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SeaWorld San Diego announced on Wednesday that the park would adopt a cashless policy. The theme park made the announcement on its website. Guests can use a physical credit or debit card, Google Pay or Apple Pay to complete transactions across the theme park. For guests that don’t have a physical card, SeaWorld will offer kiosks that will deposit cash onto a prepaid Visa card, a free service for guests. If park visitors have money left over on the card after their visit, they can still use the card anywhere Visa cards are accepted.

(Reuters/REUTERS - An orangutan named Sandra, covered with a blanket, gestures inside its cage at Buenos Aires' Zoo, in this December 8, 2010 file photo. An orangutan held in an Argentine zoo can be freed) BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) - An orangutan held in an Argentine zoo can be freed and transferred to a sanctuary after a court recognized the ape as a "non-human person" unlawfully deprived of its freedom, local media reported on Sunday. Animal rights campaigners filed a habeas corpus petition - a document more typically used to challenge the legality of a person's detention or imprisonment - in...

Ellen DeGeneres may be a big Hillary Clinton supporter, but that doesn't mean Donald Trump has been banned from her show. "I don't know if we've formally asked him," DeGeneres told E! News' Will Marfuggi yesterday while she was promoting Finding Dory, the sequel to her 2003 box office hit Finding Nemo. "I mean, he's welcome to come if he wants to come on. I don't think I see that happening. I don't know that he would do that. But I wouldn't say no if he wanted to be on." Trump has been a guest on her show five times,...

SeaWorld reported a wider loss in its fourth quarter of $25.4 million as attendance to its theme parks continued to fall - due in part to the documentary 'Blackfish,' which criticizes the company's treatment of killer whales. Its shares fell in premarket trading Thursday. SeaWorld has been battling negative publicity after a 2013 documentary, 'Blackfish,' suggested that its treatment of animals may have led to the deaths of trainers.

SeaWorld announced on Thursday it would ends its killer whale breeding program, and those currently at its parks would be the last. The Orlando-based theme park has faced dwindling attendance and years of criticism over its treatment of the captive marine mammals as well as pressure from animal rights activists to end public exhibition of killer whales altogether. SeaWorld, which operates parks in San Diego, Orlando and San Antonio, said in November it would replace its signature 'Shamu' killer whale shows in San Diego with displays focused on conservation.

The California Coastal Commission has banned SeaWorld from breeding captive killer whales in San Diego. The ban is one of the conditions SeaWorld must uphold as it doubles the size of the tanks used to hold the animals at the park. Animal rights activists praised Thursday's decision, which will see 11 orcas remain at the tourist attraction.

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, better known as PETA, is claiming that SeaWorld planted a spy among its ranks in the theme park's ongoing battle with the animal rights group. In a twist of cloak-and-dagger intrigue, PETA believes that an activist going by the name of Thomas Jones is actually a SeaWorld human resources employee named Paul McComb, who was sent by the marine theme park to rabble-rouse and send back information on protests over the past three years.

Sex with Children as Young as 10 The two-week joint sting, known as “Operation L and P,” netted 101 arrests in both Lake and Polk counties. The investigation concluded late last week. (Photo: Dave D’Marko, News 13) The UK child sex trafficking gangs we have come to America CAIR leader Ahmad Saleem, a Muslim youth coordinator, was also one of the men arrested. Investigators said the men all went to a home in Clermont with the hopes of having sex with a child. The car Saleem traveled in had a license plate that said, “Invest in children,” according to...

Why shouldn't this man be (or have been) allowed to marry his dolphin sweetheart? After all, it's only "love" that matters in holy matrimony, not building a family and a safe environment in which to raise kids. It's all to do with "feelings" these days, little else is important, and obviously we are here talking about the feelings of adults. (The feelings of children of anomalous families carry little weight.) Love in particular, however defined. For some people, like paedophile Oscar Wilde who was paying to have sex with working-class rent boys, the definition of love is lust. A...

I like Sea World, my kids love it. My wife worked at an aquarium in Los Angeles, and the people who work there are very passionate about marine life and care very very much about the welfare the creatures in their care. I can't imagine it being any less true at places like Sea World. I'm not buying what this Blackfish movie is selling.

