The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : SeaWorld The Pet Tree House - Where Pets Are Family Too : SeaWorld
Showing posts with label SeaWorld. Show all posts
Showing posts with label SeaWorld. Show all posts

Tuesday, October 23, 2018

Sea Lion Blocks Traffic in the Middle of an Intersection in San Diego


We're not really sure, but it must not have been that important because it stopped in the middle of an intersection in San Diego to apparently scratch its back.

Officers were called to the intersection of Garrison and Rosecrans streets, about a block and a half from a marina, around 3:30 p.m. to find the seal laying on its back in the roadway blocking traffic.

It was in no apparent hurry to clear the intersection despite the row of cars waiting for their right of way.

A SeaWorld San Diego crew arrived a short time later and trapped the sea lion in a net and loaded it into a cage. People on the street were heard on video singing Seal's "Kiss From a Rose" as the scene unfolded.. 

SeaWorld Senior Animal Care Specialist Heather Armentrout said the female sea lion didn't appear to have any injuries but did say it was odd for her to be in the street.

She was taken back to SeaWorld where the staff was going to check her out with plans of releasing her to the ocean, Armentrout said.

Armentrout said she's taken part in sea lion rescues in city streets before but has never seen one that far inland.

No other information was available.



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Tuesday, April 10, 2018

It's Working! SeaWorld Is Sinking as Attendance Drops by Half a Million Visitors


Largely thanks to the critically-acclaimed documentary Blackfish, which exposed the shocking mistreatment and abuse captive cetaceans endure at marine parks like SeaWorld, the business has seen ticket sales drop. Attendance at the parks dropped another 5.5 percent in 2017, after dropping 3.3 percent the year before, indicating that the influence of Blackfish is still spreading. However, SeaWorld told investors that profits were not affected by the widespread criticism brought about by the film, fraudulent claims which have resulted in an investigation of the business by the Department of Justice. And SeaWorld CEO Joel Manby stepped down after failing to clean up their tarnished image, and other SeaWorld heads have since done the same. And if any more proof is needed that SeaWorld is sinking, SeaWorld San Diego has now reported half a million fewer visitors in 2017 than in 2016.

This refreshing news is a hopeful sign that the public is becoming increasingly aware of the dangers and cruelty involved in keeping cetaceans in captivity. Captive orcas like those exploited by SeaWorld are violently ripped away from their close-knit family pods in the wild and tossed in bathtub-like enclosures to pose as spectacles for noisy crowds in exchange for food. Life in captivity for these highly-intelligent animals leads to extreme mental and emotional trauma, commonly known as zoochosis, a serious psychological disorder exhibited by compulsive and destructive behavior like incessant swaying, head bobbing, chewing, self-mutilation, and even suicide attempts. Calves born in captivity are immediately taken away from their mothers, leading to tremendous anguish and ear-piercing cries from the mothers for weeks. Life in captivity also equates to broken and missing teeth and collapsed dorsal fins, and the inadequate conditions at parks can lead to abnormal and aggressive behavior, which is dangerous for the animals and people alike.

To read more on this story, click here: It's Working! SeaWorld Is Sinking as Attendance Drops by Half a Million Visitors

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Sunday, November 13, 2016

SeaWorld: Rewards Employees for Staying Quiet in the Face of Clear Cases of Abuse


This week, trainers from around the world will arrive at SeaWorld for the International Marine Animal Trainers’ Association conference. The event is likely to draw controversy, as the Chicago-based IMATA has come under recent fire for its policy allowing trainers to participate in the violent Taiji dolphin hunts.

A change in this policy is long overdue. But as a former trainer myself, I can attest that IMATA’s stance is symptomatic of a much deeper culture of turning a blind eye to cruelty - one that runs throughout the marine park industry, including SeaWorld.

For 12 years, I worked alongside Smooshi, an 800-pound walrus, as a marine mammal trainer at Marineland. In that time I saw a lot of bad things, from repeated animal neglect to mass graves.

