PETA to Kick-Off 150-Mile Run to Demand Orca’s Release from SeaWorld
For Immediate Release:
December 4, 2024
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
Amid a crowd of cheering spectators bearing “Boycott SeaWorld” banners and underneath a giant inflatable race arch reading, “Free Corky—SeaWorld’s Oldest Prisoner,” a pack of PETA supporters will kick off a relay race from Los Angeles to San Diego on Friday to mark the 55th year since Corky—the longest-held captive orca in the world—was taken from her mother in nature and imprisoned by marine parks. Carrying a pair of “bolt cutters” as a baton, the runners will pound the pavement for a total of 150 miles—the distance Corky could swim in a single day if she were free to roam the ocean—to push SeaWorld to finally release the long-suffering orca into a seaside sanctuary.
“Corky has known nothing but misery from the moment she was abducted from the ocean 55 years ago, with no life other than to swim in endless circles in tiny, barren tanks,” says PETA Senior Vice President Lisa Lange, who will run 20 miles of the relay. “With every single stride of this race, PETA is shaming SeaWorld and calling for Corky’s release to a seaside sanctuary, where she could dive deep, swim fast, and have a semblance of the life she’s long been denied.”
Where: Outside the Bob Barker Building, 2154 W. Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles
When: Friday, December 6, 10 a.m.
Why: In the wild, orcas have sophisticated social relationships, working cooperatively to find food and traveling vast distances in the open ocean every day—but at SeaWorld, they’re housed in cramped concrete tanks that leave them with nothing to do but float listlessly while enduring stress, frustration, and depression. Corky was sold into the entertainment industry after being torn from her family off the coast of British Columbia in 1969. She was used for years as a breeding machine, but none of her calves survived past 47 days. Her last pregnancy ended in a miscarriage when her dead baby was found at the bottom of a concrete tank at SeaWorld.
Over 200,000 PETA supporters to date have urged SeaWorld to develop a firm and rapid plan to release Corky to a seaside sanctuary in her home waters in British Columbia—which a team of experts is already preparing for her.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