Shares of SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (SEAS) fell Wednesday after the theme park operator reported second-quarter profit and sales that missed Wall Street expectations and cut its outlook for the year. The Orlando, Florida-based company also said it believes attendance during the period was hurt by negative publicity surrounding its treatment of killer whales, which are trained to perform tricks. A documentary last year called Blackfish suggested that the company's treatment of the killer whales provokes violent behavior from them, which in turn has led to the death of trainers.

Comcast has been named the worst company in America. The largest US cable provider "won" Consumerist's annual poll on the very same day it tried to convince the FCC that a proposed Time Warner Cable acquisition is in everyone's best interest. It's the second time Comcast has been awarded the unwanted label by Consumerist voters. Video game publisher Electronic Arts earned the "worst company" designation in 2012 and 2013 but lost out early this year when it was knocked out of the running by Time Warner Cable. Comcast was pitted against Monsanto, the oft-criticized chemical and agricultural biotechnology corporation, in...

This fascinating documentary examines the life of performing killer whale Tilikum -- who has caused the deaths of several people while in captivity -- and questions the safety and humaneness of confining these intelligent creatures.

Jillian Thomas’ father, Jamie Thomas, captured the Nov. 21 attack on video with images of his daughter’s face contorting with pain as the girl suffered three puncture wounds the size of dimesAn 8-year-old Atlanta girl and her family say they got the fright of their lives at SeaWorld Orlando last month when a dolphin lunged toward the girl and bit her hand. Jillian Thomas’ father, Jamie Thomas, captured the Nov. 21 attack on video with images of his daughter’s face contorting with pain as the girl suffered three puncture wounds the size of dimes, reports the Orlando Sentinel. The cuts...

Roger Ailes: "You talk about burning bridges. This guy really burns ‘em. Now, I feel sorry for anybody who’s out of work, so I don’t want to trash him or say anything negative about him. He was great at sports, I thought. And everybody has some redeeming quality, so people find a job again. But it’ll be, you know. A pet show in St. Louis, or something."

Five killer whales have been named as plaintiffs in a lawsuit which argues they deserve the same constitutional protection from slavery as humans. A US judge is considering a complaint by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals' (Peta) against SeaWorld. It is reportedly the first time a US court has heard legal arguments over whether animals should enjoy the same constitutional protections as humans. SeaWorld's legal team said the case was a waste of time and resources. The marine park's lawyer, Theodore Shaw, told the court in San Diego: "Neither orcas nor any other animal were included in the...

SAN DIEGO -- A federal judge heard arguments Monday in a case that could determine whether animals enjoy the same constitutional protection against slavery as human beings. Sea World asked U.S. District Judge Jeffrey Miller to dismiss the case filed by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Miller did not make an immediate ruling. PETA named five orcas that were captured in the wild as plaintiffs and claims they are treated like slaves when forced to perform daily at Sea World parks in San Diego and Orlando, Fla. PETA lawyer Jeffrey Kerr said it was a historic day.

SeaWorld's orcas have been illegally enslaved for years and should be freed under the Constitution's 13th amendment, asserts a lawsuit that will be filed Wednesday in San Diego. The legal action, which is being taken by the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) following 18 months of preparation, specifically seeks a legal declaration that the five killer whales that perform at SeaWorld's San Diego and Orlando parks are being held as slaves in violation of the 13th amendment's ban on slavery. Further, the lawsuit asks that they eventually be released into their natural habitat under the supervision of...

ORLANDO, Fla. -- A family that witnessed the death of killer whale trainer Dawn Brancheau in February is now suing SeaWorld, a lawyer representing them said.Suzanne and Todd Connell were vacationing at SeaWorld with their 10-year-old son, Bobby, when they saw a 6-ton killer whale named Tilikum pull Brancheau into the water.The New Hampshire family said they were only 30 feet from Brancheau when the incident happened. The family shot home video just moments before the trainer’s death.The family has hired an attorney and is suing the park for negligence and damages from emotional trauma. Damages are not specified.The family...

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) -- Sea World Orlando has been fined $75,000 for three safety violations that led to the death of a trainer by a killer whale. The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration issued the citation on Monday. One of the three violations is considered "willful," or shows indifference or intentional disregard for employee safety....