Campaign Against SeaWorld to Head to Thomas Cook’s Boardroom

For Immediate Release:
6 February 2018

Contact:
Olivia Jordan +44 (0) 20 7837 6327, ext 229; [email protected]

CAMPAIGN AGAINST SEAWORLD TO HEAD TO THOMAS COOK’S BOARDROOM
As Shareholder, PETA US Will Ask Travel Company to Cut Ties With Marine Abusement Park

London – As Thomas Cook continues to sell tickets to SeaWorld despite the history of orca deaths at the marine parks – and the travel agent’s own reported fall in profits – PETA US has become a shareholder in Thomas Cook so that representatives can attend its annual general meeting, speak to other shareholders and executives, and call for the company to end its SeaWorld ticket sales.

“Thomas Cook’s insistence on selling tickets to SeaWorld’s orca prisons has taken a toll on the travel company’s reputation.” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “As a shareholder, PETA US will be able to push its 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 together to find food, and traverse up to 140 miles of ocean every day, those at SeaWorld are housed in incompatible groups inside tiny tanks and have even been given the drug diazepam to manage stress-induced aggressive behaviour. Forty-one orcas have died on SeaWorld’s watch, and six marine mammals died at its parks last year alone.

Thomas Cook CEO Peter Fankhauser has formally acknowledged that “there are concerns that must be taken very seriously arising from the practice of keeping cetaceans in captivity” – and this week, the company removed all online promotions of SeaWorld. PETA is now calling for it to take the next logical step and drop all ticket sales to the marine park.

Since August 2017, PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – has led protests outside more than 100 Thomas Cook locations across the UK and prompted more than 20,000 people, including Sharon Osbourne and Paul O’Grady, to write to the company to urge it to join other travel providers, including STA Travel and Responsible Travel, that refuse to sell tickets to SeaWorld.

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

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