Did Harry Styles Singlehandedly Smash Seaworld?
One Direction fans will remember that Harry Styles spoke out against Seaworld when he played a concert in San Diego last month. Harry won praise from animal rights group PETA after he urged fans to boycott Seaworld. Styles asked fans if they loved dolphins, and when many replied in the affirmative, Harry said, “don’t go to Sea World.” According to the Independent, Harry’s message was captured on video by a fan and was picked up by animal rights groups and used to publicize their view that confining animals as Seaworld does is both cruel and unnecessary.
ICYMI: @Harry_Styles had a message for fans in #SanDiego last night—don't go to #SeaWorld pic.twitter.com/wfgfr1oKLB
— PETA (@peta) July 10, 2015
Seaworld responded by writing an open letter to Harry inviting him to visit the park and claiming that they treat the animals like they would their family.
“Dear Harry, we’ve seen a concert clip of you urging your fans not to visit Seaworld. We want you to know we love dolphins too. We care for the animals in our parks like we would out own family.”
“We are committed to making sure their lives are enriching and they are continually engaged socially, mentally and physically. And, we also care for animals in the wild.”
.@Harry_Styles, if you want to see what SeaWorld is really about, we’re happy to show you and answer your questions. http://t.co/Jc0rYxZe2n
— SeaWorld (@SeaWorld) July 10, 2015
It seems that many people, including veterinarians, are siding with Harry rather than with Seaworld. In a recent report Dr. Heather Rally exposed a catalog of health problems experienced by the animals at Seaworld. Dr Rally goes much further than Harry Styles, asking people to urge the authorities to take legal action against Seaworld.
Yahoo! Celebrity said that Harry will be delighted to see that profits at Seaworld have crashed by an incredible 84 percent. Of course, it is unlikely that an intervention by Styles alone would be responsible for such a catastrophic dip in the fortunes of the company that runs Seaworld.
It is thought that the 2013 documentary film Blackfish has had a much greater impact on the fortunes of Seaworld than Harry’s intervention, but every little helps. Blackfish highlighted what many believe are cruel practices employed when Seaworld captures and confines animals like orcas and beluga whales.
Seaworld’s CEO, Joel Manby has described the drop in profit at Seaworld as a “brand challenge.”
“We realize we have much work ahead of us to recover more of our attendance base, increase revenue and improve our performance as returning to historical performance levels will take time and investment. “
Harry Styles will doubtless be hoping that attendance at Seaworld will continue to fall and that the parks go out of business altogether.
Do you agree with Harry’s views on parks like Seaworld? Let us know what you think.
[Image Composite Via Wikimedia]
