SeaWorld Stocks Sink to Unprecedented Lows

This week, struggling aquatic park SeaWorld reported dismal sales, attendance, and stock values for its first and second quarter 2017 fiscal year. The park reported attendance was down by approximately 353,000 guests across its properties in the first half of 2017 and a net cash loss of $237 million in that time period. According to financial media outlet SeekingAlpha, SeaWorld’s share values “[sunk] to their lowest level ever since the company’s IPO in 2013.” The company began a rapid decline since the release of the 2013 documentary Blackfish—damages from which SeaWorld failed to report to shareholders according to a current lawsuit against the company. Many marine animals have died inside of the park’s tanks, including Tilikum, the subject of Blackfish. “SeaWorld’s death toll this year includes Tilikum the orca, Szejna the polar bear, a possibly inbred infant Commerson’s dolphin, an infant beluga, and the infant orca Kyara—and her ailing grandmother is reportedly poised to follow her—and it’s because of all this that the company’s stock continues to take a pounding,” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals’ Vice President Tracy Reiman said. “How many more animals will die, and how much lower will SeaWorld’s profits go, before the company heeds PETA’s call to move the surviving animals to coastal sanctuaries?” SeaWorld CEO Joel Manby said he plans to redirect funds to focus on advertising to rebuild the company’s reputation, particularly in California.