Campaign Against SeaWorld to Head to TUI Boardroom

For Immediate Release:

18 January 2019

Contact:

Jennifer White +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 222; [email protected]

CAMPAIGN AGAINST SEAWORLD TO HEAD TO TUI BOARDROOM

As Shareholder, PETA US Will Ask Travel Company to Cut Ties With Marine Abusement Park

London – As TUI continues to sell tickets to SeaWorld despite the history of orca deaths at the marine park, PETA US has become a TUI shareholder so that its representatives can attend the travel provider’s annual general meeting in Hannover on 12 February, speak to other shareholders and executives, and call for the company to end its SeaWorld ticket sales.

“If TUI hopes to maintain a shred of credibility with animal-loving holidaymakers, it must follow Thomas Cook’s example and stop profiting from orca abuse,” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “As a shareholder, PETA US will be able to push TUI’s management to do the responsible thing for shareholders and animals alike and cut ties with SeaWorld.”

While orcas in the wild form complex relationships, work cooperatively to find food, and traverse up to 140 miles of ocean every day, those at SeaWorld are housed in incompatible groups in tiny tanks and have even been given the drug diazepam to manage stress-induced aggressive behaviour. Forty-one orcas and countless other animals have died on SeaWorld’s watch – far short of their natural life expectancies.

Since October 2018, PETA and its international affiliates – whose mottos read, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – have led protests outside numerous TUI locations across the UK and Germany. They’ve also prompted almost 75,000 people, including Sharon Osbourne, to write to the company to urge it to join other travel providers – including STA Travel and Responsible Travel – in refusing to sell tickets to SeaWorld.

Last year, following intense pressure from PETA, travel giant Thomas Cook announced that from summer 2019, it would stop selling tickets to all parks that confine orcas in the name of entertainment.

For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk.

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