Get bent SeaWorld!
The stakeholders over at SeaWorld are going to get a screen full of Kelly Slater’s baby blues tomorrow.
Our polished prince—who you’ll remember riding boards with Orca-inspired art by Kevin Ancell last winter—will be joining in on SeaWorld’s annual meeting on behalf of PETA (who own Trojan Horse stock in SeaWorld, so they can attend such meetings) from his Tavarua bungalow.
According to PETA, Slater plans to “educate other stakeholders, propose policy changes, and demand the release of its orcas, who have been enslaved by the company for more than 40 years.”
Slater’s full Mr Smith Goes to Washington-esque monologue can be read below:
My name is Kelly Slater, and I’m here on behalf of PETA. The veil has been lifted on SeaWorld. All the ads in the world won’t change what the public now knows to be true: that the company imprisons highly intelligent, emotionally complex, social animals in tiny, barren concrete tanks, which leads to aggression and disease.
SeaWorld is experiencing declining attendance and revenue, and dozens of companies, including Southwest Airlines, Panama Jack, and Mattel, have recently ended partnerships with SeaWorld.
As a professional surfer, I’m lucky and privileged to be able to spend the majority of my time in the ocean—it’s the place where I feel most at home, and thus, I feel an obligation to protect that which I have a voice in influencing.
Please, tell us, when will SeaWorld allow the animals it holds captive to return to their home—the ocean—by retiring them to a seaside sanctuary? And wouldn’t this at least be viewed, if nothing else, as a public relations win for you?
By righting the wrongs you have committed in the name of corporate profit for so many years, you may actually be able to recoup some of the respect that has been lost in the eyes of the public and work toward an end to the problem of animal suffering. Thank you.
