It will be replaced by a new, informative orca experience that takes place in a natural setting, and according to the company, will spread conservation messages inspiring people to act.
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Last year, the company also announced it would spend $100 million on building Blue World – an expansion project to double the size of the current living environments of the orcas at San Diego by 2018.
Lorena Gonzalez, a Democratic member of the California State Assembly, implied that SeaWorld’s decision Monday is not enough.
The film involves interviews with former trainers, and shows the dark side of SeaWorld’s work with orcas, alleging that the park separates young calves from their mothers and interferes with the species’ social structure, driving them to antisocial and unsafe behaviours.
California authorities banned breeding killer whales in captivity last month, and SeaWorld says it does not capture new animals from the wild.
Although SeaWorld is ending killer whale shows in California, it remains unclear if the productions will continue at the company’s parks in Orlando, Florida, and San Antonio.
SeaWorld, which has increasingly fallen out of public favor since the release of the 2013 documentary Blackfish, has announced a plan to trick the public into thinking it’s actually doing something for the killer whales it’s keeping captive (and driving mad).
The commission’s decision was seen as a major blow to the park’s long-running traditional orca shows, named for Shamu, the original killer whale star of SeaWorld’s performances, in the 1960s and early 1970s.
SeaWorld’s “old” brand has certainly been tarnished in recent years.
“An end to SeaWorld’s tawdry circus-style shows is inevitable and necessary, but it’s captivity that denies these far-ranging orcas everything that is natural and important to them”, said PETA’s director of animal law Jared Goodman. It also showed that a large percentage of the whales in SeaWorld’s shows were the descendants of Tillikum, a whale with behavioral issues who is prone to violence.
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Manby was hired in 2015, and is trying to fix the company’s fractured reputation with plans to accentuate the oceanic theme park’s beneficial side.
