SeaWorld Entertainment is suing the California Coastal Commission over a ban on breeding killer whales at its San Diego park.
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The commission took up a $100 million SeaWorld proposal in October, called the Blue World Project, to expand its orca tanks in San Diego.
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During a contentious seven-hour hearing in October, the California Coastal Commission voted unanimously to give SeaWorld permission to double the size of its orca pools so long as the park ends its captive breeding program and does not transfer any of its marine mammals to other facilities. In November, SeaWorld announced that it would be ending its killer whale shows in 2017 and replace them with an experience that would be “informative” and with a “conservation message inspiring people to act”.
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SeaWorld said in the lawsuit, which claims the commission’s action is illegal because it has no jurisdiction over the orcas, “This last-minute “no breeding or transfer” condition is unprecedented”. According to the group, it was obvious that the intention behind the Blue World project was to confine the extended tanks by breeding the orcas.
SeaWorld claims restrictions imposed on plans to revamp its orca exhibition would effectively kill off the show.
Coastal Commission spokeswoman Noaki Schwartz said the commission could not comment on the lawsuit because they had not read it yet.
“The Coastal Commission has neither the legal jurisdiction nor, accordingly, the expertise, to dictate the care, feeding or breeding of animals held exclusively in captivity under human care”, according to the lawsuit, filed by the Los Angeles law firm of Manatt, Phelps & Phillips.
“The orcas are not, in any way, part of the coastal or marine environment”, their suit said. “Animal rights activists appeared at the Coastal Commission hearing and vilified SeaWorld in their ‘testimony'”. “SeaWorld should stop producing more captive orcas to suffer short lives and focus exclusively on the welfare of the existing whales in its care”. The company has seen revenue drop since the 2013 release of the documentary “Blackfish” that examined how orcas respond to captivity.
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The shows will continue at SeaWorld’s Orlando and San Antonio parks. The park’s attorneys argued the agency’s authority should have ended with the structure itself, and it should not have gone beyond that while putting the ban.
