SeaWorld is seeking a restraining order against three animal rights activists who disrupted a killer whale show last month in a protest led by actor James Cromwell.
According to documents filed in San Diego Superior Court Thursday, SeaWorld wants to ban Lyanne Fernandez, Ricky Chavez Rodriguez and Lisa Lange from SeaWorld San Diego and its nearby waterslide park, Aquatica.
Lange said SeaWorld’s action is retaliation for a complaint that she, Rodriguez and Fernandez filed to press charges against the park’s head of security in San Diego, alleging that some protesters were thrown to the ground during the July 24 protest.
Cromwell, wearing a “SeaWorld Sucks” T-shirt, along with six other protesters from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, barged into the “Orca Encounter” show last month, demanding that SeaWorld release its orcas living in tanks and move them to giant pens in the ocean.
The protesters were removed by force when they went limp and refused to leave, and SeaWorld said one activist lashed out at a security guard.
PETA denied the allegations and said the security guard manhandled them.
Fernandez, Rodriguez and Lange were charged with criminal trespassing last month, according to SeaWorld.
—City News Service
