PETA Statement: Four New Citations Against SeaWorld for Endangering Employees

For Immediate Release:
May 1, 2015

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

PETA Foundation Director of Animal Law Jared Goodman has released the following statement on the four new citations that the California Division of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Cal/OSHA) issued this week to SeaWorld San Diego for allowing trainers to get into the pools with orcas behind the scenes and even in shallow areas next to the pools called “slide-outs”—”serious” citations that came years after OSHA effectively banned direct contact between orcas and SeaWorld trainers during performances following the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau. As you may recall, Brancheau was pulled into the pool from a slide-out area. Cal/OSHA is also barring trainers from being that close to the orcas, who are so frustrated from confinement and the inability to express their natural behavior that they can attack and have killed people. Here is Goodman’s statement:

SeaWorld resists safety reforms every step of the way because it puts profit before the welfare of its employees and the orcas confined so miserably to its tiny concrete tanks. With the life-threatening dangers to trainers and the detrimental effects of enslaving intelligent, social, and far-ranging orcas, SeaWorld’s tawdry shows will soon be a thing of the past. SeaWorld needs to make the only responsible and humane choice and release its captive orcas to coastal sanctuaries.

More information about PETA’s campaign is available at SeaWorldOfHurt.com.