Why Is SeaWorld Ending Its Orca Breeding Program?

Why Is SeaWorld Ending Its Orca Breeding Program?
A female orca whale breaches while swimming in Puget Sound, on Jan. 18, 2014. (AP Photo/Elaine Thompson)
3/17/2016
Updated:
3/17/2016

A young girl watches through the glass as an orca passes by while swimming in a display tank at SeaWorld San Diego in November 2006 (AP Photo/Chris Park)
A young girl watches through the glass as an orca passes by while swimming in a display tank at SeaWorld San Diego in November 2006 (AP Photo/Chris Park)

“SeaWorld has committed $50 million over the next five years to be the world’s leading marine animal rescue organization,” the company highlighted in a post.

Providing a habitat for rescued marine animals that, for whatever reason cannot be returned to the wild, will be SeaWorld’s new goal. 

While Zimmerman suggested in an interview with Epoch Times that SeaWorld views its orcas as “valuable commodities,” Manby revealed a new partnership with the Humane Society of the United States—confirmed by the society’s President and CEO Wayne Pacelle in a blog post.

Together, perhaps, SeaWorld and the Humane Society of the United States will “raise awareness of animal welfare,” “create the constituency for conservation,” and “work against commercial whaling and seal hunts, shark finning and ocean pollution,” as Manby hopes.