This summer came the release of Blackfish, a documentary that shows the horrors of keeping killer whales in captivity. It features former trainers tearfully regretting their roles in harming the whales. The movie first made the rounds of film festivals, then aired on CNN over the past few weeks, resulting in growing backlash against SeaWorld.
This past weekend, demonstrators from Animal Rights Florida held a protest outside of SeaWorld’s Orlando theme park, and late last week, the chairman of SeaWorld’s board of directors dumped $1.3 million in stock (though he still has a lot more.). SeaWorld is a publicly-traded company and is set to release its quarterly financial statements on Wednesday.
Also: today, the theme park will go to the U.S. Court of Appeals asking for a reversal of citations issued by the Labor Department. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration had cited SeaWorld after the trainer deaths because the company wasn’t providing a workplace free of hazards that can harm or kill employees.SeaWorld — whose lawyer in the case is the son of conservative Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia — compared the risks of the trainers’ jobs with NFL players who face injury or NASCAR drivers who drive fast. The company suspended in-water interaction between trainers and orcas while the case is being litigated.
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