Killer Whale Breeding Programs To Be Stopped By SeaWorld: CEO

SeaWorld made a sweeping announcement Thursday that it is stopping its killer whale breeding programs, even as it gives a "new direction" due to changes in social attitudes. 

Animal rights activists had slammed SeaWorld for keeping 24 orcas in three parks in California, Texas and Florida. But this would be its last generation, according to the company.

"SeaWorld has been listening and we're changing," the company said. 

"Society is changing and we're changing with it. SeaWorld is finding new ways to continue to deliver on our purpose to inspire all our guests to take action to protect wild animals and wild places."

Joel Manby, president and CEO of SeaWorld, elaborated in an op-ed  in the Los Angeles Times that they would continue to keep the whales in captivity, as freeing them into the wild was "not a wise option."

"Most of our orcas were born at SeaWorld, and those that were born in the wild have been in our parks for the majority of their lives," he wrote. "If we release them into the ocean, they will likely die."

Manby added that they have not collected orcas for 40 years. This would "the last generation of orcas in SeaWorld's care."

Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute said SeaWorld's decision was "a monumental and important first step forward in achieving a more humane business model."

This announcement follows another last year when the company announced that they would be stopping shows.

In 2013, a documentary "Blackfish," said that breeding made orcas "violent, neurotic and decreased their life span."

There are still people who slam  the company for the business it is expected to run for the next few years, at least.

While activists such as members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) revelled that they had won a "payoff" from its drives, the institute also clarified: "Today is the day to stop breeding, not sometime later this year. SeaWorld must open its tanks to the oceans to allow the orcas it now holds captive to have some semblance of a life outside these prison tanks."