PETA Statement re: Miami Seaquarium Trainers Pulled Out of the Tanks

For Immediate Release:
June 1, 2015

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Please see the following statement from PETA Foundation Director of Animal Law Jared Goodman:

Due to a settlement reached with the government, trainers at the Miami Seaquarium will no longer ride this endangered orca like a surfboard during performances. This is no surprise, as the handwriting was on the wall: Had the Seaquarium continued to expose trainers to the danger of direct contact with orcas, it could well have followed in SeaWorld’s footsteps with the loss of human life by deeply frustrated captive marine mammals. Also, the citations for employee endangerment would have been upheld and, like SeaWorld, Seaquarium’s internal records of orca aggression—caused by the stress of being forced to perform circus-style tricks in a barren concrete tank—would have been made public, something the company did not want. Even with this ruling, Lolita remains alone in the smallest orca tank in the U.S., and PETA urges people to boycott the Miami Seaquarium until it releases Lolita to a seaside sanctuary where she would be reunited with family and the feel of the ocean’s currents.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.