The dangers of seaside sanctuaries

• Marine mammals born and/or raised in a zoological setting, such as SeaWorld's orcas, have not been exposed to certain potentially contagious diseases and pathogens found in the ocean or in wild animal populations. The release of the Company's orcas to a "seaside sanctuary" would expose the orcas to these contagious diseases and pathogens, which could jeopardize their health and increase the likelihood of morbidity and mortality.
  
• Marine mammals born and/or raised in a zoological setting, such as SeaWorld's orcas, have not been exposed to anthropogenic threats that affect oceans and sea quality, such as shipping noise, bacterial loads, industrial pollution, oil spills and contaminated fresh water runoff after rainstorms. A marine mammal kept in a "seaside sanctuary" could also swallow foreign objects such as trash and rocks, which are difficult to keep out of a "sanctuary."
  
• Releasing marine mammals such as SeaWorld's orcas that were raised by humans in zoological settings has the potential to hurt both the released animals and the wild marine mammals they encounter in the "sanctuary." That could lead to disease transmission and unrestricted interaction between released animals and wild marine mammal stocks. Further, both the social behavior of the wild animals and the social integration of the released animals could be adversely affected.
  
• Marine mammals housed in a zoological setting for a long time (decades) that were released into the wild in the past have not survived for very long. A prominent example is the orca, Keiko, which died of pneumonia several years after its release.