Update: While SeaWorld's hearing is in recess, PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk is giving the park some great reasons to use the time to evaluate how to get out of the captive-animal business. Read what she has to say here.

The following was posted September 24, 2011

SeaWorld's appeal has been adjourned until November, but on Friday, Dr. David Duffus—who had served as the foreperson of the coroner's inquest into the death of trainer Keltie Byrne after she was pulled into the water and drowned by Tilikum and two other orcas in 1991—again took the stand. Dr. Duffus testified that no method of training can control orca behavior and that current safety measures aren't effective. "Twenty years later, a lot has been done, yet I'm reading the same outcome," he said. Dr. Duffus added that given his knowledge of orcas and the incidents involving the animals in captivity, there was "no way on Earth" that he would place himself in immediate contact with Tilikum, nor would he get close to any other orca because of his "great deal of respect for the fundamental nature of large predators."

The final witness called before the hearing was adjourned until mid-November was Les Grove, area director of the Tampa office of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which conducted the investigation into Dawn Brancheau's death and issued the citation at issue in this case. Asked why SeaWorld was cited for a "willful" violation—which entails an employer's "plain indifference to or intentional disregard for employee safety and health"—Grove mentioned the "Tilly Talk," the 100-plus incidents that have occurred at SeaWorld parks, interviews with management, and training manuals that show the company was aware that working in close contact with orcas was risky. During the investigation, he added, "It became obvious Tilikum wasn't the only problem."

We'll give you further updates when the appeal resumes in November, but for the orcas, the other dolphins, and the people endangered by SeaWorld's indifference, there's no time to lose—tell SeaWorld today that the place for these amazing animals is in a sanctuary, not doing stupid tricks for tourists.

 
Minette Layne | cc by 2.0

Written by Jeff Mackey

On day four of SeaWorld's appeal, Shana Groves, a SeaWorld senior trainer who was bitten on the thigh by an orca during a performance five years ago, testified that she had completed an incident report as required by the marine park and was surprised to learn that the attack was one of the many episodes left out of the corporate incident log that SeaWorld had provided to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.

When she was bitten, Groves was in a position similar to that of Dawn Brancheau when she was attacked by Tilikum. Groves, who transferred out of Shamu Stadium to work with sea lions and otters after Brancheau's attack, broke down in tears when showed a photo of her and Tilikum.

Jan Topoleski, a former SeaWorld trainer who was acting as Brancheau's "spotter" at the time Brancheau was attacked, then recounted the circumstances surrounding Brancheau's death. Topoleski's testimony that Tilikum grabbed Brancheau by her ponytail was at odds with that of a SeaWorld security guard who had testified earlier that he watched Brancheau be pulled in the water by her arm. Topoleski conceded that he did not see Brancheau's hair in Tilikum's mouth or Brancheau pulled underwater by her hair. The supposed safety procedures that Topoleski followed were unable to free Brancheau from Tilikum's jaws. Like Groves, Toploleski stopped working with orcas shortly after the attack.

Fantaz | cc by 2.0

When the government called Dr. David Duffus, a professor at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, as an expert witness to discuss the predatory nature and inherent unpredictability of orcas, Duffus said that he was "at a loss" as to why Brancheau was permitted to lie in shallow water at Tilikum's side, holding his pectoral fin, knowing that he had a history of attacks. "Dealing with a large predatory animal and not expecting it to behave like a predator, I don't think that's wise," he said. Duffus questioned whether SeaWorld's allegations that trainer injuries were rare were a sufficient reason to permit trainers to be in close proximity with orcas, as even if it happens once in a million times, if that millionth time is a catastrophe, then it "goes beyond probability."

My verdict is in: Humans should not interact with orcas, and SeaWorld puts its trainers at risk by allowing them to have close contact with dangerous, unpredictable animals. But stay tuned to find out the outcome of the hearing.

Written by Heather Moore

Day three of SeaWorld's appeal brought out more skeletons from the marine park's closet. Attorneys for the government brought up incident after incident that were left out of SeaWorld's corporate incident log, including the attack leading to trainer Dawn Brancheau's death and attacks by an orca who had a penchant for grabbing trainers' ponytails. Chuck Tompkins, SeaWorld's corporate curator of zoological operations, eventually conceded that SeaWorld "may have missed a few" incidents.

