STA travel cancels all ‘unethical’ SeaWorld tours
By Jessica Plautz From Mashable
The student travel agency STA Travel has announced it will no longer arrange trips that involve the unethical treatment of animals.
They have stopped tours that include elephant rides, visits to Tiger Temple in Thailand and visits to SeaWorld parks in Orlando and San Diego. This is another blow for SeaWorld, which saw a 13% drop in attendance in the first three months of 2014 compared to the same period last year.
SeaWorld blamed the drop in attendance on a late Easter holiday, which fell in the second quarter this year, and avoided any mention of the documentary Blackfish, which portrayed abuses of the animals at the parks. Blackfish was released in July of last year.
STA’s social responsibility program manager Kathryn Kirkpatrick said that the moves to end these tours was the beginning of an effort to understand issues around ethical travel. STA arranges travel for about 2.5 million young people annually.
“We are reviewing our entire portfolio of animal-focused tours,” “We are reviewing our entire portfolio of animal-focused tours,” Kirkpatrick told The Guardian. “We take this seriously and listen carefully to feedback from animal welfare experts, customers and staff. If something isn’t up to our standards, we remove it.”
STA Travel asked the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) to offer suggestions about which tours were irresponsible because of their treatment of animals.
“There is no doubt about the profound suffering that orcas and other dolphins endure in captivity, and with all the exciting activities available to travelers today, companies still profiting from the captivity of sentient beings have their days numbered,” said Mimi Bekhechi, PETA’s associate director.
In a statement, SeaWorld said it was disappointed by the decision.
Although STA Travel are not contracted directly by SeaWorld, it is disappointing that they have made the decision to stop selling tickets to our parks. It is unfortunate that STA Travel did not approach SeaWorld when conducting this evaluation so that we could share with them our high standards of care and the rigorous inspection and accreditation process that assures the health and well-being of our animals.
Unfortunately, like most zoological institutions, we are sometimes targeted by animal activist groups that are opposed to the display of animals and too often trade in charges that are completely baseless. There is no higher priority for SeaWorld than the safety of our employees and guests and the welfare of our animals. SeaWorld operates under both federal and state animal welfare law, including the Animal Welfare Act, Marine Mammal Protection Act and other statutes. We set the highest standards in the zoological community for the care and interpretation of marine mammals.
SeaWorld Entertainment, which has a total of 11 parks around the world, saw an 11% drop in revenue in the first quarter of the year.
Despite the poor start to the year, SeaWorld CEO Jim Atchison told the Los Angeles Times he expects 2014 to return record financial results. He based his prediction on a strong start to the second quarter and the upcoming plans to open new parks.
IMAGE: Killer whale Tilikum, right, watches as SeaWorld Orlando trainers take a break during a training session at the theme park’s Shamu Stadium in Orlando, Fla.IMAGE: PHELAN M. EBENHACK/ASSOCIATED PRESS
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Court upholds killer whale safety ruling against SeaWorld
By Sam Laird from Mashable
SeaWorld acted irresponsibly as an employer by exposing trainers to “recognized hazards” when they worked with killer whales, a U.S. appeals court in Washington, D.C. confirmed Friday.
The ruling, in a case which goes back to the death of a trainer at SeaWorld’s Orlando theme park in 2010, could mean the company will have to increase the separation between trainers and whales during its highly successful live shows Reuters reports.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit’s ruling upholds a previous finding by the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). OSHA fined SeaWorld $75,000 in August 2010 following the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau in February of that same year.
A 12,000-pound bull orca dragged Brancheau underwater and killed her as shocked park visitors watched. SeaWorld’s fine was later reduced to $12,000.
More important than the fine from SeaWorld’s perspective, however, was whether OSHA exceeded its authority in regulating an atypical workplace by general federal safety laws. The appeals court ruled that the agency acted correctly.
Judge Judith Rogers wrote that stricter safety regulations — such as physical barriers between whales and trainers, or more room separating the two — “does not change the essential nature of the business,” and the company can still successfully put on its shows, Reuters reports.
In a dissenting opinion, Judge Brett Kavanaugh wrote that people who work in unusual, and often dangerous, positions in the sports and entertainment fields understand the risks to which they expose themselves.
SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment operates three SeaWorld parks in the U.S., as well as several others under other names.
“SeaWorld remains committed to providing a safe workplace for employees, healthy environments for the animals in our care, and inspirational and educational experiences with killer whales for our guests,” the company said in an e-mailed statement. “We are still reviewing the opinion and no decision has been made on whether we will appeal.”
PHOTO: A SeaWorld trainer performs with a killer whale during the first show after an orca killed a trainer at theme park three days earlier in Orlando, Fla., Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010.
For more: http://mashable.com/2014/04/11/seaworld-trainer-safety/
