Judge skeptical toward PETA bid to free Seaworld's orcas

Feb 8, 2012, 1:01 GMT

Los Angeles - A federal judge looks set to dismiss an animal-rights group's bid to free the performing orcas of the Seaworld amusement parks in San Diego, California, and Orlando, Florida, the Los Angeles Times reported Tuesday.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals sued the popular attractions on anti-slavery grounds, demanding the release of the orcas from SeaWorld.

In a hearing Monday, PETA attorney Jeffrey Kerr told US District Judge Jeffrey Miller that invoking the anti-slavery 13th Amendment to the US Constitution in hopes of freeing the black-and-white whales is 'the next frontier of civil rights.'

Miller told Kerr that he cannot find a legal precedent for allowing a lawsuit to be filed on behalf of the five performing orcas under the 13th Amendment, noting that they were animals, not human beings, the report said.

The judge cast doubt on PETA's argument that SeaWorld is being 'hysterical' in suggesting that allowing PETA's lawsuit to continue would lead to more lawsuits on behalf of other animals, including dogs used by the military and police.

'Call me hysterical, but that's one of the first places I went in my thinking about this case,' Miller said.

Miller said he would study SeaWorld's request to have the PETA lawsuit dismissed but did not give a timeline for his decision, the report said.