SAN DIEGO (KGTV) - Three animal rights activists have been banned from SeaWorld San Diego following a demonstration at an orca show this year.
A San Diego Superior Court order issued Thursday banned three protestors affiliated with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) from entering SeaWorld San Diego and Aquatica San Diego, SeaWorld said in a statement.
Included in that ban were Ricky Rodriguez, Lyanne Fernandez, and Lisa Lange, PETA's senior vice president of communications. The order lasts for three years.
RELATED: Actor James Cromwell protests SeaWorld San Diego orca show
"We are very pleased with this court order," Marilyn Hannes, president of SeaWorld San Diego, said. "We said from the beginning of this case that a safe environment for our employees, guests, and animals is and will always be our top priority, and we will not tolerate this type of behavior in our parks."
The three protestors are also legally prohibited from harassing, threatening, or committing violence against 10 SeaWorld employees named in the court documents.
The court order stems from a July 24 incident in which the protestors disrupted an "Orca Encounter" presentation. Seaworld said these three protestors displayed "violent and aggressive behavior" toward security staff and refused to leave.
RELATED: PETA protesters wore orca-style wetsuits at SeaWorld's Aquatica San Diego
PETA provided a statement to 10News following the court order, saying:
"PETA will continue to hold peaceful protests against SeaWorld as the company feels the impact of falling attendance and public pressure to stop confining sensitive marine mammals to tiny tanks, thereby denying them any semblance of a fulfilling life. We ask decent people to come together to protest such cruelty by all lawful means available."
On July 24, actor James Cromwell and a handful of protestors addressed an Orca Encounter show crowd with a megaphone and held signs reading "SeaWorld Kills," before security swooped in to remove them from the venue.
Charges from that incident of criminal trespassing are the subject of a separate, pending criminal case as well.
