Posted May 31, 2012 by Christina
There’s big news today in a case that PETA has been pursuing for some time: Consistent with the citations issued against SeaWorld in 2010, Administrative Law Judge Ken Welsch of the Occupational Safety and Health Review Commission (OSHRC) found that SeaWorld is to blame for allowing its employees to interact directly with potentially dangerous orcas.
For years, PETA has asked SeaWorld to transfer the marine mammals it enslaves to transitional coastal sanctuaries because confining animals to tanks equivalent to the size of a bathtub for them leads to misery and frustration—and dangerous conditions for SeaWorld staffers.
PETA had urged the Occupational Safety and Health Administration to pursue a citation against SeaWorld and provided it with compiled research on the history of deaths and injuries at the park and orca aggression in captivity. The OSHRC decision affirms that SeaWorld knew that allowing its employees—like Dawn Brancheau—to interact directly with orcas such as Tilikum could have serious or fatal results.
A History of Irresponsibility
Information that came out of the testimony during a two-week hearing before Judge Welsch, as well as during previous proceedings, includes the following:
While SeaWorld’s own corporate incident log contains reports of more than 100 incidents of orca aggression at its parks, government attorneys brought up incident after incident that were left out of the log. Despite the premature deaths of four human beings and more than 20 orcas at SeaWorld’s parks, the company continues to put profits over lives.
How You Can Help Orcas at SeaWorld
peta2 Street Team Coordinator + lover of vegan food, cats, animal rights, Dawson's Creek, and Harry Potter.
Too long to explain here, it's long enough for a novel.
Father loves to farm, be self sustainable, loves to read, he's a antiques/vintage auctioneer, art student, and looks like mr. Rogers. My mother is a Montessori teacher and is amazing with children, all about local organic foods, loves gardening, cooking etc. my sister who is nine years older than me was into indie music and introduced me to all sorts of things at a young age. This all rubbed of on me and from that base I grew into similar things. I'm an INFJ
I love animals about as much as rock, heavy metal, tea, and coffee. Hoping to make a difference and help animals through PETA!!!
I'm tall, a geek, nacho - obsessed, I love sewing and Cath Kidston, also I'm vegetarian (wannabe vegan.)
Jersey girl now I'm all country.
Well let's just say life ain't always beautiful but it's a beautiful ride. I love all my pets and would do anything for them. I have one dog, two cats, a ferret and my babygirl shaymin,(the cutest hedgehog alive) I'm into all different kinds of music. I'm a singer myself and love art.
I want to get into marketing but not have to rely on people which have different morals and worldviews than I do to hire me. While I'm figuring this out, I want to show everyone what I believe in and spur them into action against injustices.
Life On A Tour Bus
I am Angela. When I am not helping animals I am listening to music, reading, or playing video games. My spirit animal is a fox and I love nature. What else is there to know? Want to know anything about me, need advice or anything message me :)
338 days ago
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As a young girl I dreamed of one day being a trainer and working with the amazing marine animals at Sea World because when I went to the park as a young child on vacation I thought it was the most amazing place in the world. I couldn’t believe that people could be so close to these amazing creatures. When I went again when I was around 12 or 13 years old I saw the “Believe” show and I was blown away. Little did I know that the animals at sea world suffer because the tanks are to them the size of a bathtub. When I found the PETA campaign to protest sea world I was heart-broken. How could the place I loved so much do so much harm. At first I told myself it wasn’t true, that Sea World was preventing human harm the animals might suffer in the wild but I have come to terms with what is really going on. i have taken the pledge to not go to Sea World and realized these animals do not want to perform but rather they want to be home in the wild.
349 days ago
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Thank you PeTA. If they don’t care enough about the animals, then hit them with the loss of human life angle. Because they may consider that as a premise as opposed to the suffering of these great whales. However it is obvious that nothing will ever deter them from trying to make a fortune, even at the sufferings of any one or any thing (animals) so let’s not get our hopes up too high. This solitary confinement of these creatures is deplorable and should be stopped immediately! I know that I sure would go crazy-psycho if I were trapped like that. Those huge brains DO think and psyches Are damaged. Liken it to life sentence with no hope of parole, for a crime you never committed. People are constantly at war with the justice system for this very kind of thing. So, we must make our stand for the innocent, since the Orcas can’t hire their own lawyers. The only reason they hunt these whales is because they aren’t as large as others. On that note there is a trapped Beluga whale at the Tacoma WA Zoo as well.
350 days ago
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My dad wants us to go to seaworld. im NOT going!
351 days ago
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SeaWorld was founded on ssaving wounded animals from the humans that caused it. SeaWorld gave them a safe heaven to be. alot of other places are like that too. Now I know SeaWorld is now a amusement park and I have been there twice. And yes putting animals in a small area is not safe for the animal nor the people around it. But animas have complex minds just like humans and it is sometimes hard to learn enough about them to be safe when in the water with them. I’m sure the trainers are well aware about that. I’m not standing up for SeaWorld or Peta. I’m just stating I believe should be mentioned.
352 days ago
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But I have season passes
355 days ago
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I have never been to SeaWorld or a marine-animal park, so that last one is pretty easy for me to do(: