Success! We campaigned to stop British Airways selling tickets to SeaWorld – and now they have!

More fantastic news for our End Captivity campaign has emerged with the announcement from British Airways that they will no longer be selling SeaWorld trips to customers – something we have repeatedly asked them to stop doing.

WDC met with BA representatives to present scientific evidence that these creatures are not suited to life in tanks, and also presented over 300,000 public signatures to our petition asking the airline to stop selling the tickets that helped fund the cruel whale and dolphin captivity industry.

The announcement represents another huge success for WDC’s ongoing campaign to stop tour operators promoting and supporting the captivity industry and follows shortly after Virgin Holidays, another WDC campaign target, announced it is also dropping SeaWorld.

WDC’s campaign film, A letter to Richard Branson, made media headlines and has been watched by over 100,000 people on YouTube. An immediate instruction to Virgin Holidays by Sir Richard followed stopping work with any aquarium or theme park that continued to capture whales and dolphins from the wild or import whales and dolphins taken from the wild.

‘This is great news and we are glad BA have listened’, says WDC End Captivity  campaigner Cathy Williamson. ‘We took our message to Madrid and the annual shareholder meeting of BA’s parent company, IAG where we had the opportunity to present our case to its CEO, Willie Walsh, and the IAG Board in front of hundreds of BA shareholders.

‘When we took our petition to BA headquarters in London the management didn’t even have the courtesy to meet with us but we are glad BA has now realised that the world is moving on and public opinion is moving with it.

‘Continued support for organisations like SeaWorld meant the UK’s national airline was in danger of becoming a dinosaur on this issue. We are pleased BA has finally listened.’

WDC has partnered with the SEA LIFE Trust to create the world’s first beluga whale sanctuary in Iceland. It is hoped initiatives like this will encourage the rehabilitation of more captive whales and dolphins into natural environments around the world, and one day help to bring an end to whale and dolphin entertainment shows.