Suffering from flagging attendance, suffering stock prices and negative publicity, the WSJ this morning is reporting that SeaWorld plans to announce today a major expansion of the habitats housing their signature killer whales.
The company plans to upgrade the killer whale tanks at three of their theme parks, beginning with SeaWorld San Diego.
Construction on the killer whale habitat will begin in San Diego in 2015 and is slated for completion by 2018. Similar upgrades are planned for SeaWorld parks in Orlando and San Antonio, Texas.
From the Wall Street Journal:
Jim Atchison, SeaWorld's chief executive officer, said the new facilities would set the standard globally for man-made killer whale habitats, but acknowledged they were unlikely to satisfy the company's most vocal critics. "It probably won't, and that's not our audience," he said. "Unfortunately there are some people who want nothing more than to see the end to the relationship between humans and animals, and that would be a sad outcome."
Instead, the company says the habitats will create new opportunities for scientific research into the animals.
In recent weeks, SeaWorld announced the long-time dissolution of their relationship with Southwest Airlines after negative publicity generated from the CNN-produced documentary Blackfish.
It was announced this year that trainers at Sea World's marine parks began wearing inflatable safety vests whenever they work near killer whales, yet another safety measure implemented after the 2010 death of a trainer who was grabbed by her ponytail by a killer whale and pulled into the killer whale tank and ultimately to her death.
This summer, a number of musical performers, like Martina McBride and the classic rock band 38 Special, cancelled their acts at SeaWorld-Orlando in the backlash of the Blackfish documentary.
http://youtu.be/CNtUK3rW5K4
Christopher Dold, SeaWorld's vice president of veterinary services, disagrees with those who say killer whales can't live healthy lives in captivity. He said the new habitats will be "not just larger but more dynamic, and with a lot more of the kind of mental and physical stimulation that we know is so important for overall health and well-being." The improvements, said Dr. Dold, don't represent a concession that current space housing the whales is too small.
"We believe the facilities we have are absolutely world class, but that doesn't mean we're just going to sit back," he said. "With these kind of spaces, the changes are sometimes evolutionary and sometimes revolutionary, and this time it is revolutionary." (Wall Street Journal)
http://youtu.be/Oyh0PVCNFBA