San Diego Mayor Kevin Faulconer has been campaigning to improve SeaWorld’s tainted image by singing the orca prison’s praises at every turn in an upstream attempt to bring tourism to the city. But peta2—PETA’s youth division—hopes to hold the former SeaWorld PR man at bay by offering him money to stop spinning wild tales about the treatment of orcas and other marine mammals at the embattled facility. The group is calling on its more than 86,000 members around the world to send Faulconer pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters—whatever they can spare—from their allowances and after-school jobs, along with a note that reads, “If you really need money, here’s some of mine. Let the orcas go!”
“The orcas locked in SeaWorld’s tiny tanks suffer every day of their lives,” says PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel Delcianna Winders. “These orcas desperately need a change—and peta2’s young supporters are eager to fork over their change if it’ll make the mayor think twice about promoting SeaWorld’s despicable business.”
Orcas at SeaWorld are denied everything that’s natural and important to them and are forced to live in barren, chlorine-treated tanks that, to them, are the size of a bathtub. Their frustration has led to numerous attacks against each other and trainers—resulting in injuries and even death. Ever since the acclaimed documentary Blackfish focused on SeaWorld’s cruel capture and confinement of orcas, the public has become increasingly wary of the amusement park. PETA and peta2 are urging Faulconer to join their call to release the orcas to seaside sanctuaries and to support the California bill that would ban the orca shows at SeaWorld.
