Photos: Newcastle Locals Urge Thomas Cook to Sever Ties with SeaWorld

For Immediate Release:

10 October 2017

Contact:

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

PHOTOS: NEWCASTLE LOCALS URGE THOMAS COOK TO SEVER TIES WITH SEAWORLD

Demonstration Is Part of PETA’s National Day of Action for Captive Orcas

Newcastle upon Tyne – Holding signs proclaiming, “Thomas Cook: Stop Promoting SeaWorld,” a group of local activists stood outside the travel provider’s Northumberland Street branch to call on the company to remove the notoriously cruel amusement park from its promotions. The demonstration, coordinated by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), was part of a national day of action during which similar protests were held in 80 locations across the UK.

The photo is available here.

“Profiting from orca abuse is indefensible,” says PETA Director Elisa Allen. “PETA is calling on Thomas Cook to join STA Travel and Responsible Travel in rejecting SeaWorld’s orca prisons, where intelligent marine mammals have nochoice but to swim in endless circles around tiny concrete tanks.”

While orcas in the wild form complex relationships, work cooperatively to find food, and traverse up to 100 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 have died at its parks this year alone.

Since the launch of the campaign in September, nearly 20,000 people have written to Thomas Cook urging it to stop promoting SeaWorld.

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

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