Sir Roger Moore has a message for summer tourists: don’t go to Loro Parque or other parks which hold orcas captive.
Following an incident on Monday in which a captive orca named Morgan was filmed at the Tenerife, Spain, aquarium lying motionless on a concrete slab – which some regard as a suicide attempt – the legendary actor spoke out against “abusement” parks which imprison these animals. In a statement given to PETA, the legendary actor says the following:
“How much longer must highly intelligent and self-aware individuals like Morgan suffer before we understand that other species are not on this Earth for our amusement? It’s clear to anyone with a brain and an ounce of compassion that marine parks are nothing more than concrete prisons which cause captive marine animals a world of suffering. Orcas at these facilities are forced to toil day after day, repeating the same endless tasks with no choice in the matter and no means of escape – how utterly miserable their lives must be. The only way to end the abuse of captive orcas and other marine animals is to stay away from and speak out against facilities that keep them captive – and I urge everyone to join me in doing just that.”
Morgan was found severely emaciated and was taken from the wild in 2010 under the condition that she would be returned to her ocean home when she recovered – but instead she was transferred to Loro Parque, where she is forced to perform and has been attacked by the other orcas she shares her tiny tank with.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment” – notes that images taken in 2015 of the orcas at Loro Parque, who are currently on indefinite loan from SeaWorld, revealed bodily wounds and scars, indicating inter-animal aggression and possibly unsafe enclosures.
