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In a recent press interview, SeaWorld’s CEO, Jim Atchison, said the park’s orcas have “great lives, full lives” and “enriching and socially well-adjusted lives.” One month earlier, SeaWorld’s senior veterinarian, Christopher Dodd, said, “I can unequivocally state that our whales are thriving, both mentally and physically.”

SeaWorld San Diego (photo: Mike Blake/Reuters)

By defending killer whale captivity, Atchison and Dodd, who are cementing shameful legacies for themselves, have chosen to dig in their heels instead of creating coastal sanctuaries where the orcas can be rehabilitated before potentially being released. Their focus on short-term profits is bad not only for the whales but also for the long-term prospects of SeaWorld, which could go out of business if it doesn’t adapt:

Happy ThanksKilling, SeaWorld. As you continue to mentally and physically kill your whale prisoners, members of the thinking public will continue to kill your extraordinarily cruel business.

Just seconds after two women climbed into a bathtub, naked, on a busy sidewalk in midtown Manhattan, dozens of reporters and hundreds of pedestrians descended upon them to snap photos and take video of their bold (and cold) protest against Macy’s.

Photo: Donny Moss

PETA organized the street spectacle to protest Macy’s inclusion of a SeaWorld float in its annual Thanksgiving Day Parade. TV host Jane Velez-Mitchell posted this report from the protest:

When asked by Jane why she was protesting in the frigid weather, one of the naked orcas said, “This is just an hour of our time. Orcas spend their entire lives in the equivalent of a bathtub.”

Activists protest SeaWorld float at Rose Bowl Parade

On its website, SeaWorld of Hurt, PETA says, “SeaWorld enslaves animals in small tanks at marine parks around the country, where they are forced to perform unnecessary tricks for “entertainment.” It’s a business built on the suffering of intelligent, social animals who are denied everything that is natural and important to them.”

Urge Macy’s to cancel SeaWorld float in Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Please use this form to send a letter to the CEO of SeaWorld asking that he release their orcas to coastal sanctuaries.

The documentary film Blackfish sparked a movement to free catpive whales that has spread like wildfire into the mainstream public. As SeaWorld attempts to douse the flames in an effort to protect the multi-billion dollar empire it built on the backs of orcas, a shareholder lawsuit against the company is fanning them to greater heights. In 2014, SeaWorld stock has dropped about 50%, and attendance is down almost 5%.

SeaWorld San Diego (photo: Mike Blake/Reuters)

How did SeaWorld’s stock price, reputation and popularity decline so quickly? It was the combination of a killer documentary that aired on mainstream TV (CNN) and a relentless campaign by animal rights activists worldwide to expose the cruelty of orca captivity. The animal rights community is bringing SeaWorld to its knees.

As SeaWorld puts bandaids on the gaping wound of orca exhibits, such as announcing plans for bigger tanks, activists are ratcheting up the campaign against the company.

Wild orcas  swim up to 100 miles/day

In the streets, protests are being staged at SeaWorld parks; at parades which feature SeaWorld floats; and at meetings with SeaWorld executives. A massive protest at the Miami Seaquarium, where the orca Lolita lives by herself in the smallest enclosure in the country, is planned for January 17th, 2015. Already, almost 500 people have signed up to participate.

Photo: Reuters/Shannon Stapleton

The battle to liberate captive orcas is reminiscent of the campaign to legalize gay marriage. On both issues, activists have relentlessly educated the public about an injustice, and they have complimented that effort with litigation, lobbying and street activism. It is because of activists that gay marriage is a foregone conclusion in the United States, and it is because of activists that orcas captivity will be outlawed.

Approximately 52 orcas are being held captive in aquariums in the U.S., Argentina, France, Spain, China, Japan and Russia. Coastal sanctuaries can accommodate these orcas when they are liberated.

Urge Macy’s to cancel SeaWorld’s float it the Thanksgiving Day Parade

To find out how you can lend your voice to captive orcas, please visit Blackfish.

In December 2013, the Russian company VDNKh Park packed two killer whales into crates at the East end of the country and flew them 10 hours to Moscow to be displayed in an aquarium being built in the city.

In 2012, Namia is transported after being captured (photo: Russianorca.com)

More than 10 months later, the five and seven year old orcas are languishing in a temporary holding tank that are only 82 feet in diameter because the aquarium’s orca enclosure is still under construction and isn’t expected to be completed until early 2015. According to the Moscow Times, Russian police have refused to open a case on behalf of the orcas because the tank doesn’t meet the country’s definition of cruelty to animals.

Rusty temporary holding tank

Inflatable bubble covers tanks

The Russian animal rights group VITA says that guards and customers of a nearby exhibition center have, for months, reported “horrible sounds” and “cries” of killer whales. In spite of substantive evidence and a police report stating that the orcas are being held at this location, the aquarium has denied their presence — until yesterday, when video was released. Now, they are stating that the orcas were held secretly to that Muscovites would be surprised when they arrived at the aquarium.

The Director of the Far East Orca Russia Project (FEROP) says that holding killer whales in these circumstances is “completely abnormal” and that “we have no setting in Russia for keeping killer whales in captivity.” Other experts say that holding orcas captive can shorten their life and make them dangerous, as demonstrated in the documentary film Blackfish.

In light of the fact that an orca enclosure is being built at the new Moscow aquarium, Russia isn’t going to return these animals to their pod in the wild unless the world unites behind these orcas. Please sign the Take Part petition and PETA’s form letter to the Russian Ambassador to the UK asking for the orcas to be released back into the wild.

For the past 44 years, an orca named Lolita has been held captive at the Miami Seaquarium in a 60′ by 80′ pool, the smallest orca enclosure in the United States. For the first ten years of her captivity, Lolita had an orca companion named Hugo. In 1980, Hugo repeatedly smashed his head against the wall until he died. Lolita has been alone for 34 years.

Lolita has lived in a small, barren tank for 44 years

A massive march to free Lolita and return her to her to the wild will take place next to the Seaquarium on January 17th. Please share this information with your friends in Florida.

Are you sitting down? SeaWorld’s proposal for larger orca tanks has received a stamp of approval from the American Humane Association (AHA). The AHA, which describes itself as having “been at the forefront of virtually every major advance in protecting children, pets and farm animals from abuse and neglect” will “oversee the building of the facilities,” according to SeaWorld.

Photo: SeaWorld Entertainment

If the AHA were being true to its mission, then it would block the construction of the tanks, not oversee it. It would also join the fight to release the captive orcas into ocean sanctuaries. This is not the first time the AHA has betrayed the animals it claims to protect. In a lengthy Hollywood Reporter article, the organization was exposed for covering up abuse on movie sets. Please contact the AHA, which had $12.8 million in revenues in 2013, to let them how you feel about their tacit endorsement of SeaWorld.