SeaWorld Opens ‘Animal Hospital.’

A few weeks from now, SeaWorld will open the doors on its brand new animal “hospital” where the animal entertainment company will bring in sick or injured wild dolphins and whales for rehab. Sounds harmless, but many people are questioning if SeaWorld’s motivation is to collect animals for their live dolphin shows and controversial breeding programs.

SeaWolrd’s new facility houses a 40,000 gallon aquarium and sits on the former home the Budweiser Clydesdale barn in Orlando. A giant animal rehab center may seem out of character for SeaWorld but they would tell you otherwise. SeaWorld says the facility is all part of their commitment to protecting wildlife, “It’s what we do” says Brad Andrews, Chief zoological officer. SeaWorld claims to have helped rescue 18,000 animals since their founding but it’s what happens to the animals after they’re “rescued” that’s causing the controversy.

Some of the animals taken by SeaWorld for rehab over the years were moved over to the main park where they were trained and forced to perform for crowds. SeaWorld admits this a possibility for healed animals from their new facility but says that overall, only a small number of the their performers are “rescued from the wild.” This is most likely true because many of SeaWorld’s animals come from their bizarre breeding programs.

Since animals in captivity rarely have natural intercourse, breeding is done through artificial insemination and sperm for this procedure is most often procured by masturbating the animals and collecting their ejaculate. It’s a fair assumption that even if animals taken in for rehab at SeaWorld are returned to the wild their sperm will still be collected for the breeding program.

Trusting SeaWorld with ocean conservation is like trusting Ringling Bros. with elephant conservation or Oscar Mayer to run an animal sanctuary. Abusing animals, not protecting them, is how these people make money and that’s the only thing we can count on them to do with any consistency.