New Whale Sanctuary Plan Prompts PETA to Pressure SeaWorld

‘The Whale Sanctuary Project’ Is Building a Seaside Sanctuary in Nova Scotia—PETA Wants SeaWorld to Start Planning to Move Out the Orcas and Belugas

For Immediate Release:
February 25, 2020

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Today, in light of The Whale Sanctuary Project’s announcement that it plans to build a 40-hectare seaside sanctuary for rescued orcas and beluga whales in Nova Scotia, Canada, PETA has sent a letter calling on SeaWorld CEO Sergio D. Rivera to get cracking on a plan to move orcas and belugas from SeaWorld there.

“PETA is asking SeaWorld to seize this golden opportunity to finally do right by the company’s incarcerated orcas and belugas,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “After decades of profiting from their misery, SeaWorld can and must grant them retirement at a protected sea sanctuary where they could swim freely at long last.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—opposes speciesism, which is a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.

PETA’s letter to SeaWorld CEO Sergio D. Rivera follows.

February 25, 2020

Sergio D. Rivera, CEO

SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.

Dear Mr. Rivera,

There is a new opportunity for SeaWorld to give the animals who are languishing in its tanks the life the amusement park has long denied them and to provide them with the retirement that they certainly deserve. The Whale Sanctuary Project (WSP) has just shared its plans to build a seaside sanctuary for rescued orcas and beluga whales in Nova Scotia—and SeaWorld could and should fund it, given the millions that these animals have involuntarily made for your company. Will you please devise a plan for moving the remaining orcas and belugas out of SeaWorld, starting with this sanctuary? Time’s up, it’s been up, and this is your moment to do the right thing.

The project will involve enclosing a 40-hectare inlet off Nova Scotia’s eastern shore, giving orcas and belugas the opportunity to swim freely—a basic, vital need that they can’t fulfill in SeaWorld’s cramped tanks—while ensuring that their nutritional and medical needs are met. To make it happen, the WSP needs $12 million to $15 million—an amount that SeaWorld surely should be able to contribute.

As Charles Vinick, the WSP’s director, aptly observed, “You might think of it as retirement, or assisted living. These whales have raised tens of millions of dollars for their park owners, and they’ve entertained millions of people, and we owe something back.”

We couldn’t agree more. Please, let us know that you will seize this golden opportunity to do right by these animals at long last.

Sincerely,

Tracy Reiman

Executive Vice President