Discovery Cove Faces Uproar as PETA Kicks Off Multi-City ‘Free the Dolphins’ Campaign
For Immediate Release:
June 16, 2026
Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382
“Dolphins Suffer Here!” That’s the message PETA supporters will display on large, dolphin-shaped signs as they descend on SeaWorld’s Discovery Cove on Thursday as part of PETA’s Free the Dolphins campaign—a nationwide initiative that will also hit SeaWorld San Antonio and other marine parks across the country in coordinated rallies on the same day.
PETA wants people to know that more than 500 dolphins and whales have died at Discovery Cove and other SeaWorld parks—and that the company replaces them through its breeding program, in which dolphins are sexually manipulated and sometimes drugged so they can’t fight back when forcibly impregnated.
“Discovery Cove and SeaWorld know that no tank could ever meet dolphins’ complex needs, yet continue to forcibly breed them, creating generation after generation of suffering animals, depriving them of a real life, just to make a buck,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “From coast to coast, PETA is calling on marine abusement parks to end this cruel cycle and release these animals to seaside sanctuaries, where they could finally have some semblance of a natural life.”
Where: Outside Discovery Cove, 6000 Discovery Cove Way (at the intersection of Discovery Cove Way and Central Florida Parkway), Orlando
When: Thursday, June 18, 12 noon
Why: In nature, dolphins maintain dynamic relationships with large social networks and can swim up to 60 miles a day. But at Discovery Cove, they’re crammed into tiny artificial tanks and repeatedly touched, grabbed, and held onto by strangers with no way to escape. Victims of the company’s breeding program include Dixie—who was forced to endure a traumatic stillbirth without proper veterinary care—and Scarlet, who died when her uterus ruptured, killing both mother and baby.
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that Every Animal Is Someone and offers free Empathy Kits for people who need a lesson in kindness. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.
