PETA’s ‘Orca’ to SeaWorld FestGoers: ‘Boycott Cruelty’

Nearly a Dozen Bands Cancel Appearances After Learning About Suffering of Park’s Marine Mammals

For Immediate Release:
January 31, 2014

Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382

Accompanied by an activist wearing an orca costume, PETA supporters will protest SeaWorld Orlando’s Bands, Brew & BBQ Festival on Saturday. Eleven top acts—including Pat Benatar, The Beach Boys, Trisha Yearwood, Willie Nelson, and the Barenaked Ladies—canceled their appearances at the festival after learning about SeaWorld’s cruel treatment of orcas.

When:   Saturday, February 1, 11 a.m.

Where:  Main entrance to Sea World (at the intersection of Central Florida Parkway and Sea World Drive), Orlando

“As the A-list musicians who have canceled their SeaWorld appearances have shown, SeaWorld is fooling fewer and fewer people,” says PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel Delcianna Winders. “Profit is SeaWorld’s only concern—not the well-being of the animals or its employees.”

Because the orcas at SeaWorld are deprived of everything that’s natural and important to them, they become frustrated and often aggressive, as in the case of Tilikum, who was taken from his family at a very young age and who later attacked and killed a SeaWorld trainer, which is the subject of the critically acclaimed documentary Blackfish.

At least 25 orcas have died in U.S. SeaWorld facilities since 1986—and not one died of old age. PETA wants SeaWorld to fund the creation of coastal sanctuaries where the captive orcas can live in as natural a setting as possible.

For more information, please visit SeaWorldOfHurt.com.