Paul O’Grady Calls On Thomas Cook to Stop Selling Tickets to SeaWorld
Over 20,000 people have joined PETA in calling on Thomas Cook to stop promoting and selling tickets to SeaWorld – and now, British icon Paul O’Grady has added his voice.
O’Grady sent a letter on PETA’s behalf calling on the travel provider to remove the animal abusement park from its promotions, writing, “Selling tickets to SeaWorld condemns orcas to a life sentence in a barren prison cell. We know so much more about wild animals today than we did decades ago … I hope you’ll agree that we can no longer in good conscience continue to exploit them for human entertainment.”
The letter notes that at SeaWorld, young orcas are separated from their loving mothers – with whom, in the wild, they often spend their entire lives. In nature, orcas travel up to 100 miles a day, but in captivity, they have no choice but to swim in circles in tiny tanks. The resulting frustration may cause them to chew on concrete walls or attack one another. At least 41 orcas have died at SeaWorld – none of old age.
O’Grady concludes, “I hope Thomas Cook, as the UK’s oldest and most renowned travel provider, will join the growing list of institutions which have severed ties with SeaWorld. Until then, I won’t book it – I won’t Thomas Cook it.”
Other celebrities who have joined PETA to speak out against holding animals captive at marine parks include Sharon Osbourne and the late Sir Roger Moore.
What You Can Do
Please contact Thomas Cook now and ask it to sever ties with SeaWorld. You can also leave a polite comment on its Facebook page and call its customer service line on 01733 224 808.
To keep up to date with the campaign and find out about more ways to get involved in the future, please join our Action Team today.
