The SeaWorld San Diego will be forced to release their killer whales and stop using them in shows if a proposed California bill passes, the Associated Press reported.
After facing nationwide criticism for their animal welfare practices due to an eye-opening documentary, this is the latest blowback to hit the exotic animal attraction theme park.
In its first committee hearing, which will be held on AB2140 by Richard Bloom, D-Santa Monica, the state Assembly will see animal welfare activists pit against a staple of San Diego's tourism industry on Tuesday.
"SeaWorld San Diego houses 10 killer whales, which would be moved into a larger sea pen and could not be bred if the Legislature approved Bloom's bill and the governor signed it," the AP reported. "The bill would also ban the import and export of the animals, and activists are moving to bring similar bills to Florida and Texas where SeaWorld has parks."
"They are too large, too intelligent, too socially complex and too far-ranging to be adequately cared for in captivity," said Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist with the Animal Welfare Institute, the bill's sponsor.
Since the release of the 2013 documentary "Blackfish," the marine park has been fighting against the accusations of several critics and outraged activists. In order to favor an anti-captivity agenda, the facts have been distorted, SeaWorld officials claim.
"That argument is not based on credible peer-reviewed science," said John Reilly, president of SeaWorld San Diego Park. "It's based on emotion and a propaganda film."
"Kirra Kotler, a 10-year-old from Malibu, Calif., who successfully stopped her school's annual field trip to the park, delivered 1.2 million signatures in support of the bill Monday on a flash drive to Assemblyman Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, chairman of the Assembly water, parks and wildlife committee that will hear the bill Tuesday," the AP reported.
SeaWorld refused to comment on how the park would change its operations if the bill passed.
