Oceanic Preservation Society Slams SeaWorld in Open Letter

SeaWorld is making everyone seriously mad – from a sweet five-year-old boy all the way to national nonprofit organizations.

And why, you ask? Well, of course, first and foremost because of the scathing documentary “Blackfish,” which many of us know by now revealed the true (and ugly) face of SeaWorld.

While the marine park could have came out and accepted their past wrongdoings and admitted that they provide an insufficient environment for their captive marine animals, and then turned a new leaf, they have instead chosen to attempt to “save” their billion-dollar company by painting themselves as true “animal advocates” whose captive residents somehow “benefit [the marine animals] in the wild.”

SeaWorld has also put out a Groupon, offering discounts to increase visitor numbers, which have plummeted since screenings of “Blackfish” aired nationally on CNN. The company has even created a “SeaWorld Cares” website and ran ads in an attempt to take our focus away from their treatment of orcas (and arguably, their other marine animals as well). Plus, they’ve stated they are giving their whales a “break” for the next three months for “renovations,” and while this may be true, what so many of us are wondering is why not make it permanent?

SeaWorld: we’re not buying anything you say anymore.

As OGP’s Aisling Maria Cronin pointed out in her article yesterday, “The very fact that they continue to call themselves SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. says it all. Not ‘Conservation,’ not ‘Marine Research,’ but ‘Entertainment.’ At their heart, they still believe it is acceptable to parade certain orcas and dolphins around in order to amuse human audiences and boost their profits.”

No one else is really buying SeaWorld’s act either, especially not the Oceanic Preservation Society (OPS), whose team was behind the first major eye-opening marine documentary, “The Cove,” which went on to win an Academy Award (and “Blackfish,” too, is now in the running!)

Just yesterday, OPS released a passionate and highly informed (yes, you can be passionate and objective) three-page long open letter in response to SeaWorld’s statement, “SeaWorld: The Truth is in Our Parks and People – An Open Letter from SeaWorld’s Animal Advocates.”

To give you just a preview of what they’ve said, check out a few of their main points below:

• “SeaWorld no longer captures killer whales in the wild – it now has other people capture animals for them.”
• “SeaWorld routinely separates mothers, babies, sisters, brothers and all forms of  family bonds to accommodate its performances.”
• “SeaWorld’s barren concrete tanks are an appalling substitute for nature. Orcas, one of the ocean’s fastest mammals, can travel 60 miles a day or more in a straight line. In a tank they are forced to swim in tight circles.”
• “Orca captivity is not a prerequisite to conducting scientific research; in fact, the captive environment often yields artificial results.”

Now, go ahead and read the rest of OPS’s amazing letter, and be sure to spread it around to show everyone that SeaWorld can no longer fool us with their PR stunts and marketing gimmicks.

Image source: Britt Reints / Flickr