Even though the conditions were shocking, nothing could have prepared me for the cult-like work environment that rewarded employees for staying quiet in the face of clear cases of abuse.

If you speak out, there’s hell to pay.

I found this out the hard way. When I blew the whistle on Marineland’s dodgy practices, they sued me for $1.5 million. And I am just one of 15 whistleblowers, along with others from parks like SeaWorld, who finally said enough is enough.

Though it may look fun from the outside, working as a marine animal trainer is a tough gig. I loved Smooshi like family and wanted to protect her, but I also knew I was part of the problem.

When she first arrived at Marineland in a small wooden box, Smooshi was just 18 months old. The vet came to take her blood for a health check and she was terrified. She ran to me looking for help and we instantly bonded.

The two of us became inseparable. Smooshi would follow me around the park and bark incessantly when she couldn’t see me. Television shows like Jimmy Kimmel even ran stories about us, with the headline “Walrus in love”. I did worry about Smooshi and the other animals’ living conditions, but my concerns were ignored by management.

Even though I was paid to look the other way, the realities of captivity were difficult to ignore. At times, the water was so caustic with chlorine it caused blindness to the animals and gave Smooshi chemical burns. I’d run my hand over dolphins and watch as their skin literally flaked off. Six of the park’s seven seals were blind or had serious eye problems due to the high levels of chlorine.

Some days there would be mysterious bloodstains on the floor I’d have to mop up, no questions asked. One time I even found myself in a mass animal grave, digging up Kandu, a wild-caught orca from Iceland, because his necropsy wasn’t done properly the first time around.

Another cruel aspect trainers are forced to look the other way on, is how wild animals are collected. Marine parks often promote their animals as “rescues” when really they are deliberately captured from the wild and stolen from their families. I am guilty of shying away from this reality myself, because Smooshi didn’t come to Marineland as a rescue walrus. She was captured in the Black Sea in Russia.

Since leaving the park, I can see the truth: Smooshi should never have been in captivity in the first place. Capturing marine animals like walruses, beluga whales and dolphins is a violent and cruel process. And putting them in sterile, unnatural environments is torture, even with the so-called “best” care there is.

It’s terrible how many marine parks and trainers are still involved in the wild capture of marine animals, even though reaction to movies like Blackfish and The Cove show the general public clearly don’t agree with it.

Perhaps the most shocking thing is that the peak body for trainers in the United States, IMATA, still actually allows their trainers to be involved in the Taiji dolphin hunts. This is one of the most controversial wild capture operations in the world, yet IMATA gives its trainers permission to participate and select dolphins for sale to marine parks.

For many young people, a job at a marine park is an all-access pass to touch and play with animals. It’s a reward every young child wants - until they learn the truth.

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Wednesday, October 19, 2016

Coast Guard Rescues an 800 Pound Pregnant Manatee: She Will Be Temporarily Housed at SeaWorld


A complex rescue effort involving a Coast Guard plane is helping return a pregnant manatee to the wild. The 800-pound marine mammal was rescued in September off the coast of Massachusetts.

Less than a month later, veterinarians gave the go-ahead to make the journey from a base in Groton, Connecticut back to Florida, where the manatee is beginning the next phase of her recovery, reports CBS News correspondent David Begnaud. 

The manatee – named Washburn for the island where she was rescued – returned to the Sunshine State after a 1,300-mile flight aboard a Coast Guard transport plane.

Escorted by police, a slow procession moved through the streets of Orlando to her temporary new home at SeaWorld.

There, a crane hoisted Washburn into a private rehab tank. You could almost see the relief as she hit the water.

The once anonymous manatee became a summer celebrity. She was spotted bobbing in the choppy waters off Cape Cod in late August. Conservationists with the International Fund for Animal Welfare sprang into action, capturing Washburn three weeks later, and taking her to the Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut. 

When Washburn arrived there, it became clear that this rescue operation was even more important than first thought. Veterinarians discovered this manatee was a mom-to-be.

“It’s not only one manatee but it’s two so the stakes are pretty high,” said Dr. Jen Flower, a veterinarian at Mystic Aquarium.

