PETA Is Calling for Longest-Held Captive Orca in the World to Be Retired to Her Home Waters Near Her Family
For Immediate Release:
December 10, 2019
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
San Diego – In 1969, Corky the orca was captured rodeo-style off the coast of British Columbia and sold into captivity, ultimately ending up at SeaWorld—and on Wednesday, the 50th anniversary of her capture, a group of PETA supporters will unfurl an enormous banner demanding that she be released to a seaside sanctuary within her home waters. The banner drop will take place on a busy overpass on the 5 during morning and evening rush hours.
When: Wednesday, December 11, 7:30 a.m. and 4:30 p.m.
Where: Tecolote Road I-5 overpass (facing southbound traffic), San Diego
“For half a century, Corky has known nothing but concrete tanks, chemically treated water, and gawking crowds,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on SeaWorld to move her to her home waters, where she’ll finally be able to feel ocean currents and interact with her family.”
PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—notes that a seaside sanctuary would allow Corky to relearn natural types of behavior and communicate with her siblings, Fife and Ripple, who often visit the adjacent Blackfish Sound. Corky has been forced to endure seven pregnancies, but none of her calves survived more than 47 days. Her last stillborn baby was found at the bottom of a concrete tank at SeaWorld.
Photos will be available after the event. PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit SeaWorldOfHurt.com.
