Top UK travel group to stop selling SeaWorld tickets over animal welfare concerns

Thomas Cook, a major United Kingdom–based travel company, announced Sunday that it will stop selling tickets to Florida’s SeaWorld as part of its new animal welfare policy.

In a release on its website, CEO Peter Fankhauser said that Thomas Cook has audited 49 animal attractions in the past 18 months, and stopped selling tickets to 29 that did not pass animal welfare standards laid out by the Association of British Travel Agents (ABTA).

{mosads}Though Fankhauser said SeaWorld and Tenerife’s Loro Parque passed the ABTA standards and “made improvements” to their treatment of animals, the company “will no longer sell any animal attractions that keep orcas in captivity.”

“This was not a decision we took lightly,” he added.

The company said that more than 90 percent of customers said it was “important that their holiday company takes animal welfare seriously.”

“We respect and applaud the work that has been done, and we will work with both over the next 12 months to prepare for our exit,” he said. “We will also continue to work ourselves to identify more sustainable alternatives.”

SeaWorld has long been criticized by animal welfare advocates for holding orcas in captivity, scrutiny that increased with the release of Netflix documentary “Blackfish” in 2013.

The theme park has stopped breeding orcas in captivity, but said that those already in their care will “be with us and our visitors for many years to come.”

“Millions of U.K. guests have visited our parks for fun, education and to help contribute to the protection of marine animals and their habitats,” a SeaWorld spokesperson told Newsweek. “They have seen first-hand the incredible care we provide all of our animals and learned about how we are protecting and saving species in the wild.”