PETA Statement: Georgia Aquarium Should Follow National Aquarium's Lead

PETA Statement: Georgia Aquarium Should Follow National Aquarium’s Lead

For Immediate Release:
June 22, 2016

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Atlanta –

Please see the following statement from PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman in response to the Georgia Aquarium’s announcement today that it will no longer take dolphins or whales captured in the wild:

Most aquariums have long stopped stealing dolphins and whales from their ocean homes, and only the Georgia Aquarium was still trying, unsuccessfully, to import wild-caught belugas just a few years ago. The National Aquarium has recognized that the needs of these intelligent, sensitive, far-ranging animals simply can’t be met in captivity. Now, PETA is calling on the Georgia Aquarium to move beyond basic decency, follow the National Aquarium’s lead, and make a real difference for these animals by sending them to coastal sanctuaries. The animals at the Georgia Aquarium and the belugas who were captured for it and left to languish in small tanks in Russia all deserve freedom now.

PETA’s motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment.”