Oscar-nominated actor James Cromwell was arrested for trespassing on Monday while taking part in a protest at SeaWorld in San Diego.
The protest, organized by animal rights group PETA, crashed the park’s “Orca Encounter” show, and was held to bring awareness to the treatment of orca whales—on the same day that SeaWorld announced, on Twitter, that the three-month old killer whale Kyara had died.
Friends of SeaWorld, We are extremely saddened to announce the passing of Kyara, our newest killer whale calf. (1/3) https://t.co/PEuBUloz3r pic.twitter.com/RWpsv5BC4B
— SeaWorld (@SeaWorld) July 24, 2017
James Cromwell Speaks At SewWorld Protest
In a Facebook livestream, Cromwell can be seen in a “SeaWorld Sucks” t-shirt, speaking into a megaphone.
“Orcas deserve a full life in the ocean,” the actor said, “not a life sentence of swimming endless circles until they drop dead from disease.”
The video also shows Cromwell and fellow protestors being handcuffed and escorted out of the venue.
SeaWorld has been the subject of controversy quite a bit over the last few years, particularly since the 2013 documentary Blackfish. The park announced last year, in response to the backlash, that it would end its practice of breeding orca whales.
James Cromwell Cites Grievances With SeaWorld
In an official statement, Cromwell cited his grievances with SeaWorld, calling on the park to “invest in seaside sanctuaries,” pointing out that Kyara was in fact the fortieth orca to die on SeaWorld’s watch, and imploring guests to “refuse to be a voyeur at a horror-show.”
Read more of Cromwell’s statement here:
It is necessary to do whatever one can for these magnificent animals, who live, day after day, in such abject misery, their sides raked by the teeth of other angry orcas, who have nothing to vent their fury on but one-another, their dorsal fins flopped over to one side, their vascular systems compromised by living for years in a concrete tank filled with chemically treated water, aimlessly floating in place to break the endless monotony of swimming in small circles.
Representatives for SeaWorld, for their part, referred to the protest as “nothing more than a PETA publicity stunt.”
This is not Cromwell’s first brush with the law: just last month, Cromwell was sentenced to a week in jail after failing to pay fines levied against him for a power plant protest in 2015.