'Free Tilly!' to Be the Cry at SeaWorld Protest in Wake of Trainer's Death

After Years of Pleading With Amusement Park to End Cruel and Deadly Orca Shows, PETA Warns, 'It Will Happen Again'

For Immediate Release:
February 26, 2010

Contact:
David Perle   202-483-7382

Orlando, Fla. -- Waving signs that read, "Free Tilly" and "It Will Happen Again," PETA members will protest against SeaWorld in Orlando tomorrow. The group points out that the trainer who died Wednesday in an attack by an orca named Tilikum (aka "Tilly") would be alive today if SeaWorld had heeded PETA's advice to transfer all its dolphins--including orcas--to transitional coastal sanctuaries and to stop confining oceangoing mammals to an enclosure that to them is like a bathtub.

Where:    Main entrance to SeaWorld (intersection of Central Florida Parkway and Sea World Drive), Orlando

When:      Saturday, February 27, 12 noon

PETA also warns that the trainer who died Wednesday will not be the last victim as long as these animals remain frustrated by their cruel captivity. Orcas are intelligent predators who work cooperatively in search of food. They share intricate relationships and swim for as many as 100 miles every day. At SeaWorld, orcas are forced to perform circus tricks for food; swim endless circles in small, barren concrete tanks; and live far short of the 60-year maximum life span that orcas enjoy in the wild. In fact, 21 orcas died in U.S. SeaWorld facilities between 1986 and 2008--and not one died of old age.

"It's time for SeaWorld to let marine mammals live in peace with their families in the world's oceans--where they belong," says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. "Depriving these intelligent animals of everything that is natural and important to them can turn them into ticking time bombs."

For more information, please visit PETA.org.