{"id":11230,"date":"2015-11-10T09:01:35","date_gmt":"2015-11-10T17:01:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spijue.wpengine.com\/news\/seaworld-says-it-will-end-orca-shows-in-san-diego-by-2017\/"},"modified":"2015-11-10T09:01:35","modified_gmt":"2015-11-10T17:01:35","slug":"seaworld-says-it-will-end-orca-shows-in-san-diego-by-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/news\/seaworld-says-it-will-end-orca-shows-in-san-diego-by-2017\/","title":{"rendered":"SeaWorld says it will end orca shows in San Diego by 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN DIEGO \u2014<\/strong> SeaWorld will end orca shows at its San Diego park after visitors at the tourist attraction made it clear they prefer seeing killer whales act naturally rather than doing tricks, the company\u2019s top executive said Monday.<\/p>\n

CEO Joel Manby told investors the park \u2014 where the iconic \u201cShamu\u201d show featuring killer whales doing flips and other stunts debuted decades ago \u2014 will offer a different kind of orca experience focusing on the animal\u2019s natural setting and behaviors, starting in 2017.<\/p>\n

Animal rights activists called the move a marketing gimmick and want the company to phase out holding any whales in captivity.<\/p>\n

\u201cAn end to SeaWorld\u2019s tawdry circus-style shows is inevitable and necessary, but it\u2019s captivity that denies these far-ranging orcas everything that is natural and important to them,\u201d said Jared Goodman of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. \u201cThis move is like no longer whipping lions in a circus act but keeping them locked inside cages for life.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Orlando, Florida-based company has seen revenue drop since the 2013 release of the documentary \u201cBlackfish\u201d that examined how orcas respond to captivity. <\/p>\n

Attendance has dropped the most at the San Diego location, and the decision to end orca shows will be limited for now to that park.<\/p>\n

The shows will continue at the other two SeaWorld parks in San Antonio and Orlando.<\/p>\n

The killer whale shows at the Shamu stadium in San Diego were the park\u2019s main draw in the 1970s and helped build SeaWorld as a top tourist attraction. Trainers would ride the whales in the giant pool before getting out and signaling for the orca to slap its tail in the water to splash spectators in a \u201csplash zone.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Brancheau\u2019s death, trainers stopped going in the water during the shows, but they continue to swim with the killer whales while training them.<\/p>\n

Manby told investors Monday that California customers want to see less theatrical production, so the new attraction will have a strong conservation message.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey want the orca experience to be activities the whales do in the wild,\u201d Manby said. \u201cThings they perceive as tricks, they don\u2019t like as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, that\u2019s not \u201cuniversal across our properties,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n

The news came days after SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. reported its third-quarter earnings missed Wall Street expectations.<\/p>\n

SeaWorld earlier this year announced plans for a $100 million expansion of the killer whale tanks in San Diego to boost attendance, but the California Coastal Commission made approval of the project, dubbed \u201cBlue World,\u201d contingent on SeaWorld agreeing not to breed, transfer or sell any of its captive orcas at the park.<\/p>\n

Manby called the ruling \u2014 which SeaWorld plans to fight in court \u2014 a bad precedent for not only SeaWorld but all zoos and aquariums. He indicated to investors that the company might shelve the San Diego project.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe certainly know with the regulatory environment out there that happened with orcas, and some of what happened in California, with the reputation out there, I think we would be foolish if we didn\u2019t look at other options,\u201d Manby said.<\/p>\n

He announced that the company is considering adding hotels at its parks, starting with San Diego, to attract overnight visitors.<\/p>\n

SeaWorld has reached an agreement with a hotel developer to embark on the exploratory phase.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Schneider reported from Orlando.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

SAN DIEGO \u2014 SeaWorld will end orca shows at its San Diego park after visitors at the tourist attraction made it clear they prefer seeing killer whales act naturally rather than doing tricks, the company\u2019s top executive said Monday. CEO Joel Manby told investors the park \u2014 where the iconic \u201cShamu\u201d show featuring killer whales […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":11231,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_stopmodifiedupdate":false,"_modified_date":"","wds_primary_category":4,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[65],"yst_prominent_words":[],"class_list":["post-11230","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-nation-world"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/107"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11230"},{"taxonomy":"yst_prominent_words","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.juneauempire.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/yst_prominent_words?post=11230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}