Seaworld has been under a great deal of pressure since the release of the documentary “Blackfish“. The film focused on an orca at Seaworld, and why it’s a bad idea to raise and keep killer whales in captivity. It led to a groundswell of pressure on Seaworld, and they’ve finally announced an end to the orca breeding programs and shows.
However, this is a decision being made by the same people who brought you a killer whale breeding program designed to make orcas a source of live entertainment, so don’t pretend this is remotely altruistic. Seaworld just wants people to keep visiting. In fact, they basically admit as much in their ads:
Did you also catch the bit about how they can’t release orcas in the wild or they’ll die? Basically, Seaworld just released an ad that says “Hey, we get it, it’s uncool to breed orcas. So no worries, we’ll stop now. But don’t make us free them, THEIR BLOOD WILL BE ON YOUR HANDS! This is all your fault, you stupid animal lovers.” Nothing in that ad indicated that Seaworld itself feels orca breeding is bad, or that they’ve done anything wrong, just that we seem to think it’s wrong so they’ll stop already, gosh, get off their backs and start spending money again…
So, the takeaway here: Freeing Willy will kill him, and Seaworld’s advertising firm is apparently staffed by sulky teenagers.