Body: 

It’s been 10 years now since the release of the groundbreaking documentary Blackfish, a film that brought the plight of orcas kept in marine parks to millions of viewers for the first time. Of course, though, PETA had been working to rescue orcas and other cetaceans condemned to the tanks of SeaWorld and similar facilities since long before the eye-opening documentary told Tilikum’s harrowing story.  

Twenty-two years ago this month, an orca named Haida II—who was captured near Iceland in 1982 and then used for breeding—died from a brain abscess caused by a fungal infection. Her death came two decades after the death of an orca named Canuck II, who experienced chronic kidney disease, on August 2, 1981. He was just 6 years old and had been held in a small tank at SeaWorld for almost four of them. These deaths are only two of many. 

However, PETA’s work has made a significant difference for orcas in captivity. We took SeaWorld to court for violating the constitutional rights of five orcas, a landmark case that raised awareness of the plight of these smart, sensitive beings confined to wholly inadequate concrete tanks. Because of our campaigns and mounting public criticism, the company ended its disturbing orca-breeding program, meaning this generation of orcas will be the last to suffer in shallow tanks. 

While orcas are often in the spotlight, other dolphins are also victims. In 2018, a PETA Foundation veterinarian visited the dolphins held at all three SeaWorld parks and found that many of them had rake-mark injuries as well as scars all over their faces and bodies. Their trainers sometimes used them as living surfboards, standing on their faces or backs for the park’s degrading and cruel shows. A months-long PETA campaign and e-mails from more than 133,000 of our supporters helped end this cruel practice in 2020.  

Now, we’re setting our sights on ending the despicable breeding program for dolphins and whales at SeaWorld parks. Female dolphins are removed from the water and sometimes drugged so they can’t fight back while staff shove tubes filled with semen into their uteruses to create new generations of animals and keep the park’s tiny tanks stocked. Bred for money and treated like objects rather than sentient beings, dolphins endure unconscionable abuse at marine parks.  

PETA supporters have spoken out against SeaWorld for the last decade. Now, you can make a difference for marine mammals kept in the company’s watery prisons. Please sign the petition here to let the abusement park know that its breeding programs for dolphins and whales must end now and that it should send these highly sensitive and intelligent animals to seaside sanctuaries!