Much to the joy of animal right activists, it has been announced that SeaWorld has been banned from breeding captive orcas’ at its San Diego theme park.
At a hearing last Thursday, the California Coastal Commission approved SeaWorld’s plans to double the size of the park’s orca habitat on the condition that no new whales from the wild are added to the park and none of the park’s current whales are permitted to breed there. In addition, a set of unprecedented limitations on how the company can hold, sell, trade and transport the animals, were also made.
The company, which has been under constant scrutiny since the 2013 release of the documentary “Blackfish”, plans to spend $100 million on project Blue World, a San Diego park expansion project. According to SeaWorld, project Blue World— which will consist of the expansion of pools and an enhanced habitat— will greatly improve the captive whale’s quality of life; however, many activists have argued that the new tanks will only lead to more orca captivity.
Since the announcement, SeaWorld representatives have expressed the company’s concerns with the conditions. According to SeaWorld, the ban on orca breeding is “inhumane” and will lead to the “slow extinction” of the species.
John Reilly, president of SeaWorld San Diego, told reporters that “A ban on breeding would sentence these animals to a slow extinction in our care.”
In a formal statement, SeaWorld later said that “We are disappointed with the conditions that the California Coastal Commission placed on their approval of the Blue World Project and will carefully review and consider our options. Breeding is a natural, fundamental and important part of an animal’s life, and depriving a social animal of the right to reproduce is inhumane.”
Despite the overwhelming evidence that has come to light since the release of the documentary Blackfish, SeaWorld has denied all accusations of animal mistreatment. However, recent figures have indicated that both activists and the general public have not been satisfied with SeaWorld’s claims. As shown by figures released earlier this year, SeaWorld’s income dropped from $37.4 million in 2014 to $5.8 million in 2015. In addition to this, park admissions dropped by more than 100,000 tickets during this same period.
Although this ban does not apply to the company’s attraction parks in San Antonio and Orlando, it appears noticeable progress is finally being made in the fight against SeaWorld.
Image Source: jimmyweee, Flickr
This Article (California Coastal Commission Bans SeaWorld From Breeding Captive Orcas) is free and open source. You have permission to republish this article under a Creative Commons license with attribution to the author and AnonHQ.com.
“Since the announcement, SeaWorld representatives have expressed the company’s concerns with the conditions. According to SeaWorld, the ban on orca breeding is “inhumane” and will lead to the “slow extinction” of the species.”
NO Sea World, it will just lead to your greedy demise!
la vie des orques se trouve dans les océans au milieu de leur famille pas dans des bassins étriqués ou ils sont condamnés à agoniser pendant des années durant!!!!