Vote YES & Outlaw Shamu Shows

Please Show Your Support of California Assembly Member; Richard Bloom, and Make It Illegal to Hold Whales in Captivity for Performance and Entertainment Purposes

I urge you to support The Orca Welfare and Safety Act (Bloom) of 2014, which would make it illegal to “hold in captivity, or use, a wild-caught or captive-bred orca for performance or entertainment purposes.” The bill would also ban artificial insemination of captive killer whales in California and block the import of orcas or orca semen from other states. This would outlaw Shamu shows at SeaWorld San Diego.

Violators would face a fine up to $100,000 and/or six months in a county jail.

I am appalled that marine parks such as Sea World continue to make these very large and highly intelligent orcas perform for people’s entertainment.  The practice of keeping killer whales in captivity has proven to be detrimental to the health and safety of animals and trainers alike. Killer Whales are confined to small, acoustically-dead, concrete enclosures where they must live in extremely close proximity to other whales with which they often share no ancestral, cultural or communication similarities which results in infighting.

This legislation would also end the captive breeding programs at SeaWorld Parks. SeaWorld continues to boast about their “successful breeding program” when in all actuality that is far from the truth. There have been thirty-seven known pregnancies at SeaWorld parks since the first captive birth in 1985. Only eighteen of these calves still alive today, barely half. The captive breeding program at SeaWorld has resulted in 6 stillbirths, two miscarriages, and five maternal deaths during childbirth. One remaining calf is a result of inbreeding.  There is no denying the evidence that these killer whales do not cope well in captivity. Stillbirths, miscarriages, calf rejection, dental care, dorsal fin collapse, ulcers, encephalitis, infection and aggression towards themselves or trainers all point to captivity. It’s time to stop spreading the horror. It’s time to give a true education of what these whales’ lives are like in their natural habitat.

I strongly support Assembly Member Richard Bloom and the creation of the most comprehensive protection law for captive orcas in the United States in over 40 years.  I ask that all California Legislators support the Orca Welfare and Safety Act and do everything you can to end captivity and breeding of killer whales in California!