Seaworld Hit With More Fines From OSHA
Written by Vegetarian Star on June 26th, 2013 in Animal Issues.
Seaworld has been slapped with a $38,500 fine from the Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA) for repeatedly violating a court order the disallows contact between trainers and the orcas.
Evidence was collected during a follow-up investigation that involved photographs and TV footage of trainers hugging and kissing orcas without a protective barrier, a requirement per OSHA ruling.
From This Dish is Veg:
“Aggression between orcas is nearly non-existent in nature, but the constant stress of living in forced social groupings inside tiny tanks at SeaWorld causes them to lash out, posing a danger to animals and employees alike. SeaWorld’s own corporate incident logs contain reports of more than 100 incidents at its parks. Orcas have pulled trainers into the water, held them at the bottom of the pool, head-butted them, slammed into them, breached on top of them, and, of course, killed them—and those are just the episodes that have been reported.”
The most famous and tragic incident which launched several investigations into the marine park was the death of trainer Dawn Brancheau who was killed when she was in the water with an orca named Tilikum. Such interaction is not only risky for the trainer, but potentially dangerous for the animal too.
Photo: Flying Cloud/Creative Commons
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