Over 20,000 people have joined PETA in calling on Thomas Cook to stop promoting and selling tickets to SeaWorld – and now, television icon Sharon Osbourne is among them.
Last month, The X Factor judge has sent a letter on PETA’s behalf calling on the travel provider to remove the notoriously cruel amusement park from its promotions, writing, “Orcas at SeaWorld never get a holiday. Day in and day out, they’re forced to live in barren, grotesquely small enclosures with no means of escape.”
She goes on to explain that in nature, orcas travel up to 100 miles a day – but at SeaWorld, they have no choice but to swim in circles in tiny tanks where they’re unable to play at will, choose their own mates, or engage in any other natural kinds of behaviour. The frustrated animals gnaw on the sides of their tanks until their teeth break, and they commonly attack human trainers and one another.
“No travel provider should line its pockets at the expense of the animals held in SeaWorld’s watery prisons,” Osbourne concludes. “Please follow the lead of other providers, such as Responsible Travel and STA Travel, by severing ties with the marine abusement park. Until you do, when it comes to booking with Thomas Cook, it’s a no from me.”
Osbourne’s letter is the latest salvo in PETA’s campaign against the travel provider. In recent weeks, PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – has organised protests outside 80 Thomas Cook branches across the UK and unfurled a giant banner proclaiming, “Thomas Cook: SeaWorld Kills” outside the company’s London headquarters.
