Skip to content
All articles
  • All articles
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
Fishers' involvement is crucial. Image: WDC/JTF

When porpoises and people overlap

We're funding a project in Hong Kong that's working with fishing communities to help save...

Mindful conservation – why we need a new respect for nature

'We should look at whales and dolphins as the indigenous people of the seas -...
A dolphin called Arnie with a shell

Dolphins catch fish using giant shell tools

In Shark Bay, Australia, two groups of dolphins have figured out how to use tools...
Common dolphins at surface

Did you know that dolphins have unique personalities?

We all have personalities, and between the work Christmas party and your family get-together, perhaps...
Leaping harbour porpoise

The power of harbour porpoise poo

We know we need to save the whale to save the world. Now we are...
Holly. Image: Miray Campbell

Meet Holly, she’s an incredible orca leader

Let me tell you the story of an awe-inspiring orca with a fascinating family story...
Humpback whale. Image: Christopher Swann

A story about whales and humans

As well as working for WDC, I write books for young people. Stories; about the...
Risso's dolphin at surface

My lucky number – 13 years studying amazing Risso’s dolphins

Everything we learn about the Risso's dolphins off the coast of Scotland amazes us and...

Is SeaWorld feeling the heat of Harry Potter

SeaWorld, besieged by public pressure at home and facing an increasingly difficult regulatory environment in the USA, may be looking to expand overseas to escape the restrictions it is facing as people become more concerned about its care for whales and dolphins and its own staff.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that on Wednesday SeaWorld had ‘reached a tentative deal for a theme-park resort in the Middle East, which become the Orlando-based company’s first overseas destination.’

The Sentinel went onto report that the announcement came on the same day that SeaWorld reported a disappointing financial performance in which ‘attendance and earnings slumped’. The company blamed a late Easter holiday.

SeaWorld said it lost $49.4 million during the quarter, which was 22 percent wider than the $40.4 million it lost during the first three months of 2013. SeaWorld typically operates at a loss during the first quarter, as about half of its parks close during the winter.

Total revenue tumbled 11 percent to $212.3 million, though the company said its sales-per-visitor rose 2.2 percent to $69.72, thanks to higher prices and other strategies.

Attendance fell 13 percent, from 3.5 million visitors a year ago to just over 3 million.

It’s understood that SeaWorld will react by raising ticket prices again ahead of Memorial Day as it tries to compete with the new Universal “Wizarding World of Harry Potter — Diagon Alley.”

Having had to abandon it long-term claim to have a right to be able to live capture whales and dolphins to stock its tanks thanks to campaigning from WDC, and with the Virgin Group holding a review of its relationship with dolphinaria thanks to WDC’s same campaign; coming on the back of the revelations from the Blackfish documentary, SeaWorld may think the British wizard is just one step too many and may well be starting to think its future lays outside of the USA?

We shall be watching carefully.

In the meatime you can help by joining our campaign to end tour operator support for whale and dolphin captvity