Chiquis has teamed up with PETA Latino to speak out on behalf of Ripley, a dolphin that has been at SeaWorld parks for 30 years and has become the face of a campaign to free these animals.
The California-based singer, a Latin Grammy winner, has lent her image to the campaign for the SeaWorld Boycott Day, which is observed on July 24.
“I lost my only two babies, but if they had lived, they would be prisoners like me. I’m 30 years old and have been trapped in tiny tanks my whole life,” says Chiquis in a video that is part of the campaign calling for the freedom of cetaceans in captivity.
Chiquis joins the effort to free a dolphin named Ripley
Ripley was born at a SeaWorld facility in Texas in 1996 and was later moved from one end of the country to the other, including parks in Florida and California.
Peta claims that the dolphin has been treated more like a package than a living being. She became pregnant twice, in 2011 and 2012, and both pregnancies ended in miscarriage; she now spends her days in a tank.
The campaign points out that dolphins choose their own mates and can swim up to 100 kilometers each day, but in marine parks, “they are denied everything” that is natural and important to them.
“SeaWorld continues to forcibly breed dolphins by pulling them out of the water and, at times, drugging them so they cannot defend themselves, while staff insert tubes filled with semen into their uteruses,” the organization states.
More than 500 dolphins and whales have died at SeaWorld parks, many of them prematurely, according to the agency, as reported by Agencia EFE.
Here you can watch the video with Chiquis’ message about Ripley the dolphin.
