PETA scoops up SeaWorld shares in further effort to ‘free the animals’
PETA has purchased newly issued shares of SeaWorld Entertainment Inc., the theme park company often targeted for protests by the animal rights group.
PETA spokesman David Perle said Tuesday his group purchased 80 shares for more than $2,200 in last week’s initial public offering of SeaWorld stock.
PETA officials say being shareholders will allow them to attend shareholder meetings and introduce resolutions.
Peta vs Sea World over Shamu and Co. photo Brandon Jones
“It’s very stressful for exotic animals – who have specialized needs and are greatly affected by environmental changes – to be hauled around by companies like SeaWorld, just to be used as props,” Dan Mathews, senior vice-president at PETA, said in the letter. “Penguins, like all wild animals, shun contact with humans. Being forced into close public contact leaves them agitated and frightened.”
“Animals in captivity are already susceptible to illness, but putting them in a crowded, noisy environment just causes additional stress and increased potential for poor health. The New York Stock Exchange, as a respected institution, should not be condoning any display that involves transporting an animal from one location to another and using them as a photo prop.”
SeaWorld spokesman Fred Jacobs says the company anticipated PETA’s purchase. He says SeaWorld will try to do for PETA what it does for any other shareholder: create investor value.
Here’s what PETA said on its blog: “We quickly purchased the smallest number of shares necessary to give us the right to attend and speak at annual meetings and to submit shareholder resolutions asking for policy changes. Our first order of business as part owners of SeaWorld? Getting the orcas out — including Corky, who has been enslaved by SeaWorld for 44 years.”
