From Tank to Tombstone: Chilling ‘Graveyard’ Comes to Manchester
A sombre “graveyard” of 15 “headstones” – one for each orca and bottlenose dolphin who has died at Spanish marine park Loro Parque –was erected in Manchester city centre today.
Featuring a large banner reading, “Marine ABUSEment Parks Kill. Jet2holidays: Drop Them!” PETA protesters urged the travel giant to drop marine parks that keep cetaceans in captivity from all its holiday packages.
Coinciding with World Orca Day (14 July), the action also reminded Mancunions to boycott Jet2holidays – most of Jet2’s flights depart from Manchester – until it does right by animals.
Marine Parks are Hellholes for Animals
Orcas and other dolphins do not belong in captivity. In nature they form complex relationships, work cooperatively to find food, and traverse up to 150 miles of ocean every day, while those at marine parks are housed in incompatible groups in cramped tanks. After being held in these concrete confines for the whole of their miserable lives and forced to perform tricks to entertain tourists, the majority die far short of their natural life expectancy.
Females are commonly sexually abused with artificial insemination, sometimes after being drugged, so their babies can be exploited for further profit. Some are kept in water less than 2 metres deep and used as photo props for holiday “experiences”, handled by an unending stream of members of the public.
In nature, orcas stay with their families for their entire lives, learning everything from their mother and other members of their pod. However, in captivity, when they become mothers, they often reject or show no interest in their calves. Because they were separated from their own mothers, they have no idea how to care for their babies.
Urge Jet2holidays to Cut Ties With Deadly Water Prisons
The travel industry is waking up to the horrors of marine parks. Travel providers – including British Airways Holidays, Virgin Atlantic Holidays, and many more already refuse to sell tickets to marine parks. PETA is calling on Jet2holidays to join the rest of the travel industry and stop profiting from marine mammals’ misery.
Send Jet2holidays’ CEO a message now urging him to stop promoting – and selling – tickets to Loro Parque and other marine parks today:
