the City only $8.8 million and apparently offset the approximately $3.4 million shortfall by providing season passes and/or free admission to teachers, active-duty military and veterans, and local school districts.
In nature, highly intelligent, far-ranging orcas work cooperatively in search of food and share complex relationships in a matrilineal society. Corky, the longest-held captive orca in the world, currently languishes at SeaWorld San Diego after being torn from her family off the coast of British Columbia in 1969.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment ”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