Manatees, also known as “sea cows,” can weigh over 3,000 pounds, eating a diet comprised mainly of sea grass. The animals, native to Florida, spent nearly 50 years on the endangered species list, but the population is recovering. 

Sea World veterinarian Lara Croft accompanied Washburn on the flight south. She said just saving one has proven to be worth the extraordinary effort.

“We did have one orphan calf that was hand-reared, returned to the wild and she gave birth to nine calves,” Croft said. “And who knows how many calves that those calves had. One manatee can have a huge effect on the population.”

Now that Washburn is back home in Florida, the staff at SeaWorld is working hard to prepare her return to the wild, where she’s expected to give birth in about four to six months. SeaWorld has released 17 manatees back into the wild thus far.


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Wednesday, March 23, 2016

Seaworld: Three Other Things the Park Will Stop Doing Now That it’s Ending its Marine-Cruelty Program


Have you heard the glorious news? SeaWorld has finally decided to end its orca breeding program.

Right before St. Patrick’s Day, the marine theme park announced that its current generation of orcas will be its last. In a recent LA Times OpEd, Joel Manby, SeaWorld’s CEO, said the change was made because the park wants to help contribute “to the evolving understanding of one of the world’s largest marine mammals [the orca].”

In addition to ending its orca breeding program, SeaWorld will also cease to produce and put on its “theatrical orca whale shows.”

This announcement is great–and long overdue. So overdue that we feel comfortable poking a little fun at the park’s announcement by listing 3 other things–albeit fictional things–that the park will also stop doing now that it’s ending its marine-cruelty program.

Lower Ticket Prices

There is not a single theme park in the United States that doesn’t expect a ridiculous amount of money to ride attractions that are over in three minutes, or to look at animals that you typically don’t see every day. Well, now that SeaWorld has decided to stop breeding orcas and training them to put on ridiculous stunts for the masses, the park’s entry price will inevitably drop. After all, everyone knows that orca imprisonment is really expensive.

Stop Giving Out Free Marine Pets to Park Guests

It seems only natural that a park that keeps large, magnificent creatures hostage would also be thoughtless enough to give away smaller, but equally wonderful creatures to anyone who enters the park. So, in a groundbreaking move, SeaWorld also will stop giving away precious crabs, fish, and other small types of sea life to the park’s guests. So compassionate…

SeaWorld, as a Whole, is Going to Stop Functioning as a Park and Will Become a Marine Sanctuary

Yes, sea sanctuaries can exist and help marine life in need. SeaWorld has finally seen the light, listened to its most adamant critics, and decided to stop profiting off the backs of sea creatures. One of the park’s biggest critics is John Hargrove, author of “Beneath the Surface: Killer Whales, SeaWorld, and the Truth Beyond Blackfish” and former senior trainer. A year or so ago, he said the following about the brilliance of sea pens and ocean sanctuaries:

“I’ve spoken with some brilliant-minded people, and I believe sea sanctuaries are a viable solution. They [SeaWorld] should follow the example of the Ringling Brothers, who recently acknowledged that their customers had shifted in their thinking about having elephants in captivity. So by 2018, all of Ringling Brothers’ elephants are going to be retired to elephant sanctuaries. SeaWorld wants to make it sound like it’s impossible. But we’ve been doing sea pens or sea sanctuaries since the seventies. The U.S. Navy had an open-ocean killer whale in a sea pen years ago…”

While we’re obviously trying to have a little fun with this list, we do think it would be great if SeaWorld did begin to use sea pens. Because if the park really did care about marine life, it would do all it could to make all marine creatures’ lives better.


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Friday, February 26, 2016

Joel Manby, SeaWorld’s CEO, Has Admitted That His Employees Were Ordered to Infiltrate Animal Rights Protests


The chief executive of SeaWorld has admitted his employees were ordered to infiltrate animal rights protests against the company’s alleged mistreatment of killer whales and dolphins in its controversial aquatic theme parks.

