March 17, 2016

SeaWorld Announces an End to Captive Orca Breeding

SumOfUs: “Era of Cruel and Dangerous Captive Orca Displays is Coming to an End”

Today, SeaWorld announced that it would be ending the captive breeding of orcas at all SeaWorld facilities in the United States. In reaction to the announcement, Angus Wong, campaigner at SumOfUs, an international consumer watchdog organization issued the following statement:

“Today’s announcement that SeaWorld will permanently end the captive breeding of orcas is a major step in the right direction, one that signals that the era of cruel and dangerous captive orca displays is coming to an end. And that end can’t come soon enough. Keeping and breeding large, intelligent animals in small underwater cages for the sake of entertainment and profit is simply unethical. Consumers have woken up and sent a clear message to SeaWorld that they won’t pay to watch animal cruelty in action. It is encouraging that SeaWorld seems to have finally taken notice.”

More than 1.6 million SumOfUs members urged California lawmakers to take action to stop SeaWorld’s orca abuse and enact the Orca Welfare and Safety Act.

Since that campaign, SeaWorld has cancelled the orca "entertainment" show in the face of public pressure and was barred from breeding whales in capacity by the California Coastal Commission.

Last month, SumOfUs, an international consumer watchdog organization launched a new online parody game that simulates the experiences of orcas held in captivity at SeaWorld. The game, Olivia the Orca, mockingly claims “being a whale in capacity is SO much fun” and challenges the player to swim for as long as they like.

VIEW THE GAME HERE: http://oliviatheorca.com/