September 19, 2013
Mr. Jim Atchison
Chief Executive Officer
SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc.
9205 South Park Center Loop
Suite 400
Orlando, Florida 32819-8651
Dear Mr. Atchison:
As a child, I was lucky to have parents who took me on trips to SeaWorld parks in Florida and California. I enjoyed your parks and have pleasant memories of those summer vacations with my parents and siblings.
Since the tragic death of your animal trainer, Dawn Brancheau in 2010, I have taken a closer look at your company and its history.
I have read the book, “Death At SeaWorld: Shamu and The Dark Side of Killer Whales in Captivity” by David Kirby. I have seen the film, “Blackfish: Never Capture What You Can’t Control,” directed by Gabriela Cowperthwaite.
I recognize the rescue/aid work that SeaWorld has done with manatees and sea turtles; however the management of the orcas in your care seems to have been self-serving to the point of causing harm and exploitation.
For example:
August 8, 1970. Whidbey Island, Washington. An expedition working on behalf of SeaWorld and other aquariums captured 80 orcas in a net. (Most were released after suffering the trauma of capture.) Seven were chosen to be shipped to parks. Five whales, including four baby whales, drowned during the violent captures. Their bodies were weighed down by chains and anchors so that they would sink to the bottom of the ocean away from public view.
‘If the public didn’t see it, it didn’t happen,’seems to have been the attitude of the day.
March, 1976. Near Olympia, Washington. The same expedition, this time working exclusively for SeaWorld, used acetylene torches to light explosives and tossed them into the ocean to frighten a pod of orcas into their net at Budd Inlet.
One can imagine that on the same day that your contractors were literally throwing bombs at wild orcas in Washington, your company was touting education and conservation and “creating incredible awareness for orcas” in front of moms and dads and boys and girls at SeaWorld.
The hypocrisy is staggering.
Your captures in Washington are the main reason that the Southern Resident orcas are endangered today.
February 20, 1991. The orca known as Tilikum (along with two other captive orcas) killed trainer Keltie Byrne at SeaLand of the Pacific in Canada. Your company brought Tilikum to Orlando, Florida where he went on to kill two more people---and where SeaWorld actively used him in its breeding program.
In the “Blackfish” film, former SeaWorld trainer Samantha Berg commented that no reputable breeding program would take an animal that has killed humans and breed it over and over like SeaWorld has done with Tilikum.
In addition to the human injuries and deaths at SeaWorld, your parks are not safe places for killer whales.
SeaWorld occasionally places unrelated and incompatible animals in the same enclosure, creating an unnatural social structure that gives rise to incidents of aggression and attacks.
Whereas displays of dominance between orcas in the wild are unlikely to escalate to dangerous levels, the subordinate orca at SeaWorld has no way of escape from its attacker.
An example of this occurred on August 21, 1989 when Kandu V attacked Corky II at SeaWorld in San Diego causing a 10-foot high geyser of blood to spout from Kandu’s blowhole. Kandu bled to death in view of park guests.
(Two years earlier, in 1987, witnesses reported that Kandu violently collided into Corky, leaving a three-foot-gash along Corky’s stomach. The two orcas were again placed together at SeaWorld despite this previous incident of aggression between them.)
In reading about orcas, I have learned that in the wild their relationships are extraordinarily stable and enduring. They are family-oriented animals, staying close together in pods throughout their lives. There is a particularly strong bond between orca mother and calf.
At SeaWorld, your shows tend to play up the relationship between orca and human trainer, but the real bond---the instinctive bond---is between orca mother and calf.
The “Blackfish” film highlights an incident where an orca calf was removed from its mother at a very young age. It’s the most compelling part of the movie.
Kalina (“Baby Shamu”) was born to Katina on September 26, 1985 and was taken from her mother in 1990 at age four and a half.
In “Blackfish,” former SeaWorld trainer Carol Ray recalled being mocked by a co-worker after raising objections to the Katina/Kalina separation. The underlying message was clear: do not regard the animals and their well-being so much that you question company directives.
After the separation of Kalina from her mother, Ms. Ray observed that Katina remained immobile in the corner of the pool emitting loud, heart-wrenching cries throughout the night. Katina’s handlers say that she made sounds that night that they had not heard her make before.
In the “Death At SeaWorld” book, Dr. Naomi Rose said, “The destruction of the family structure that is so critical to orca mental health and well-being has turned some whales into sociopaths. They’re all socially warped because they didn’t swim with their mothers long enough to learn to be orcas.”
Christmas Eve, 2009. Trainer Alexis Martinez was attacked and killed by an orca owned by SeaWorld at Loro Parque in the Canary Islands.
In Secretary of Labor v. SeaWorld of Florida, LLC, your company tried to distance itself from Loro Parque. The “Blackfish” film depicted SeaWorld curator, Kelly Clark, testifying under oath that she had no knowledge of an affiliation between SeaWorld and Loro Parque.
There was plenty of affiliation between the parks.
SeaWorld leased five orcas to Loro Parque. A trainer from SeaWorld San Diego was sent to supervise training at Loro Parque.
In “Blackfish,” Loro Parque employee, Suzanne Allee, recalled that your company sent the orcas to a park that was not ready for them and to a staff that had little or no experience working with orcas. She added that Loro Parque did not have a good reputation within the industry.
The SeaWorld orcas chewed the paint off the walls of their enclosure at Loro Parque and endured stressful endoscopy procedures. Alexis Martinez, was attacked and killed by Keto (the offspring of Kalina, the original “Baby Shamu.”)
Two months later, on February 24, 2010, senior SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau was scalped and dismembered by Tilikum during a “Dine With Shamu” performance at SeaWorld in Orlando.
Mr. Atchison, it is clear to me that a callous mishandling and abuse of killer whales runs through the history of your company to the present day.
Whatever challenges orcas face in the ocean, confining them to the relatively shallow pools of a marine mammal park where they are exploited for short-term gain is no real solution.
If all the orcas on the planet were rounded up and put into SeaWorld parks it would probably hasten the demise of the species. Experts agree that many of the orcas in your collection are so damaged by life in captivity that they could not be expected to survive and function normally if they were released to the wild. Captivity makes orcas weaker, not stronger.
While your company attempts to make excuses, assign blame, and disparage and discredit its critics---the public is beginning to lose faith in SeaWorld. And rightly so.
My family and I will not visit SeaWorld or any park that displays orcas.
I would support the passage of a new law prohibiting the housing and display of captive orcas in the United States.
Jim, the Shamu show has got to go.
