Florida Department of Education Drops SeaWorld Promo
Department Cuts Ties With Marine Abusement Park After PETA Push
For Immediate Release:
October 6, 2015
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
A box of orca-shaped vegan chocolates is on its way to the Florida Department of Education, courtesy of PETA, for recently dropping two SeaWorld promotions from its website after considering information from the group, which showed that there’s nothing educational about forcing orcas to swim in circles in tiny tanks and perform confusing tricks for audiences. Both promotions—previously featured on the department’s “Fun Florida Fieldtrips” and “Just for Teachers Discounts” webpages—were removed shortly after PETA delivered its letter.
“The Florida Department of Education’s decision not to promote the practice of keeping orcas in captivity sends children the vital message that it’s unacceptable to imprison highly intelligent, complex animals for human amusement,” says PETA Foundation Director of Animal Law Jared Goodman. “As more and more businesses and government agencies continue to drop SeaWorld, the only way for the park to stay afloat is to send its orcas to seaside sanctuaries.”
The Florida Department of Education joins the University of California–Irvine, California State University–Long Beach, and Baylor University’s alumni network as well as Southwest Airlines, Taco Bell, Hyundai Motor America, and dozens of other companies in cutting ties with SeaWorld. Since the release of Blackfish—the documentary that revealed how orcas suffer physically and psychologically when they’re separated from their families and forced to perform circus-style tricks for food in tiny concrete tanks—attendance at SeaWorld parks dropped, and the company was named one of the worst in the U.S. in a Consumerist poll.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—is calling on SeaWorld to develop ocean sanctuaries in which orcas could be rehabilitated and finally have the opportunity to engage in natural behavior.
For more information, please visit SeaWorldOfHurt.com.
