‘Orcas Suffer’ Banner Soars High as SeaWorld Threats Fly

SeaWorld Security Attempts to Stop PETA’s ‘Fishbowl’ Banner From Taking to the Skies

For Immediate Release:
September 7, 2017

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

A PETA banner proclaiming, “Orcas Suffer at SeaWorld—Don’t Go” will fly over SeaWorld and San Diego beaches on Saturday despite an aggressive phone call from SeaWorld’s head of security to the plane’s pilot, who flew PETA’s anti-SeaWorld banner over the coast last month.

When:    Saturday, September 9, 11 a.m.–3 p.m.

Where:    The plane will fly above all San Diego County beaches and over SeaWorld San Diego.

During the phone call, SeaWorld’s head of security—who currently faces assault and battery charges stemming from his rough handling and assault of three peaceful PETA protesters in July—made warrantless threats to report the pilot to the police and the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). The FAA later informed the pilot that SeaWorld had filed a complaint against him.

“SeaWorld is so desperate to conceal the misery in its tanks that it’s resorted to bullying PETA protesters for speaking the truth and a pilot for doing his job,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman says. “SeaWorld should stop making thuggish threats and start implementing a plan to retire the long-suffering orcas it imprisons to coastal sanctuaries without delay.”

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—notes that six marine mammals have died at SeaWorld this year alone, the most recent being Kasatka, the matriarch orca who was euthanized in August following a lung infection, the effects of which a former SeaWorld trainer compared to “end stage AIDS.”

For more information, please visit PETA.org.