San Diego SeaWorld Faces Ban On Killer Whale Performance Shows

San Diego SeaWorld may be forced to stop its popular killer whale performances if a new bill, the “Landmark Orca Welfare & Safety Act,” passes the California state legislature. The bill is written by 50th District Assemblymen Richard Bloom, who represents some of the most upscale areas in the Los Angeles area, about 125 miles north of San Diego.

Among the districts Bloom represents are Bel Air, Beverly Hills, Santa Monica, Agoura Hills and West Los Angeles. The assemblyman was inspired by the documentary Blackfish, which took a scathing look at the treatment of killer whales by SeaWorld, directed by Los Angeles filmmaker Gabriela Cowperthwaite, who accompanied Bloom to an event announcing the proposed legislation in Santa Monica, on that city’s famous Pier Friday.

“These beautiful creatures are much too large and intelligent to be confined in small, concrete pens for their entire lives,” Bloom said. His bill would also force San Diego SeaWorld to release the 10 orcas, also called killer whales, back into the wild.

The bill would ban keeping orcas in captivity for the purposes of providing entertainment and taking part in trained performance.

San Diego SeaWorld is the only real target of the proposed legislation, since there are no other parks in California that stage orca performance shows. SeaWorld also has location is San Antonio, Texas, and Orlando, Florida, which obviously would be unaffected by the California law, if Bloom’s bill were to pass.

SeaWorld immediately shot back with a statement saying that Bloom’s bill is based on the “out-of-the-mainstream thinking” of “”extreme animal rights activists, many of whom regularly campaign against SeaWorld and other accredited marine mammal parks and institutions.”

People for the Ethical Treatment Of Animals also backs Bloom’s bill.

San Diego SeaWorld spokesman David Koontz blasted Bloom for associating with PETA, and other animal rights activists.

“Included in the group are some of the same activists that partnered with PETA in bringing the meritless claim that animals in human care should be considered slaves under the 13th amendment of the US Constitution — a clear publicity stunt,” Koontz said.

The parent company of SeaWorld San Diego has also lashed back at the Blackfish documentary, deriding it as “propaganda.”