PETA activists to protest SeaWorld’s 60th anniversary in San Antonio this weekend | San Antonio

As SeaWorld prepares to celebrate its 60th anniversary this weekend at its San Antonio park, a group of animal rights activists is ready to provide counter-programming highlighting what it calls “60 years of misery” the amusement company created for aquatic mammals.

A pod of PETA supporters plans to protest outside the gates of SeaWorld San Antonio starting at 10 a.m. Saturday, accusing the park of abuse against dolphins and orcas.

SeaWorld San Antonio officials were unavailable for comment Friday afternoon.

PETA maintains in a press release that more than 40 orcas and 500 other aquatic mammals, including dolphins, have died prematurely in SeaWorld’s tanks. PETA also accuses SeaWorld of allowing dolphins to be sexually abused during its breeding programs.

“Sixty years of imprisoning dolphins, orcas, and other marine mammals in cramped concrete tanks and depriving them of everything that’s natural and important to them is a cause for shame, not celebration,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement. “PETA urges everyone to shun this exploitative hellhole until it finally releases these long-suffering animals to seaside sanctuaries.”

One dolphin that allegedly died prematurely at SeaWorld San Antonio was Helen, a disabled cetacean who passed away in 2022, less than a year after being moved to the Alamo City. Helen was only 33 years old at the time of her death, even though the average lifespan of white-sided dolphins is 40.

SeaWorld San Antonio said at the time that they would conduct an autopsy. However, the results of that autopsy have yet to be publicly released.

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