Serious Injuries of Dolphin, 8-Year-Old Girl Lead to PETA Filing
For Immediate Release:
December 11, 2012
Contact:
David Perle 202-483-7382
San Antonio -- PETA submitted a formal complaint to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) regarding a bottlenose dolphin at SeaWorld in San Antonio who sustained a serious laceration on his or her lower mandible that exposed the underlying flesh. In its letter, PETA points out that the incident appears to be a direct violation of the Animal Welfare Act, which states that "Primary enclosures housing marine mammals must not have any loose objects or sharp projections and/or edges which may cause injury or trauma to the marine mammals contained therein." PETA also reminds the USDA that the injury comes on the heels of an even more gruesome wound in the same area of the body sustained by an orca named Nakai at SeaWorld in San Diego.
"SeaWorld isn't safe for dolphins—including orcas—or for members of the public," says PETA President Ingrid E. Newkirk, who notes that an 8-year-old girl was bitten while feeding a dolphin at SeaWorld in Orlando on November 21. "Marine-mammal facilities are a living hell for freedom-loving dolphins, who are taken from the great oceans and condemned to live in cement boxes."
In nature, orcas and other dolphins live in close-knit groups and can swim at speeds of up to 25 miles per hour and travel as far as 100 miles in a day. But at SeaWorld, these highly intelligent, social animals are confined to tiny barren concrete tanks and forced to beg for dead fish. The captive orcas often express their stress through aggression by gnawing at the tank gates, sometimes causing broken teeth and chronic pain, and they often die prematurely. SeaWorld has a long history of injuries and deaths from dangerous interactions between trainers and marine mammals, including more than 100 incidents of orca aggression in its own records.
According to a report, on the same day that the bottlenose dolphin was injured, a shark at the same facility was found lying belly up at the top of the tank and appeared to be dead.
For more information, please visit PETA's blog.