Skip to content
All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
  • Whale watching
Fin whale

Short and cruel hunt season ends in Iceland

The shortened Icelandic fin whale hunts season has finished with a final total of 23...
Bottlenose dolphins breaching

Landmark report reveals UK wildlife’s devastating decline

With whales and dolphins already facing many threats, a landmark report released this week reveals...
Dolphins with oil rig

Go ahead for new UK oil and gas exploration threatens whales and dolphins

Permission has been granted for the development of the UK's biggest untapped oilfield off Shetland,...
Icelandic hunting vessels in port

Whaling boat kept in port after more hunt cruelty exposed

Icelandic whale hunting fleet One of the whaling boats involved in the latest hunts in...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
  • Strandings
Sperm whale © Douglas Hoffman

Featured policy news item

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc magna elit, gravida at lectus vitae,...
sea_world_orlando_rob_lott

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque Following a three...

Endangered Southern Resident orca loses newborn calf

In heartbreaking news from the Pacific Northwest, the Center for Whale Research has reported that...
srkw_shoup_2003_text

U.S. Defense Bill weakens protections for whales

24 July 2018, Plymouth, MA: The FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act conference report was released...
All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
  • Whale watching
Fin whale

Short and cruel hunt season ends in Iceland

The shortened Icelandic fin whale hunts season has finished with a final total of 23...
Bottlenose dolphins breaching

Landmark report reveals UK wildlife’s devastating decline

With whales and dolphins already facing many threats, a landmark report released this week reveals...
Dolphins with oil rig

Go ahead for new UK oil and gas exploration threatens whales and dolphins

Permission has been granted for the development of the UK's biggest untapped oilfield off Shetland,...
Icelandic hunting vessels in port

Whaling boat kept in port after more hunt cruelty exposed

Icelandic whale hunting fleet One of the whaling boats involved in the latest hunts in...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
  • Strandings
Sperm whale © Douglas Hoffman

Featured policy news item

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc magna elit, gravida at lectus vitae,...
sea_world_orlando_rob_lott

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque Following a three...

Endangered Southern Resident orca loses newborn calf

In heartbreaking news from the Pacific Northwest, the Center for Whale Research has reported that...
srkw_shoup_2003_text

U.S. Defense Bill weakens protections for whales

24 July 2018, Plymouth, MA: The FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act conference report was released...

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

WDC BA campaign image

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.

Donate Now!

Help us end captivity by making a donation – however big or small – it makes a difference

[shariff]

Related News

Fin whale

Short and cruel hunt season ends in Iceland

The shortened Icelandic fin whale hunts season has finished with a final total of 23 whales killed, 1 unborn calf killed and 1 whale lost....
Pilot whale

How we need to support Faroese communities to end the whale and dolphin hunts

Hayley Flanagan Hayley is WDC's engagement officer, specializing in creating brilliant content for our website and publications. VIEW ALL HAYLEY'S BLOGS Visit author's linkedin profile...
Bottlenose dolphins breaching

Landmark report reveals UK wildlife’s devastating decline

With whales and dolphins already facing many threats, a landmark report released this week reveals the true extent of UK wildlife's devastating decline. The world-leading...
Dolphins with oil rig

Go ahead for new UK oil and gas exploration threatens whales and dolphins

Permission has been granted for the development of the UK's biggest untapped oilfield off Shetland, a decision which will exacerbate the climate crisis and result...

1 Comment

  1. Adilys Ramirez on 30th July 2020 at 10:25 am

    Let’s protect the ones that have no voice

Leave a Comment