SeaWorld says it has suspended an employee accused of posing undercover as an animal rights activist and brought on a private investigator to look into the claims.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, better known as PETA, claimed earlier this week that SeaWorld planted the spy among its ranks to stir up violence at protests and feed back information in the theme park's ongoing battle with the group.

SeaWorld CEO Joel Manby called the allegations "very concerning" in a statement released late on Wednesday.

"These allegations, if true, are not consistent with the values of the SeaWorld organization and will not be tolerated," Manby said in the statement.

In a twist of cloak-and-dagger intrigue, PETA claimed Tuesday that an activist going by the name of Thomas Jones is actually a SeaWorld human resources employee named Paul McComb, who was sent by the marine theme park to rabble-rouse and send back information on protests over the past three years.

Masquerading as Jones, McComb apparently tried to provoke crowds with inflammatory social media posts like “grab your pitch forks and torches" and “burn [SeaWorld] to the ground,” PETA said. He was conspicuously curious about details of upcoming events and took part in a number of protests against the park — at one point even organizing his own, at which he failed to show.

If true, the outed mole would be yet another embarrassing episode for the San Diego-based park in what has been a painful downward spiral since the popular 2013 documentary Blackfish accused it of mistreating orcas. In the fierce and widespread public backlash to the film's revelations, celebrities like Willie Nelson have cancelled appearances, corporate sponsors have jumped ship and visitor numbers have plummeted.

For 3 years, a #SeaWorld employee calling himself “Thomas Jones,” AKA Paul McComb, attended PETA protests & meetings. pic.twitter.com/qS2LzdMlN9 — PETA (@peta) July 14, 2015

The theme park said in a statement Tuesday that it would not comment on "security operations," but blasted PETA for engaging in espionage of its own. Communications director David Koontz would neither confirm nor deny that the employee was working undercover when asked by Mashable.

"[Safety] is a responsibility that we take very seriously, especially as animal rights groups have become increasingly extreme in their rhetoric and tactics," the company said in a statement. "In fact, PETA itself actively recruits animal rights activists to gain employment at companies like SeaWorld, as this job posting demonstrates."

McComb did not respond to Mashable's phone calls and emails on Tuesday.

PETA's suspicions were first aroused when police arrested McComb along with 14 other protesters attempting to block SeaWorld's float at the 2014 Rose Bowl parade in Pasadena. The man vanished soon after, along with any records of his arrest.

"When everybody was released, he was nowhere to be seen," PETA spokesperson Katie Arth told Mashable. "He told us the police had just let him go when everybody else was booked and processed."

The personal details of McComb's alias grew shadier when PETA uncovered that he had given two mailing addresses upon signing up, one of which did not exist and the other traced to SeaWorld's head of security, Richard Marcelino.

In a blog post on the PETA campaign's site, side-by-side Facebook photos of McComb and "Jones" show a clear resemblance. Bloomberg reported that both pages were removed at least temporarily when it broke the story on Tuesday.

Image: Courtesy of PETA

McComb's online resume page, which has since been removed, revealed that the 28-year-old has worked at the San Diego park in various roles since 2008, most recently as an HR representative, according to the news site.

PETA says it has filed public records requests with the Pasadena Police Department for documents related to his arrest. On Thursday, the group announced that it is suing the city for failing to comply with its request.

“SeaWorld knows that the public is rejecting its cruel orca prisons and is so desperate that it created a corporate espionage campaign,” PETA senior vice president Lisa Lange said in a statement. “Instead of creating a dirty tricks department, SeaWorld should put its resources into releasing the orcas into coastal sanctuaries.”

The incident isn't the first time PETA has accused one of its corporate targets of spying. The group waged a costly legal battle against the Ringling Brothers circus over allegations of a "massive conspiracy" in which the circus stole sensitive documents and illegally wiretapped activists in the 1990s. The lawsuit ultimately failed in 2006 after a half-decade standoff.

This story was updated on Thursday, July 16 at 4 p.m. EST to include SeaWorld's most recent statement on Wednesday.