PETA Appeals to SeaWorld’s New CEO—Be Bold, Be Just!

For Immediate Release:
April 7, 2015

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

With Joel Manby taking over as SeaWorld’s new CEO today, PETA sent him a letter today urging him to take the park in a new direction–one with coastal sanctuaries, virtual-reality displays, and other animal-friendly innovations instead of captive orcas.

“Ringling’s recent announcement that it will phase out its elephant acts because of a change in public opinion clearly shows that the public—particularly millennials, the next generation of parents—is ready for a change,” writes PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk. “There is no doubt that marine-mammal confinement is coming to an end. The only question is whether SeaWorld will realize that before it’s too late to change along with the marketplace.”

For more information, please visit SeaWorldOfHurt.com. PETA’s letter to SeaWorld CEO Joel Manby follows.

April 7, 2015

Joel Manby, CEO
SeaWorld Entertainment

Dear Mr. Manby:

I am writing on behalf of PETA and our more than 3 million members and supporters with an appeal. As you well know, consumers are more aware than ever that SeaWorld’s tanks are detrimental to sensitive, complex animals such as orcas, and people everywhere are now calling for an end to marine-mammal confinement. As you take over as CEO, you have an opportunity to take SeaWorld in a new direction—not just to try to continue with the old-fashioned marine-mammal shows but to create something truly innovative, exciting, and new.

With Ringling’s recent announcement that it will phase out its elephant acts because of a change in public views, it is absolutely clear that the public is ready for a change—particularly Millennials, the next generation of parents. There is no doubt that marine-mammal confinement is coming to an end. The only question is whether SeaWorld will realize that before it’s too late to change with the marketplace.

In your book Love Works: Seven Timeless Principles for Effective Leaders, you wrote, “[W]e achieve profits by doing the right thing for customers and employees; profits are not an end in themselves. Profits are a product of doing the right thing—over and over again.” Please do the right thing here: Use your new position to build coastal sanctuaries and immersive virtual-reality exhibits or animatronics to give both the public and the orcas what they want and deserve. Be bold!

You must know that orcas belong in the ocean, not in small concrete tanks, swimming in endless circles for years. Show compassion for the animals trapped in SeaWorld’s tanks by announcing an end to cruel captivity at SeaWorld and immediately funding the creation of coastal sanctuaries where orcas can spend the remainder of their lives in as natural a setting as possible. We would support that in every way possible.

Very truly yours,

Ingrid E. Newkirk
President