Tyrese Speaks Up for Captive Orcas

Published June 7, 2013 by Michelle Reynolds. Last Updated October 14, 2013.

2 min read

Tyrese is already a Grammy-nominated R&B singer-songwriter and a rapper, an actor, a bestselling author, a television producer, and a model, and now he’s adding “animal advocate” to his résumé. He posted this breathtaking picture of an orca in his or her ocean home on Instagram, with the caption “Shows me [that] certain animals shouldn’t be in captivity ….”

The image was seen by Tyrese’s half-million followers and became one of the day’s most popular photos. Something tells me Tyrese will be checking out Blackfish, the highly anticipated documentary about the plight of captive orcas, including Tilikum, the imprisoned orca at SeaWorld who was kidnapped from his ocean home at the age of 2 and has since spent his life relegated to a small concrete tank.

In other Hollywood news:

Tom Hardy is set to host a documentary that will expose wildlife poaching in Africa. The special, tentatively named Poaching Wars With Tom Hardy, was his own idea to help endangered wildlife.
Fur-free Project Runway is getting even more animal-friendly, with vegetarian PETA supporter Alyssa Milano slated to host season 3 of Project Runway All Stars.
Vegan powerhouse Portia de Rossi is giving her healthy eating habits full credit for her fresh, youthful appearance.
Animals got a new little advocate this week: Channing Tatum and Jenna Dewan Tatum welcomed their first child, Everly, into the world.
After reading about an Ohio man who kept an alligator prisoner in his basement for 15 years and neglected and abused him, Kristen Bell is pushing for the abuser to face cruelty-to-animals charges.
Michael Jaynes’ insightful book Elephants Among Us, the true story of two majestic elephants who were kept captive and forced to perform, is set to release later this summer. PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk calls the book “on a par with Black Beauty and Old Yeller.” Watch for it on Amazon.
Randall (the honey badger guy) called a vet’s office that was advertising free declawing services and gave the cat-cutters a smack-down of honey-badger proportions (and, of course, turned it into a hilarious YouTube video).

And Randall and other shining stars filled the Twitterverse with sweet tweets for animals this week:

To keep up with what all your favorite stars are doing for animals, follow @PETA on Twitter.