Four former SeaWorld trainers have launched a website aimed at highlighting the practises in the parks.
The Voice of the Orcas website has been set up by ex-SeaWorld trainers Carol Ray, John Jett, Samantha Berg and Jeffrey Ventre, each of them now holding high positions in society.
The website states its role as: "…devoted to providing a voice to those without. It’s a place to archive interviews and current events that deal with conservation and activism."
Amongst the stories released on the website are scientific papers showing a link between Orcas being kept in captivity and early death. In particular it focusses on the stories of the whales 25-year-old Kanduke and 14-year-old Taku, both of which died as a result of diseases transmitted through mosquito bites – diseases that they only caught as a result of being kept in captivity.
Other stories look at court cases brought against SeaWorld and also the promotion (and campaign to quash) the release of a new book highlighting the fact that since they opened 150 killer whales and four trainers have been killed in SeaWorld.
Campaigners hope that this website will highlight all of the problems associated with keeping whales and dolphins in captivity. Colleen Gorman, co-founder of the organisation The Orca Project, is quoted saying: "We think this new website created by highly educated former SeaWorld killer whale trainers who had a change of heart is SeaWorld's worst nightmare coming true. And hopefully many more will follow suit and come forward.
"These four trainers have done an admirable and selfless service trying to raise awareness for the whales they worked with in the past, and making a better future for the ones in the future by exposing the truth about captivity."
Check out the Voice of the Orcas website.
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