LETTER of the DAY: In light of SeaWorld’s recent media push, a former casual visitor Amy Costanzo, now a practicing attorney, cc’d The Orca Project on her letter to SeaWorld executives and shares her views on the marine park’s self-serving (and costly) attempt to “set the record straight“. Well done Amy! We couldn’t agree with you more. You can read SeaWorld’s open letter to the public HERE (published as full-page advertisements in U.S. Newspapers) and then read the response from this everyday caring citizen here:

Dear Ms. Bides, Mr. Jacobs, and all other SeaWorld employees (including Mr. Jim Atchison),

I read your “open letter” (read: flyer) this morning in the Orlando Sentinel. It seems that the American public has grown wary of you and your operations since the release of the film “Blackfish”, and rightfully so. Since you are inclined to make public statements regarding the alleged care of animals, specifically orcas, in your custody, as a member of the public, I am inclined to respond to your claims.

Claim #1: SeaWorld does not capture killer whales in the wild.

It is true that the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 prohibits entities like you from removing marine mammals from their natural habitats. However, science and the incidents at your facilities have shown and informed us that we cannot breed out millions of years of wild instincts embedded in animals via evolution and biology. Even if you are not physically removing orcas from the wild, you admit to breeding them repeatedly in captivity. This is akin to prisoners having children in prison and those children remaining in prison for their natural lives. All you are doing is breeding wild animals for your own entertainment purposes. From my perspective, this is no different than breeding wild animals for circus performances, for canned hunts, or for the fur industry. You are not better for breeding wild animals in captivity instead of capturing them from the wild – stop pretending that you are.

Additionally, recent reports have indicated that you may have had a direct financial and consulting role in providing captured orcas for the 2014 Sochi Olympics, in that you were part of a consortium seeking an orca permit in Russia and helped pay for research there to justify the latest captures. The reports claim that you and other companies interested in obtaining more killer whales for entertainment venues communicated with White Sphere, the company tasked with capturing the killer whales for the opening ceremonies, in order to advise them on the best practices of taking killer whales out of the wild. These reports have not been verified, but I doubt they are far from the truth. If you did this (and I am sure we will find out of you did very soon), then your statement that you do not capture killer whales in the wild is a bold-faced lie.

…..Continue reading Amy’s letter to SeaWorld executives →