ORLANDO, Fla. – People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals is paying a visit to Orlando with the latest tool in its arsenal of weapons against SeaWorld’s public image: Virtual reality.
The animal rights group kicked off a eight-day “I, Orca” Orlando tour this week. It is standing on street corners giving people the chance to don virtual-reality goggles that give them the feeling of swimming with a mother orca in a computer-animated ocean. Actress Edie Falco provides the voice of the mother whale mourning the capture of her son decades ago. “SeaWorld has him,” she says.
“It’s designed to be an approachable way to get people thinking,” said Alex Blount, administrator for the tour that plans other stops downtown and in the tourist corridor.
On Thursday, a few passers-by tried the goggles during the busy lunch hour. They bobbed their heads, which allowed them to virtually move forward toward the mother orca. They turned around so they could get the full sensation of being in the ocean.
PETA wants SeaWorld’s killer whales released to sea pens.
SeaWorld said in an emailed statement that “PETA’s cartoon is their latest publicity stunt. The cartoon misleads the viewer by describing practices that have not occurred in over 35 years, using vocalizations that are not orcas and making allegations that have no basis in science.”
Some of the people who stopped said they had already turned against SeaWorld after the 2013 anti-captivity documentary “Blackfish.”
“I’m already educated on it,” said Colleen Burns, 34, of Orlando. “Actually hearing it through an orca’s voice was just really touching to me.”
Others, like Dan Eckhart, didn’t have strong feelings. Eckhart has seen “Blackfish” but has also visited SeaWorld several times.
“It’s unusual,” Eckhart said, but “I didn’t tear up or anything.”
Thursday’s demonstration was flanked by two people with billboards for an anti-PETA website. They would not comment.
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