Joel Manby, SeaWorld’s CEO, acknowledged on Thursday that the company was wrong to ask human resources employee Paul McComb to pose as an animal rights activist and join Peta protests against the company since at least July 2014.

“This activity was undertaken in connection with efforts to maintain the safety and security of employees, customers and animals in the face of credible threats,” Manby said of the tactics used by McComb, who was exposed as an undercover SeaWorld employee by Peta protesters last summer.

Manby said on Thursday that SeaWorld directors had ordered “management to end the practice in which certain employees posed as animal rights activists”.

Manby’s statement came during a conference call with investors following the release of another year of disappointing earnings. More than $160m (£115m) was wiped off SeaWorld’s market value on Thursday as the company’s shares – which were worth as much as $39 in 2013 – fell 11% to $17.60.

McComb, who posed as an animal rights activist named Thomas Jones, is still employed by SeaWorld. “Mr. McComb remains an employee of SeaWorld, has returned to work at SeaWorld in a different department and is no longer on administrative leave,” the company said in a statement. A spokeswoman for SeaWorld refused to answer any questions about McComb.

Whilst undercover, McComb had urged other protesters to “burn it [SeaWorld] to the ground” and used Facebook and Twitter to incite other activists to “get a little aggressive” and “drain the new tanks at #SeaWorld”.

In the run-up to a July 2014 protest, Jones urged other activists: “Grab your pitchforks and torches. Time to take down SeaWorld.”

Tracy Reiman, Peta’s executive vice-president, said: “SeaWorld’s latest report confirms not only that the company has employed more than one spy to infiltrate and agitate at Peta but also that it values its spies more highly than the executives ... as at least one of the spies is still working at the company.

“SeaWorld’s finances continue to flop as animals continue to be found dead in its tiny tanks, with one death every single month since November. If SeaWorld had business savvy or common sense, it would modernize its business with coastal sanctuaries and virtual reality displays instead of building more roller coasters and dolphin prisons. The tawdry orca sideshows and despicable spying tactics are sinking SeaWorld’s ship.”

SeaWorld on Thursday said its 2015 earnings fell 2% to $361m as sales dropped by $6.8m to $1.37bn.

The company, which has been under intense public pressure since the 2013 release of Blackfish, a documentary cataloguing the alleged mistreatment of whales, dolphins and their trainers, said attendance increased by 0.3% to 72,000 but this was only possible due to “increased promotional offerings”.



Facing consumer backlash fanned by celebrities including Harry Styles, Cher and Mötley Crüe’s Tommy Lee, SeaWorld has said it will put an end to “theatrical killer whale experience” – but only at its park in San Diego, California, where the drop in attendance has been most acute.

Manby said the company will replace its Californian Shamu show – in which whales dive, jump and splash guests to the demands of their trainers – with “an all new orca experience focused on the natural environment [of the whales]” by 2017.

“We are listening to our guests, evolving as a company, we are always changing,” Manby said as he unveiled a new corporate strategy in November. “ 2016 will be the last year of our theatrical killer whale experience in San Diego.”

He said the decision to end the orca shows in California was in direct response to customers, who he said had made it clear that they want less of a theatrical experience and would rather see the whales in a more natural setting. Attendance at the San Diego park is falling fast. Visitor numbers dropped 17% in 2013 to 3.8 million, according to city authorities.

As part of its strategy to move away from circus-style performances, SeaWorld last week replaced two top executives in charge of animal safety and theme park operations. “The leadership changes we announced last week are another important step on our roadmap to stabilization and growth,” Manby said on Thursday.


Paul McComb posed as ‘Thomas Jones’ and infiltrated Peta at least as early as July 2014. Photograph: Facebook/Peta.


Tweets by activist Thomas Jones, who is allegedly Paul McComb, a SeaWorld employee. Photograph: Twitter

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Sunday, February 7, 2016

A Hungry Baby Sea Lion Was Found Lying in a Booth at Upscale San Diego Sea Food Restaurant


A hungry baby sea lion was busted Thursday after taking a seat at a San Diego seafood restaurant.

