SAN DIEGO (CN) - SeaWorld conceals that it keeps killer whales in tiny spaces, inbreeds them, drugs them and deprives them of food, a class action claims in Federal Court.
Lead plaintiff Valerie Simo claims she would not have paid SeaWorld Entertainment for tickets or membership had she known the truth about orca abuse.
She claims SeaWorld made hundreds of millions of dollars from its signature "Shamu Show," pushed in a massive public marketing campaign claiming that the whales and humans at their parks live in harmony and play together for public entertainment.
"This illusion masks the ugly truth about the unhealthy and despairing lives of these whales. This is a truth that, if known to the purchasing public at the time families make the decision to visit SeaWorld, buy a membership, or pay for an 'exclusive park experience,' would lead them to seek entertainment elsewhere," according to the May 7 lawsuit.
Orcas are highly intelligent, family oriented, long-lived and self-aware, are socially complex with distinct cultural traditions among varied ecotypes, and roam 100 miles a day in the wild, according to the complaint.
"Concealed from the public is the impact on these animals of captivity in a confined space, the forced separation of young whales from their mothers, the unnatural mixing of whales that do not have the same culture in small spaces, the forced breeding and inbreeding of young female whales, the routine use of pharmaceutical products to unnaturally drug the orcas, the psychological manipulation and at times food deprivation to which they are subjected, the deep rake marks on their bodies that result from incompatibility and cramped conditions, and many other life-shortening and painful experiences from which they have no escape," Simo claims.
As a result, according to the 87-page lawsuit, "SeaWorld whales die many years before they would in the wild."
Orcas in the wild can live roughly as long as human beings, with a mean life expectancy of 50 years for females and up to a maximum life span of 90 years, and a mean life of 30 years for males with a maximum life span of up to 70 years, the complaint states.
But Simo claims that SeaWorld lies to the public that killer whales live to be about 35 years old and tend to live a lot longer as captives.
"The vast majority of captive orcas of either sex die before their early 20s, many still in their early teens," the lawsuit states.
Captive orcas also "wear down and break their teeth on concrete and metal, and bang their heads into the walls of their pools from (what humans can only describe as) fear, anxiety, sadness, and a forced resignation to an unnatural and unreasonably monotonous, empty, and dangerous life of captivity," according to the complaint.
In nature, orcas choose their own mates, but at SeaWorld they are forced to breed on a regular basis, often with their own relatives, and trainers masturbate males to collect their sperm, Simo says.
The whales are dosed with powerful drugs, sometimes for their entire lives, which are necessary because of their captivity at SeaWorld, according to the complaint.
Simo says the orcas are given antacids to treat ulcers, antibiotics to treat infections caused by their conditions of confinement, strong contraceptives and antipsychotic and psychoactive drugs such as valium to calm them.