Abi Skipp | cc by 2.0

The court watched graphic video footage from 2006, in which an orca named Kasatka (who had been involved in nine previous incidents) clamped down on trainer Ken Peters' foot and dragged him underwater at SeaWorld in San Diego. People in the courtroom gasped as they watched video of Kasatka as he yanked Peters around and held him underwater for minutes at a time. Peters repeatedly struggled to free himself from Kasatka's jaws and was finally able to calm the orca and escape with a broken foot. Tompkins conceded that no level of knowledge, experience, or skill would have enabled Peters to escape the attack unscathed: His only options were serious injury or death.

While Tompkins previously testified that there is no need to revise SeaWorld's animal training procedures because all injuries that occur are because of human error, he acknowledged on Wednesday that even the most senior trainers have made errors resulting in injuries and that, often, trainers were not to blame for the incidents. Tompkins continued to prove that SeaWorld management is delusional, claiming that they "have gotten a whole lot better" with the training process over time, despite, as attorneys for the government noted, the fact that two trainers were killed over a span of only two months in 2009 and 2010 and that the 2006 attack on Peters was nearly fatal.

Perhaps Tompkins' failure to acknowledge these dangers can be explained by the fact that neither he nor the other high-level managers of animal training at SeaWorld are formally trained in animal behavior, nor do they have any professional experience with orcas other that what they learned on the job at SeaWorld. In addition, the company has never called on an independent third party to review its incidents, protocols, or safety procedures.

Check back tomorrow for an update on Thursday's testimony.

Written by Lindsay Pollard-Post

On day two of SeaWorld's appeal of the penalty leveled by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), senior trainer Lynne Schaber testified that trainers who work with orcas receive special instruction on Tilikum and a "Tilly Talk," in which they're informed of Tilikum's involvement with two previous deaths and that if they enter the water with him, they may not survive. Despite these concerns, trainers—including Dawn Brancheau, who was killed by Tilikum last year—were approved to work in close proximity with this angry orca and physically touch him at the water's edge. 

Schaber and Chuck Tompkins, SeaWorld's corporate curator for zoological operations for all SeaWorld parks, also testified that there are no specific steps for trainers to follow to respond to a life-threatening situation in the water and that their lives are ultimately up to their own "best judgment call." Tompkins admitted that the park does not even re-evaluate its protocols after an injury or death because it deems the injuries that occur "a result of human error" and insisted that revising safety protocols is unnecessary.

Finally, the government began questioning Tompkins at length about SeaWorld's corporate incident log, which contains reports of more than 100 incidents of orca aggression at its parks, often resulting in injuries to humans and causing one death by extensive internal bleeding.

Stay tuned.

Written by Jennifer O'Connor

Independence Day is a day to celebrate America's freedoms, so why would the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (CIS) swear in new citizens at SeaWorld—a place that exemplifies the lack of freedom? PETA has fired off a letter to the director of CIS pointing out the irony of holding this joyous occasion where orcas and dolphins are kept in holding tanks for life. 

Confined and forced to spend their days swimming in continuous circles in barren concrete tanks and deprived of everything that is natural and important to them, animals at SeaWorld become depressed, listless, and prone to illness.  

Abi Skipp/cc by 2.0

Collapsed dorsal fins are a symptom of the unnatural environment of captivity—they are rarely seen in the wild, usually in orcas who are injured or ill.

 
Please ask CIS to adopt a policy that prohibits holding agency events at SeaWorld or at any other venue that causes animals to suffer or that has a history of flagrant violations of federal law.

 
Written by Jennifer O'Connor

© Carla Wilson

 
PETA supporters in Orlando, Florida, spent the Fourth of July weekend declaring independence for whales and dolphins held captive at SeaWorld. Here are the top five reasons that freedom should include marine animals.