The tiny ocean dweller was discovered by Marine Room staff after it strayed into the fine-dining restaurant and making itself comfortable at a nice table with a view of the sea.

“He was a little bit early for his high tide breakfast reservation,” chef Bernard Guillas wrote in a Facebook page along with some photos of the pup.


SeaWorld animal rescue workers were called in to take care of the critter.

Rescuers said the call from Marine Room staff allowed them to give the sea lion “a second chance at life,” according to CBS News.

The sea lion was thin for its age and is listed at critical condition at Seaworld, the news station reported.  

“We hope to get her rehabilitated and back out into the wild,” SeaWorld wrote according to CBS.













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Sunday, December 20, 2015

Heartbreaking: This Video Shows the Techniques Used by SeaWorld to Capture It’s First Orcas


In the wake of the documentary Blackfish, SeaWorld has had to account for their questionable business practices and the ethical questions surrounding cetacean captivity.

This video features the techniques used to capture SeaWorld’s first orcas. It is both stunning in its depiction of killer whale intelligence and the relentless cruelty the capture teams used to take calves from their mothers. In fact, during this particular raid, several whales died as a result of the chase.

Watch this clip from Blackfish:


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Wednesday, February 25, 2015

You Will No Longer Be Able to Feed the Dolphins at SeaWorld Orlando - A New Program, Starting in March, Will Allow You to Only Touch and Interact With the Dolphins


Seaworld picture
You will no longer be able to feed the dolphins at SeaWorld Orlando. A new program, starting in March, will allow you to only touch and interact with the dolphins.

The new program starting on March 2, will cost $15, and will be a reservation-only package, that allows small groups to spend several minutes touching and interacting with dolphins but not feeding them.

"Dolphin Cove will continue to provide areas where all guests are able to view dolphins up close, and interact with animals that choose to interact with them," said spokeswoman Becca Bides in an emailed statement on Tuesday.

Conservationists hailed the move as an incremental improvement in the treatment of captive marine mammals, saying the feeding pools are dangerous.

"It’s out of date, out of style and it’s full of risk," said Courtney Vail, campaign and program manager for the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society.

Vail said dolphins have been harmed in large feeding programs fighting over food and by guests dropping objects into the pools, not washing their hands and touching the dolphins’ eyes or blowholes. Guests occasionally are bitten, she said.

Vail said feeding programs encourage people to feed dolphins in the wild, leading to dolphin-boat collisions and teaching dolphins to beg rather than forage.

Vail said most aquariums other than SeaWorld ended feeding programs years ago.

Feeding of dolphins will remain a part of SeaWorld’s sister park in Orlando, Discovery Cove, where a limited number of guests touch, feed and swim with dolphins.

SeaWorld San Diego ended its large group feeding program in 2012, followed by the San Antonio park in 2013, according to Bides. Those parks still allow guests in small group interaction programs to feed dolphins.

Attendance at SeaWorld Orlando park took a hit after a 2013 documentary focused on its captive killer whale program, and in particular on Tilikum, formerly a performing a killer whale that drowned trainer Dawn Brancheau.

Her death led a federal administrative judge to order the theme park to maintain barriers between trainers and the whales.

In August, the company announced a planned expansion of the whale pools, and a $10 million contribution to killer whale research.

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Wednesday, October 29, 2014

Eighth Grader Convinces Entire School To Skip SeaWorld


The annual “winterim” trip to San Diego taken by the seventh and eighth graders at Alexander Dawson School in Lafayette, Colo., will be missing one element this year. The students will no longer be visiting SeaWorld, thanks to the efforts of one intrepid eighth grader named Phoebe Goldstein.

Goldstein, a longtime opponent of whale and dolphin captivity, had heard of other schools nearby that took field trips to the marine park. When she heard that her own school was planning a trip, she was shocked — and driven to action.

To read more on this story, click here: Eighth Grader Convinces Entire School To Skip SeaWorld FOLLOW US!
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