PETA Becomes Six Flags Stockholder in Bid to End Dolphin Exploitation at Discovery Kingdom
For Immediate Release:
August 3, 2026
Contact:
Nicole Perreira 202-483-7382
PETA is bringing the fight to free the dolphins trapped at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in California straight to the boardroom of Six Flags Entertainment Corporation, having just purchased stock in the theme park giant. PETA will use its shareholder status to attend Six Flags’ annual meetings, ask pointed questions that other shareholders need to hear, and directly pressure executives to release dolphins like Merlin—who was abducted from his pod family in the Gulf of Mexico in 1989—to seaside sanctuaries.
At Discovery Kingdom, Merlin and other dolphins have been forced to give up their ocean lives and spend decades confined to tiny, barren concrete tanks, forced to perform in shows—during which trainers may stand on their faces. The park also subjects them to harmful “swim with dolphins” encounters, in which the animals are repeatedly touched, grabbed, and held onto by strangers who have invaded the only space they have and from which they’ve been given, with no way to escape.
“Dolphins think and feel and deserve a real life, not forced to spend their life in a sad, shallow pool at a theme park, performing demeaning tricks for crowds,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “As a Six Flags shareholder, PETA will hold executives’ feet to the fire and demand that these suffering animals be released to seaside sanctuaries where they can finally dive deep, swim fast, and feel the ocean currents.”
In nature, dolphins maintain dynamic relationships with large social networks and can swim up to 60 miles a day, but at Six Flags Discovery Kingdom, they’re housed in tanks so shallow and cramped that they can do little more than float listlessly or swim in endless circles. The park has a lengthy history of violations of the federal Animal Welfare Act, including a critical citation for the role of poor water quality in the deaths of two young dolphins.
PETA notes that the tide has turned against dolphin exploitation: Nearly every major online travel company—including Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, and TripAdvisor—prohibits ticket sales to venues that offer dolphin interactions or performances, and TripAdvisor even flags Discovery Kingdom as “does not meet animal welfare guidelines.” A recent poll commissioned by PETA and conducted by Embold Research found that 74 percent of registered voters in California want dolphins in marine parks to be moved to seaside sanctuaries.
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.
