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ByJenniferKayand Mike Schneider TheAssociatedPress ORLANDO,FLA. Afteryears of pressure, SeaWorld made a surprise announcement on Thursday: It no lon- ger breeds killer whales in captivity and will soon stop making them leap from their pools or splash audi- ences on command. Surrendering finally to a profound shift in how peo- ple feel about using animals for entertainment, the Sea- World theme parks have joined a growing list of in- dustries dropping live ani- mal tricks. Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Cir- cus is retiring all of its tour- ing elephants in May. Once- popular animal shows in Las Vegas have virtually disappeared. "Society's attitude to- ward these very, very large, majestic animals under hu- man care has shifted for a variety of reasons, whether it's a film, legislation, peo- ple's comments on the In- ternet," said SeaWorld En- tertainment CEO Joel Manby. "It wasn't worth fighting that. We needed to move where society was moving." SeaWorld's 29 killer whales will remain in cap- tivity, but in "new, inspiring natural orca encounters," according to the company. SeaWorld's orcas range in age from 1 to 51 years old, so some could remain on display for decades. Attendance at SeaWorld's parks declined after the 2013 release of "Blackfish," a highly critical documen- tary. Some top musical acts dropped out of SeaWorld- sponsored concerts at the urging of animal rights ac- tivists, who kept up a visi- ble presence demonstrating outside the parks' gates. Still, the decision shocked advocates who have spent decades cam- paigning against keeping marine mammals captive, and it represents a sharp U-turn from SeaWorld's pre- vious reaction to the docu- mentary. In August 2014, SeaWorld announced major new in- vestments in the orca pro- gram, including new, larger tanks, first in San Diego and then at its parks in Orlando and San Antonio, Texas. ButtheCaliforniaCoastal Commision didn't approve the $100 million expan- sion until last October, and when it did, it banned orca breeding as part of the de- cision. SeaWorld sued, ar- guing that the commission overstepped its authority, but said it would end its San Diego orca shows by 2017. Meanwhile, SeaWorld brought in a new leader with more experience in regional theme parks than zoos and aquariums, which have been fending off such protests for decades. Manby was hired as SeaWorld CEO last March 19 after running Dollywood and other musi- cally-themed parks. He said Thursday that he brought a "fresh perspective" to the killer whale quandary, and soon realized that "society is shifting here." Orcas have been a cen- terpiece of the SeaWorld parks since shows at the Shamu stadium in San Di- ego became the main draw in the 1970s. But criticism has steadily increased in the decades since and then became sharper after an orca named Tilikum bat- tered and drowned trainer Dawn Brancheau after a "Dine with Shamu" show in Orlando in 2010. Her death was high- lighted in "Blackfish," and it wasn't the first for Tili- kum. The whale also killed an animal trainer and a trespasser in the 1990s. "Blackfish" director Ga- briela Cowperthwaite said she applauds SeaWorld's decision, "but mostly I ap- plaud the public for recali- brating how they feel ethi- cally about orcas in captiv- ity." The new orca shows will begin next year at the San Diego park, before expand- ing to its San Antonio park and then to Orlando in 2019, Manby said. What about shows in- volving dolphins and other marine mammals? "Stay tuned on that," Manby said. "A lot of peo- ple don't understand how hard it is internally to make these kinds of decisions. We need to execute this well. We need to make sure we have the organization in the same direction. Then we will apply those learn- ings elsewhere." SeaWorld has not only discontinued breeding or- cas through artificial in- semination; it also feeds the whales birth control medi- cation, Manby said. One of SeaWorld's most prolific breeders has been Tilikum. The 35-year-old whale has sired 14 calves during his 23 years in Or- lando, but he's gravely ill now and not expected to live much longer. "So you're saying you're ending your breeding pro- gram? Well, guess what? Your breeding program is ending anyhow. I think it's greenwashing," said Ric O'Barry, who directs the DolphinProject.net advo- cacy group. In 2012, SeaWorld sent workers to infiltrate the animal rights group Peo- ple for the Ethical Treat- ment of Animals, which has been particularly critical. Manby confirmed the effort last month. He said the un- dercover workers were sent to protect the safety of Sea- World employees and