36.572 NEEDED
In 2014, SeaWorld, the popular marine entertainment facility, has celebrated its 50th anniversary. 50 years have passed since orcas have been held captive in the name of ‘entertainment’. The facility in gaining more customers every year in the entire United States and has never been more popular.
In their natural environment, orca whales usually live in tightly knit families and stick together their whole life. SeaWorld is taking these highly intelligent and sensitive mammals away from each other and forcing them to spend a lifetime on solitude and captivity in a small tank. SeaWorld starts the breeding process at the age of 6 – orcas do not usually start breeding in the wild up to the age of 15. The repercussions are devastating as baby orcas end up often being rejected by their mothers or the latter start behaving in a very odd manner towards. Calves do not get to live more than a few months in these conditions.
Those calves that do survive the breeding process end up being raised by trainers – however, because they do not have that special bond with their mothers, such orcas will never learn how to nurse a baby and will never manage to have offspring of their own.
The prolonged period of captivity causes devastating mental health issues for the mammals who are used to living in the ocean. The highly regarded ‘Blackfish’ documentary reveals just what orcas are going through in captivity. I encourage every reader of this petition to watch this magnificent documentary as soon as possible to get a better understanding of what SeaWorld is really about.
Orcas are forced to endure long-haul training session so they can learn degrading tricks and amuse masses of people who think this is ‘entertainment’.
Currently British Airways is selling a wide range of tourist packages to SeaWorld Orlando, including airplane tickets, bookings at SeaWorld hotels and tickets to the shows. Voice your support and urge British Airways to take a stand against these inhumane practices and cease its collaboration with SeaWorld immediately.
SeaWorld has done enough harm to orcas. Just
recently, the company has announced that Tilikum, an orca that had been living
in a tank for over 20 years, is extremely sick and her last days of her
miserable life seem to be approaching.
I can only hope that BA executives will realize that SeaWorld orcas have endured enough suffering in the name of ‘entertainment’.