1. Twenty-four dead orcas – and counting. Of the 24 orcas who have died at SeaWorld since 1986, not one died of old age. Many of their deaths were caused by captivity-induced illnesses.  
2. Life in a bathtub drains marine mammals' spirits. Forcing animals who naturally travel up to 100 miles a day in the open ocean to swim in continuous circles in tiny, barren concrete tanks causes stress-related behaviors, including suicide.
3. SeaWorld tears families apart. In the wild, dolphins spend their entire lives in a pod with their mothers and sisters. Capturing even one dolphin disrupts the entire pod. Dolphins born in captivity are often taken away from their loved ones and shipped to other facilities.
4. Frustrated animals are dangerous to people. Aside from the trainers killed by angry captive whales, the USDA has cited SeaWorld for several instances in which dolphins injured people in its swim-with-the-dolphins program.
5. If you don't support the jailing of innocent people, you shouldn't support SeaWorld. Scientists at Emory University mapped the brains of dolphins and concluded that they are second only to humans in intelligence. Captivity is as hard on these sensitive animals as it is on people, but the dolphins are being punished without having committed a crime.

You can help by writing to SeaWorld and asking the company to let its prisoners go free—to transitional coastal and wildlife sanctuaries.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

We took a dip into peta2's files and surfaced with this great picture of Hanna from Bidwell, Ohio, that had to be the picture of the month.
 

 
As part of peta2's campaign against SeaWorld, Hanna is showing that cramming whales and dolphins into tiny tanks instead of letting them swim freely in the vast ocean is like forcing a person to spend his or her life in a bathtub. We're sure that whales and dolphins would love Hanna's clever campaigning, and we're loving her  "Meat Sucks" tee too.   
 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

"Be Kind to Animals" Week is winding down, but you can keep on helping animals! If you are hitting the road this summer, please drive right on by zoos, roadside animal displays, and marine theme parks. Places like SeaWorld count on vacationers to keep money flowing in, but buying a ticket means supporting the lifelong confinement of orcas, dolphins, and all other captive animals.  

 
Here are some cruelty-free suggestions:

• If you visit Florida, Key West's Eco-Discovery Center offers interactive displays and walk-through labs, but the animals are swimming freely. Best of all: It's free!
• Also in the Florida Keys, John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park encompasses 178 nautical square miles to protect and preserve the only living coral reef in the continental United States. You can swim there with animals—in their home, on their terms.
• The Virtual Dolphin Therapy at the La Quinta Healing Arts Center in California recreates an underwater sanctuary with a multimedia mix of dolphin vocalizations, a screen showing frolicking dolphins, and a vibrating sound-wave table.
• North America's only natural freshwater "aquarium" is located in St. John's, Newfoundland, Canada. Fluvarium provides panoramic glimpses into a real diverted brook where fish swim freely in and out of the viewing areas, which include deep and shallow ponds and a fast-flowing "riffle" where the fish spawn in the fall.

 Written by Jennifer O'Connor

In a move that shows that its lack of compassion doesn't stop with orcas, SeaWorld says it intends to once again allow trainers to enter pools containing frustrated 6-ton orcas, endangering their lives. And in case we weren't already SeaSick, SeaWorld chose to announce its plans on the one-year anniversary of the killing of trainer Dawn Brancheau by orca Tilikum.

PETA members gather outside SeaWorld Orlando to mark the one-year anniversary of the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau.

Former SeaWorld trainers have publicly announced that going into the water with the whales puts their lives in danger. Please e-mail SeaWorld and tell it to protect human and animal lives by releasing its orca inmates before the next "prison riot" occurs.

Written by Michelle Sherrow

As more and more people come to understand how marine animals suffer and die while held captive at SeaWorld, the cruel aquarium chain is increasingly desperate to find some way to make itself look less heartless. Now, it's attempting to ride the adorable tails of dogs and cats by offering free tickets to its theme parks prisons to people who adopt homeless animals from certain animal shelters.

spotrecording/cc by 2.0

Now, PETA's all for adopting animals instead of buying them from breeders or pet shops, of course, but SeaWorld's public embrace of adoption can't make up for the miseries that it continues to inflict on animals in its parks. And if you think I'm being too hard on SeaWorld, consider this—other four-legged and feathered animals "rescued" by SeaWorld are forced to join their aquatic cousins in performing stupid tricks for tourists in the parks' "Pets Ahoy" and "Pets Rule" shows.

If you live near a SeaWorld (and even if you don't), then please, by all means, give an animal a loving home by adopting from a local animal shelter. But don't give SeaWorld cover for its wicked, wicked ways by accepting its tickets.

Written by Jeff Mackey