SeaWorld’s Defenders Fight Back
A new website launched to support SeaWorld and the marine-mammal industry is pushing back against a growing cadre of critics whom it claims “scream and yell” about captivity. The site, Awesome Ocean, has sparked the ire of many activists, but it also offers an opportunity to find common ground between the warring camps.
Awesome Ocean went online in late June with financial support and social media promotion from SeaWorld. “We need more independent voices that talk about the oceans and the good things marine mammal parks and aquaria do,” said SeaWorld in an email it sent to its “Truth Team” of supporters, asking them to “call out the hypocrisy of animal rights extremists.”
Eric Davis founded Awesome Ocean, and he also produces the MiceChat blog, which covers the amusement park industry, usually with supportive stories. Davis said he conceived Awesome Ocean and then took the idea to SeaWorld, seeking financial support. He and SeaWorld insist the website operates independently from the company.
The site’s articles, written by about a dozen non-journalists, range from reports on marine science to attacks on SeaWorld opponents. “Our team is built with university Ph.D.s, marine mammal veterinarians, marine mammal trainers, education specialists, and everyday heroes,” Davis wrote in an email.
Davis declined to reveal how much money SeaWorld contributed to the site. “I have long been a fan of SeaWorld, that’s no secret,” he said. “We aren’t professional journalists. We are passionate people. We don’t scream and yell and attack. We let the other guys do that.”
Animal welfare advocates are unimpressed. They say Awesome Ocean is little more than a paid propaganda mouthpiece for SeaWorld.
“They are doing it to counteract the vast preponderance of anti-SeaWorld and anti-captivity stuff out there,” said Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute. “This is part of their counteroffensive.”
SeaWorld has experienced a lengthy bout of bad publicity since the death of orca trainer Dawn Brancheau in 2010. The criticism burgeoned after the release of the documentary Blackfish last year.
But the chasm may not be as wide as it seems.
Many posts on Awesome Ocean are in sync with animal welfare advocacy. For instance, the site published a post how on a proposed Canadian oil pipeline and the resulting tanker traffic would threaten whales and other marine life.
“I do believe that there is common ground,” said Davis. “And we believe in building bridges.”
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Original article from TakePart
