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It’s hard to understand why any company would trash its reputation by associating with SeaWorld. Yet payment plan company Uplift is offering “Buy Now, Pay Later” options for booking packages for the abusement parks.
More than 40 orcas and over 300 other dolphins and whales have died at SeaWorld, many far short of their natural life expectancy. Public condemnation prompted the company to end its reckless orca-breeding program, but it continues to churn out bottlenose dolphins and beluga whales who will spend the rest of their lives in cramped, barren tanks. These animals are forced to perform tricks day in and day out and are sometimes given anti-anxiety drugs to combat the stress of extreme captivity and the endless monotony of swimming in circles.
In their natural homes, dolphins can recognize the whistles of others they haven’t seen in 20 years just as easily as those of friends they saw six months ago. Belugas have been called “sea canaries” because they seem to sing to each other. Forcing these keenly social and intelligent animals to perform tricks for the public is a form of speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview.
Change is taking place. The National Aquarium in Baltimore is building a seaside sanctuary for the dolphins in its care, two whales have been moved from a marine park in China to a seaside sanctuary in Iceland, and The Whale Sanctuary Project announced plans for such a sanctuary in Canada. Airbnb, Delta Air Lines, Mattel, Mott’s, Tripadvisor, and many other companies have dropped their partnerships with SeaWorld.
As the world is turning away from the cruelty of cetacean captivity, please urge Uplift to follow suit and rethink its partnership with SeaWorld.