Fight against SeaWorld pays off for PETA
Donations to the animal-rights organization rise
Preaching against World apparently has off for PETA.
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals recently told potential benefactors that it is under attack by “wealthy and organized opponents” to its causes, especially the fight to free captive orcas at SeaWorld parks.
“Please help PETA stand up to those trying to thwart our efforts to protect animals from suffering,” the animal-rights group urged in a fundraising email.
Donors have been listening.
In its most recent financial report, the organization reported $43.5 million in contributions for the year that ended July 31, a 30 percent increase over donations made in the same period two years earlier, before PETA intensified its campaign against SeaWorld Entertainment, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey and other animal-performance businesses.
PETA’s recent financial reports signal a turnaround for the controversial nonprofit, which posted an operating deficit of $28,000 in 2013. Two years later, the group reported an annual operating surplus of $4.5 million.
Among the visible protests during that rebound: PETA members jumped in front of SeaWorld’s float at the 2014 Rose Parade — a scene broadcast by CNN and other national news outlets. The group also installed a large poster at San Diego International Airport last year, urging the 130,000 people attending the annual Comic-Con gathering in San Diego to boycott SeaWorld.
And, most recently, PETA has created an advertisement blasting SeaWorld’s orca breeding program. Seapaid The ad, which the organization is trying to place on a billboard in the San Diego area, features an apparently nude man riding an inflated killer whale toy with the message, “SeaWorld: Where grown men perform sex acts on orcas.”
SeaWorld executives declined to comment on PETA’s fundraising efforts.
PETA has campaigned against animal cruelty since the organization was formed in1980 and began to target SeaWorld since at least 1998.
But PETA’s efforts against SeaWorld gained a boost with the 2013 release of the documentary “Blackfish,” a film that accused SeaWorld of neglecting the company’s 11 whales by keeping them captive at its parks inSanDiego, Orlando, Fla., and San Antonio.
SeaWorld representatives have said the film is inaccurate and unfair. The company has been fighting back with a $10 million advertising campaign defending its treatment of whales and promoting SeaWorld’s work to benefit animals. The company also pledged an additional $10 million last year to fund conservation of orcas in the wild.
Will Coggin, a longtime PETA critic and director of research for the nonprofit Center for Consumer Freedom, said “Blackfish” may represent a turning point for the animal rights group, long known for orchestrating shocking protests that feature nudity and fake blood.
“Before, it was easy to write them off as basic lunatics,” he said. “‘Blackfish’ may have given them certain credibility in this one issue.”
The website that PETA created to call attention to its campaign against Sea- World — called SeaWorldofhurt. — had a surge in visitation numbers after “Blackfish” debuted.
Before the film’s October 2013 premiere, the website drew as few as 20 to 30 visitors a day. For all of 2015, the site drew1.3 million visits.
Website analysis by Similarweb.com found that the top search terms that drew visitors to the site were “Blackfish,” “SeaWorld documentary” and “Tilikum,” the name of the orca that was featured in the film.
PETA’s financial records also show the group collected $567,000 in revenue from merchandise sales in the 12 months that ended July 31, a 19 percent uptick from the same period ending in 2013.
Visitors to PETA’s website can purchase 14 different anti-SeaWorld items, including T-shirts. The site also sells tote bags, pillows and hats that condemn SeaWorld and call for the killer whales to be set free.
PETA representatives attribute the increase in donations to an expanding roster of campaignsagainst animal abuse, including the SeaWorld battle.
They emailed a statement but declined to discuss their fundraising efforts further.
“As a nonprofit organization, we’re grateful for — and spend — whatever we’re given to further our work to abate and end cruelty to animals,” according to the statement by PETA Senior Vice President of Communications Lisa Lange.
“Opposition to SeaWorld is only one component of our campaign against the use of animals for entertainment, which, in turn, is only one of our many campaigns on behalf of animals,” Lange said.