‘Clowns’ Crash Birmingham TUI Store in Uproar Over Dolphin Prison Ticket Sales

Birmingham – The TUI store in Birmingham – home to one of the travel company’s key airport hubs – became a circus today, when PETA supporters dressed as clowns burst inside, honking horns and waving balloon-shaped signs reading, “TUI, Stop Clowning Around – Drop Dolphin Shows.” The three-ring ruckus was part of a series of coordinated rallies held at TUI outlets across the UK today, blasting the company for being the last major travel provider selling tickets to notoriously cruel facilities where whales and dolphins are kept prisoner, like SeaWorld and Loro Parque.

“Marine abusement parks condemn aquatic animals to a lifetime in a tiny tank, where they’re denied any opportunity to dive deep, swim fast, or have any semblance of a natural life,” says PETA Senior Campaigns Manager Kate Werner. “PETA is calling on TUI to catch up with the rest of the travel industry and stop propping up marine mammal misery.”

In nature, orcas and other dolphins live in large, complex social groups and swim vast distances every day in the open ocean. But at marine amusement parks like SeaWorld and Loro Parque, they spend their days floating listlessly or swimming in circles in tanks comparable in size to a human living in a bathtub. Most die far short of their natural life span, and they often suffer from distressing health conditions that perpetuate their misery.

PETA supporters also descended upon TUI stores in Edinburgh and Manchester today, urging the company to stop supporting orca abuse and join the growing number of major travel companies – including Jet2, EasyJet, and Virgin Atlantic – that have stopped promoting cruel facilities that hold marine mammals captive.

PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – points out that when it comes to the ability to feel pain, hunger, and fear, an orca is a dog is a boy. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow PETA on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.

Contact:

Lucy Watson +44 (0) 20 7837 6327; [email protected]

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