By Times of San Diego Editor / August8, 2022
PETA has filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, calling on the agency to investigate SeaWorld San Diego after an incident that apparently took place Friday.
The animal activist group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, is accusing the park of federal Animal Welfare Act violations over housing incompatible animals together. The filing came about, the organization said, after a park-goer sent in video of a clash among orcas Friday morning at the attraction.
The SeaWorld visitor told the organization that blood could be seen in the water and that bites and other injuries were visible on the orcas that was under attack.
The accusation followed the Thursday death of Nakai, an orca at SeaWorld San Diego. Nakai, born at the park in 2001, died of an infection, officials said.
“PETA is calling on the USDA to investigate SeaWorld for holding animals in conditions so stressful they would lead to horrific attacks and reminds families to stay away from any park that imprisons orcas or other animals,” said the organization’s Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman.
PETA also noted that Nakai was involved in a similar incident in 2012, when he was kept in small concrete tank with “incompatible orcas” and sustained puncture marks and jaw injuries.
According to the Associated Press, eight killer whales remain at SeaWorld, with an age range from 9 to 57 years old.
Under pressure from activists and dealing with fallout from the documentary “Blackfish,” SeaWorld said in 2016 that it would stop breeding orcas. The 2013 film focused on Tilikum, an orca that killed a trainer in 2010 by dragging her into a pool at SeaWorld’s Florida park.
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