SeaWorld CEO out as attendance continues slide after “Blackfish” fallout

Reef Builders · Feb 27, 2018

SeaWorld Entertainment’s CEO is out as the company hopes a shift in leadership can help reverse a slide in attendance sparked by the controversial “Blackfish” documentary that was released a few years ago. SeaWorld and other public aquariums have come under attack for housing killer whales, but it was SeaWorld that bore the brunt of […]

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NeuroticAquatics · Feb 27, 2018

It’s too bad that they caved to the pressure, as I’m willing to bet it was a noisy few that won that battle. They failed to see all the good that is done. We stopped our annual passes due to that and other plans they had. I don’t see them turning it around.

revhtree · Feb 27, 2018

I was privileged enough to get a behind the scenes, behind the scenes tour of the Orlando location and it was really eye opening and amazing the good that was going on there.

Gareth elliott · Feb 27, 2018

Well thats not a surprise that attendance continues to drop.

Look at what happened to ringling brothers.

From a business standpoint they need to rework their added value. The people that wanted to see the performances now cant. Those that see it as inhumane, still do. They need to look at companies that have faced similar backlash and continued. Canned tuna, cosmetics, fast food, and clothing companies as example.

What form that would take i have no idea, except that unlike ringling brothers their closing is not as simple as an elephant reserve as demonstrated by the free willy/keiko foundation’s effort with only one whale, they have 22.

NeuroticAquatics · Feb 27, 2018

revhtree said:
I was privileged enough to get a behind the scenes, behind the scenes tour of the Orlando location and it was really eye opening and amazing the good that was going on there.

We did the behind the scenes tour a couple times in San Diego. So much good goes on that many people never see or hear about.

We’ve also spoken to the dolphin trainers to learn about their stories. I’ve heard people complain that dolphins don’t deserve to be on display or in shows, but it’s that or let them die when they wash up and can’t be rehabilitated to go back into the wild.