cus- tomers, but he vowed to end the practice. Now, SeaWorld hopes to turn a less strident foe, the Humane Society, into a collaborator, helping to ed- ucate guests about animal welfare and conservation through interpretive pro- grams and expanded advo- cacy for wild whales, seals and other marine creatures. Humane Society CEO Wayne Pacelle, who called SeaWorld's about-face a "monumental announce- ment," said his organiza- tion is by no means naive about SeaWorld, but sees a chance to make progress for animal rights." "We didn't want to be endlessly mired in conflict," Pacelle said. PETA wasn't satisfied, in- sisting Thursday that Sea- World should give up its or- cas altogether. "SeaWorld must open its tanks to the oceans to allow the orcas it now holds cap- tive to have some semblance of a life outside these prison tanks," PETA spokeswoman Colleen O'Brien said in a statement. Manby countered that no captive dolphin or orca has been successfully released into the wild. SeaWorld is abandoning plans to expand its orca tanks now that the breed- ing program has ended, the company said. A spokes- woman for the Califor- nia Coastal Commission praised this, and suggested that SeaWorld drop its law- suit as well. Manby said SeaWorld's three marine parks may move closer to the balance of rides, shows and ani- mals found at the compa- ny's Busch Gardens parks. They need a mixture of ex- periences to keep a family at the park all day, he said. ANIMAL WELFARE SeaWorld to stop breeding orcas, making them do tricks PHELANM.EBENHACK—THEASSOCIATEDPRESSFILE Kelly Flaherty Clark, le , director of animal training at SeaWorld Orlando, and trainer Joe Sanchez work with killer whales Tilikum, right, and Trua during a training session at the theme park's Shamu Stadium in Orlando, Fla. By Alison Noon The Associated Press SACRAMENTO California's political watchdog panel voted Thursday to change state rules in an attempt to curb unreported lobby- ing by limiting the practice of so-called "ride-alongs" in which people who are not registered lobbyists tag along to meetings with pub- lic officials. People who are paid more than $2,000 a month to di- rectly communicate with public officials about legis- lation are required to reg- ister as lobbyists and sub- mit quarterly reports. But a state rule provides an ex- emption for so-called ex- perts who often attend meetings with elected of- ficials and registered lob- byists. The Fair Political Prac- tices Commission voted 3-1 to narrow, but not elimi- nate, that rule. The com- mission decided Thursday to call those individuals "subject matter experts." "I think this is a really good regulation that's go- ing to provide clarification," Chairwoman Jodi Remke said. The regulation has been criticizedforallowingformer lawmakers to legally skirt a mandatory one-year waiting periodagainstlobbyingtheir former colleagues after they leave office. Thursday's vote at- tempts to toughen the rule. However, FPPC attorney Heather Rowan said exec- utives who have occasional contact with lawmakers can still avoid disclosure. Bill Dombrowski, presi- dent and chief executive of the California Retailers As- sociation, said he stopped registering as a lobbyist more than a decade ago because regulators "were changing the rules con- stantly." He and other executives who don't believe they meet the state's definition of lob- byists have used the ex- emption to avoid track- ing their time at the Leg- islature. They're concerned the commission's move this week still leaves the rule up for interpretation. Commissioner Gavin Wasserman, the dissenting vote Thursday, said does not believe the amendment will change behavior. "If it doesn't really re- solve the ambiguity, what value have we added?" Was- serman said. SACRAMENTO State ethics panel boosts lobbying disclosure rule The Associated Press LOS ANGELES Virtually all of California remains in some level of drought but weekly monitoring data show modest improvement after a stormy early March in northern parts of the state. The U.S. Drought Mon- itor says that as of Tues- day, 73.6 percent of the state was in a severe or worse drought, down from 83.1 percent a week earlier. But as a whole, more than 99.5 percent of California remained at one of the five levels of drought. The worst of the catego- ries — exceptional, extreme and severe — edged down between 1.8 and just under 4 percentage points. Exceptional drought re- mained the largest cate- gory, however, spanning more than 34.7 percent of California. There were increases in the percentages of the two lowest categories — mod- erate drought and abnor- mally dry. 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