In 1993, Gudrun, a female killer whale at SeaWorld, gave birth to her fourth calf, Nyar, who had a birth defect. Gudrun immediately rejected her, but despite these complications, she was quickly bred again, and the results were even more devastating --  she was not able to pass her miscarried fetus and it was pulled from her, resulting in a severe hemorrhage that she died from four days later.  

For the past 30 years, most breeding done at SeaWorld has been through artificial insemination. The procedure is often performed on animals who are too young, or too soon following a prior pregnancy. This often results in mothers not knowing how to properly care for their calves, or the death of the pregnant mother and/or calf.  

It is time for SeaWorld to stop endangering these magnificent creatures and treating them like “orca mills.” Join me in asking SeaWorld to stop their orca breeding program.

In another tragic example in their breeding program, Taima, another of Gudrun’s offspring, died from a prolapsed uterus while giving birth to her fourth calf at age 20. Typically, killer whales don’t begin breeding until around age 12-15. Taima had her first calf at 8 years old.

SeaWorld has shown just how little they care for their killer whales. And they are currently expanding their reach, with a new, larger habitat in their Florida facility and plans for new parks in the Middle East, Asia and Russia! With all these new parks in the works, they are sure to ramp up their breeding program, unless we take a stand.  

Public opinion has shifted in recent years against keeping killer whales in captivity, as more people learn about how smart these animals are, how advanced their social structure is, and how dangerous they can be in captivity. We can no longer sit in the stands at marine parks and clap at tricks when we know these animals are suffering.

Killer whale captivity will not end until the breeding program ends. It is time to retire the current collection and phase out killer whale captivity. Please sign my petition and help bring an end to this cruel practice.