San Diego, CA (KGTV)—The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) has sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) requesting an investigation into SeaWorld San Diego, after an alleged orca attack on Friday.
PETA said it received a complaint and a video through its Animal Cruelty Complaint form from a SeaWorld San Diego visitor about an orca getting attacked by other orcas.
“We have not had further correspondence with the complainant, but in the form, she did attach the video and she explained that during the attack she saw blood soaking the water that caused her daughter to start crying, the family saw bite marks and wounds along the orca,” said Melanie Johnson, PETA’s manager of Animals in Entertainment campaigns.
The 21-second video appears to show two orcas and the voice of a child saying “How is it still alive? I thought they hug each other not.. not bite each other.”
“You can see in the video that the injured orca seems to be beaching themselves to get away from the aggressors,” said Johnson.
Johnson said it was the only complaint PETA received about the incident so far. No blood or injuries are not visible in the video, but PETA shared a photo submitted by the complainant appearing to show a wound on the whale.
A spokesperson for SeaWorld San Diego called the video released by PETA “misleading and mischaracterized.”
Adding, “it shows common orca behaviors exhibited by both wild populations and those in human care as part of natural social interactions. Numerous scientific papers have been published about these behaviors among wild orcas," and "During the interaction as seen on the video, one of the orcas sustained some minor and superficial abrasions that pose no serious health risk. The scrape marks are commonly seen in both wild populations and those in human care as a result of naturally occurring social interactions."
But PETA is now calling on the USDA to investigate SeaWorld San Diego for Animal Welfare Act violations for allegedly housing incompatible marine mammals together.
In the letter to the USDA, PETA writes, “Bullying among orcas is usually difficult to resolve once it starts and is often the result of stress due to confinement in crowded, cramped tanks. Because of this, separation of this orca in an adequately sized tank is necessary for the mental and physical well-being of this animal."
They also requested that the USDA inspect the orca and its veterinary records.
A spokesperson for the USDA APHIS’ Animal Care program confirmed with ABC 10News that they have received the complaint and are looking into it.
Attempts by ABC 10News to contact the witness who sent PETA the video were unsuccessful Monday.
