The Virginian-Pilot
©
NORFOLK
Norfolk-based People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals says it has a donor able and willing to buy at least one of the three SeaWorld entertainment parks in the United States.
Since InBev announced its takeover of Anheuser-Busch several weeks ago, there have been rumblings that the Belgium-based brewer would help offset its debt by unloading the Busch theme parks, which include Busch Gardens Europe in Williamsburg and the SeaWorld parks in San Antonio, San Diego and Orlando, Fla.
On Aug. 14, PETA sent a letter to InBev president Carlos Brito, telling him an unnamed donor is willing to buy at least one SeaWorld park, with the intention of either freeing the whales, dolphins and all other sea animals or releasing them to a marine sanctuary.
The live animal exhibits would be replaced with virtual reality, interactive displays, said Lisa Wathne, an exotic-animal specialist with PETA.
"The opportunity to get these animals out of SeaWorld and the educational opportunities it would provide would be well worth it to us," said Wathne, who is based in Seattle.
Fred Jacobs, vice president of communications for Busch Entertainment, discredited the offer on Saturday. "I can tell you that we view this as a publicity stunt."
Asked whether PETA would expect a backlash for eliminating the venue's live-animal offerings, Wathne said PETA believes public sentiment is turning against such exhibits.
"It's pretty apparent to people that keeping an orca or other dolphin species in a concrete tank is not in their best interests," she said Saturday.
Wathne said InBev has not responded to the letter. She said PETA plans to follow up this week.
John Warren, (757) 222-5114, john.warren@pilotonline.com
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Ptown88 may not be a PETA lover
…but the facts about industrial farming are real. Animals do feel pain and suffer stress. Beaks cut off, tails removed, standing in deep pools of waste, pumped full of antibiotics, and packed into such tight cages and pens that they cannot even turn around is standard treatment. Regardless of what you may think of PETA's ultimate motives, they have drawn our attention to horribly inhumane conditions. Upton Sinclair did a similar service when he wrote about the Chicago slaughterhouses a century ago in a book called "The Jungle". I don't agree with many of PETA's positions, but as a society we have no ethical reason to treat our animals in such a fashion.
What about Lolita?
This orca has been stranded at a marine park in Miami since she was captured from her family in Puget Sound in 1970. She's now a healthy adult and could easily and safely be retired in her home waters for under $1 million. I hope that whoever this donor is will notice Lolita and help support our professional proposal for her safe and sound return to her native habitat with the opportunity to at least communicate with her family at long last. See orcanetwork.org for details.
Peta is a business... plain and simple.
They rely on your good will for donations...display cute pictures of puppies...and grotesque "documentation" of slaughterhouses... All to further their cause. The bottom line is profit... provided by the misguided well intentions of the public. This is a business folks. If you want to save animals. Spay your pets. Adopt pets. Don't send money to these uber-liberal con-men.
Eat meat. Eat vegetables. Eat grains. Don't consume Peta's propaganda.
PETA has done some good
They have drawn our attention to the awful conditions and hazards of factory farming. I am not a vegetarian, but it upsets me when the large factory farms inhumanly treat the animals, dump waste for others to have to clean up at our expense and, most importantly, flooded the market with antibiotics, creating the superbugs that defy treatment. The food may be cheaper on the shelf, but it is costing big bucks in environmental and medical hazards.
I disagree with PETA's premise, but...
Before Sea World came along, nobody cared that whale meat was a staple in Japanese grocery stores or that blubber was used to make transmission fluid. No one cared if a bunch of dolphin got caught up in tuna nets. But when people saw Shamu and Flipper doing their acts, they connected with these intelligent mammals and started to care what happened to them and their relatives. Same thing for Great Apes before they were displayed in habitats instead of cages. Those displays created the public pressure that saved these animals from extinction. And probably gave birth to the sentiments that brought us PETA and other animal protection organizations.
That said, if PETA wants to buy Shamu and set him/her free, that is their right, just like it would be someone else's right to buy the whales and sell tickets to see them or have a barbeque.
If you don't like what they want to do, outbid them.
Real money
I would love to know how much real money PETA has put towards real animal causes and studies. Propaganda, the cost of support staff, and buildings cost doesn’t count. Then for a comparison, I would like to know how much SeaWorld / Anheuser Bush has donated.
SeaWorld’s also has an uncalculated contribution towards the knowledge they have imparted upon people to help them realize the true state of marine biology and our affect on it.
Join me at KFC
Since peta (lowercase intentional) hates KFC, anyone want to join for the Original Recipe?
Lots of money
PETA gets *lots* of money. They have 7 buildings in Hampton Roads. They own the entire building that used to be CI travel. People give them expensive buildings, like the one in Freemason. Of all the useful things that could be accomplished with this space, it winds up in the hands of a rich, real life troll group. I believe they pull in over $40 million a year in donations. I've had friends volunteer with them, and quickly come to the conclusion that they didn't like what they see. Mailing crazy stuff to children. But hey, I guess getting donations from wealthy people that probably don't understand the real cause beats working for a living.
What Bad Economy?
As long as this country has enough people who can spare enough money to keep organizations like PETA up and running, I'll fail to believe the dour predictions of coming doom pumped out by the the media. This is not a statement about the worthiness of PETA, but of the high standard of living we enjoy in this country despite efforts to have us believe otherwise. I think it's great that we, as a country, have established a level of wealth that allows us to care about the well being of animals. I would guess that a great many more people in the world have more pressing problems than whether Shamu spends another day in a tank. If they even knew about Shamu, I'll bet they'd probably think he would make a better consumable product than a form of entertainment.
Seaworld.
I didn't know you could fit whales into dumpsters, how are they going to do that?? Gotta love PETA