The retail branches of Your Co-op Travel have stopped promoting and selling tickets for marine theme park SeaWorld.
Its decision affects shops in the Your Co-op Travel network, but does not apply to members of the Co-op Travel Consortium or homeworking travel agents under the Personal Travel Agents division.
Sara Dunham, chief officer for travel and leisure for The Midcounties Co-operative’s travel division, said: “As a member-owned organisation it’s important that we reflect the values and interests of the many people we represent.
“We are pleased to have joined other companies in the sector by taking this decision.”
Premier Holidays and Pure Destinations are among travel agencies to have recently stopped selling SeaWorld. Tour operators British Airways Holidays and Virgin Holidays, as well as OTAs Booking.com, and TripAdvisor, have also taken the theme park off sale. But Attraction Tickets Direct has said opponents of SeaWorld are ‘misguided’.
Animal rights group Peta is calling for all travel agents and operators to stop promoting and selling SeaWorld tickets, arguing that dolphins – including orcas – and other marine animals “suffer” at what it calls an “abusement park”. SeaWorld says its animal welfare standards are “world-class”.
Peta’s director of corporate projects, Yvonne Taylor, said: “Your Co-op Travel has officially rejected marine mammal prisons like SeaWorld, where sensitive, complex, naturally far-ranging aquatic animals are kept in cramped tanks.”
She specifically urged the UK’s largest tour operator, Tui, to take SeaWorld off sale when she added: “No travel provider should profit from cruelty to animals.”
Peta says marine wildlife at SeaWorld are “housed in incompatible groups in cramped tanks and have even been given the drug diazepam to manage stress-induced aggressive behaviour”.
The group says: “More than 40 orcas and hundreds of other animals have died on SeaWorld’s watch – far short of their natural life expectancies.”
A spokesperson for SeaWorld Parks and Entertainment pointed out that Your Co-op Travel is not a directly contracted partner of the park.
They added: “SeaWorld is an accredited zoo and aquarium, providing experiences that matter and inspiring guests to protect animals and their natural habitats. Animal welfare standards at SeaWorld are world-class. SeaWorld facilities are accredited, certified and regulated to the highest standards of animal care and regarded by leaders in the veterinary and scientific community as the gold standard in marine animal care.
“With more than 38,000 animal rescues and decades of meaningful scientific contributions, SeaWorld is proud to be recognised as a global leader in marine mammal science, research, education and, in particular, providing preeminent care to all of our marine mammals.
“SeaWorld will continue to work closely with leading scientific experts, experienced animal welfare groups and credible conservation organisations to advance our mission and inspire the next generation to care for and protect our planet’s animals and their habitats.”