Tenerife – Following nearly two years of tireless campaigning from PETA, which included demonstrations at annual meetings; more than 100,000 protest letters from compassionate members of the public, scientists, conservationists, and organisations which specialise in cetacean welfare; and support from celebrities such as Morrissey, leading British travel provider Jet2holidays announced that it will stop selling tickets to marine parks – venues that confine highly intelligent orcas and other dolphins and whales in the name of entertainment. The tour operator had sold package holidays that included visits to facilities such as Loro Parque in Tenerife, Spain.
“Jet2holidays made the right call to cut ties with parks that confine orcas and other dolphins to concrete tanks that are to them the size of bathtubs and force them to perform circus-like stunts for human entertainment,” says PETA Vice President for Europe Mimi Bekhechi. “We urge all compassionate people to help marine animals by staying away from these cruel abusement parks.”
PETA protested at Jet2holidays’ annual meeting in September.
PETA notes that while orcas in nature form complex relationships, work cooperatively to find food, and traverse up to 150 miles of ocean every day, those at marine parks are housed in incompatible groups in cramped tanks. Held in concrete tanks for decades and forced to perform tricks for tourists, the majority die far short of their natural life expectancy. At Loro Parque, three orcas reportedly died prematurely within a two-year period, including Ula, who was just two years old.
Most leading companies, including Expedia, Thomas Cook, British Airways Holidays, Virgin Atlantic Holidays, and Club Med, have long since ended the promotion of dolphin prisons.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview. For more information, please visit PETA.org.uk or follow the group on Facebook, X, TikTok, or Instagram.
Contact:
Sascha Camilli +44 (0) 20 7923 6244; SaschaC@peta.org.uk
