In Support of OSHA Action, PETA to Protest SeaWorld Shenanigans in San Antonio

Tourists Told of Government Reprimand, Artificial Inseminations

For Immediate Release:
May 28, 2010

Contact:
Lisa Wathne 757-622-7382 

San Antonio -- Greeting tourists with signs reading, "SeaWorld Breeds for Greed," PETA members will call attention to SeaWorld's unnatural breeding program as well as a statement by a top official with the U.S. Department of Labor's Occupational Safety and Health Administration that blasts the theme park's safety standards. The government official cites the death of a trainer who was attacked by Tilikum, a captive orca at SeaWorld in Orlando. Tilikum's sperm has been used to artificially inseminate other captive orcas.

When:   Saturday, May 29, 12 noon

Where:  Main entrance to SeaWorld (northwest corner of Westover Hills Boulevard and N. Ellison Drive), San Antonio

"Orcas belong in the ocean," says PETA Director Debbie Leahy. "They shouldn't be imprisoned in swimming pools and used to supply sperm banks."

Highly stressed captive orcas not only pose a threat to their trainers but also face premature death themselves. While orcas in the wild share intricate family relationships and swim as far as 100 miles each day, orcas at SeaWorld are forced to perform circus-style tricks for food and continually turn in circles in small, concrete tanks. Orcas at SeaWorld typically live far short of the 80-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. These huge, intelligent animals often lash out violently, expressing their rage and desperation in the only way that they know how.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.