Kindergartner Snags PETA Kids Award for ‘Don’t Go to SeaWorld’ Video

Blackfish Prompts Boy to Dedicate His Sixth Birthday to Helping Orcas Trapped at Amusement Park

For Immediate Release:
December 18, 2013

Contact:
Shakira Croce 202-483-7382

When 5-year-old Cash Beery’s parents realized that he had crept up behind them and silently joined them in watching the hard-hitting documentary Blackfish, they were terrified that he had seen too much—but after discussing the issue with him, they chose to watch the entire film together as a family. Cash decided on the spot that something had to be done to help the orcas suffering in SeaWorld’s tiny tanks, and the result is Cash’s video appeal asking everyone to stay away from SeaWorld on December 22—his sixth birthday.

In recognition of his creative efforts to call attention to SeaWorld’s cruelty, Cash will receive a birthday card and a framed Hero to Orcas Award from PETA Kids, PETA’s division for children 12 and under. To help him get his birthday wish, PETA Kids and peta2—PETA’s youth division—will feature his video on their websites and social-media pages.

“They’re taking baby orcas from their mom to SeaWorld and they’re putting them in little pools, but they need to be free out in the wild,” Cash says in the video. “It makes me very angry. They’re doing the wrong thing. … Please don’t go to SeaWorld on December 22 because that’s my birthday. We need to show those guys.”

Blackfish, which is available on Netflix, tells the story of Tilikum, the orca who was captured 30 years ago and who killed SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010. The film explores how locking intelligent, sensitive marine mammals—who, in the wild, share intricate relationships with their family pods and swim as far as 100 miles every day—in tanks leads them to commit violent acts of frustration.

For more information, please visit PETAKids.com.