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SeaWorld Ends Killer Whales' Breeding Program



SeaWorld announced of stopping its killer whale breeding programs and take a "new direction" amid changing social attitudes.

The company said the 24 orcas it currently has in three parks would be SeaWorld's last generation, a long awaited move following intense criticism from animal-rights campaigners over keeping the whales in captivity.

Killer whale "Tilikum" appears during its performance in its show at Sea World on March 30, 2011 in Orlando, Fla. (Gerardo Mora / Getty Images)

"SeaWorld has been listening and we're changing," the company said in a statement. "Society is changing and we're changing with it. SeaWorld is finding new ways to continue to deliver on our purpose to inspire all our guests to take action to protect wild animals and wild places."

Joel Manby, president and CEO of SeaWorld, wrote in an op-ed article in the Los Angeles Times that its existing whales would remain in captivity because setting them free in the wild was "not a wise option."

"Most of our orcas were born at SeaWorld, and those that were born in the wild have been in our parks for the majority of their lives," he wrote. "If we release them into the ocean, they will likely die."

Manby said the SeaWorld hasn't collected an orca from the wild in almost four decades and that this would be "the last generation of orcas in SeaWorld's care."

The 24 orcas SeaWorld currently has are at parks in California, Texas and Florida.



The company has been under pressure about its orcas since the 2013 release of the documentary "Blackfish," which argued that placing the whales in captivity made them violent, neurotic and decreased their life span.

Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute said SeaWorld's decision was "a monumental and important first step forward in achieving a more humane business model."

The theme park was also feeling pressure from authorities. California's Coastal Commission last year approved a $100 million expansion at SeaWorld San Diego but only on the condition that it ended captive breeding at that facility — a ruling that CEO Manby at the time described as "inhumane."

Animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) described Thursday's announcement as a "payoff" from its campaigns to change SeaWorld's policies.

However, it said: "Today is the day to stop breeding, not sometime later this year. SeaWorld must open its tanks to the oceans to allow the orcas it now holds captive to have some semblance of a life outside these prison tanks."

Source : NBC News
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