British Airways Ends Ties With SeaWorld!

SeaWorld, the notorious marine park, known for the inhumane and cruel captivity of whales and dolphins is losing business. Many companies are moving toward more ethical practices and realizing that SeaWorld is not a good place to be associated with if you want customers to think of your company as progressive and positive. Today, British Airways, in collaboration with International Wildlife organization Born Free, launched a new animal welfare policy and wild animal protection initiative that includes no longer working with SeaWorld.

Under the new policy, “customers will not be able to book tickets for any animal attractions through British Airways Holidays.” Customers will still have the option to book hotels that keep wild animals onsite, but these will be labeled leaving the customer to make an ethical decision.

With the new initiative, British Airways is committing “to never promoting the captivity of wild animals and discouraging its hotel partners from doing so.” Managing director of British Airways Holidays, Claire Bentley says, “Our customers tell us they have concerns about wild animals being kept in captivity, and increasingly see animal performances in particular as outdated.  We are delighted to have worked with Born Free to develop our new strategy which allows our customers to make more informed choices and we are contacting all our hotel and attraction partners about our new approach.”

Dr. Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist for the Washington, D.C.-based Animal Welfare Institute, says: “A growing number of tourism-related businesses clearly see the future. They realize that their customer base no longer wants to see intelligent dolphins and whales performing circus tricks. Now it’s time for the marine theme parks to get the message.”

According to the Animal Welfare Institute, the following twelve airlines and travel providers have cut ties with SeaWorld: Thomas Cook, Virgin Holidays, United Airlines, AAA Northeast, WestJet, Air Canada, JetBlue, Southwest, Alaska, Delta, Spirit, and Sunwing.

This is hopeful news for the future! For more information on dolphin and whale captivity, please see 10 Reasons Why Whales and Dolphins Do NOT Belong in Tanks and 6 Videos SeaWorld Doesn’t Want You to See.

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