Trying for a reboot

“In 2017 we will launch an all new orca experience” focused on the whales’ “natural environment,” SeaWorld CEO Joel Manby recently announced, according to the Guardian. “2016 will be the last year of our theatrical killer whale experience in San Diego.” But the traditional performances will continue at SeaWorld’s other locations in Texas and Florida.

“He said the decision to end the orca shows in California was in direct response to customers, who he said had made it clear that they want less of a theatrical experience and would rather see the whales in a more natural setting,” the Guardian added. “Attendance at the San Diego park is falling fast. Visitor numbers dropped 17 percent last year to 3.8 million, according to city authorities, and Manby warned investors last week that numbers are still falling and would contribute to a $10 million hit to SeaWorld’s profits this year.”

Activists and critics, to little surprise, welcomed the change but swiftly demanded more. “Animal rights activists applauded SeaWorld’s plans to end its orca shows at its San Diego park but said the company should phase out its captivity of killer whales altogether,” the Associated Press reported.

Growing opposition

The root of the crisis traced back to the debut two years ago of a harshly critical documentary film. “Attendance has plunged, and company shares have fallen in half, since the 2013 documentary ‘Blackfish’ made a compelling case that the confinement and exploitation of killer whales inflicted physical and psychological stress on creatures that thrive on socialization and vast expanses of the ocean,” as the editorial board of the San Francisco Chronicle noted. Tim Zimmerman, co-writer of the film, told CNN SeaWorld’s abandonment of the San Diego shows was a “first step.”

“That film, shown repeatedly on CNN, had a profound impact on how the theme park is percieved by the public. SeaWorld has spent millions of dollars on ads and social media to restore its reputation,” as NPR observed. ‘Blackfish’ took as its point of departure the 2010 death of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau, killed by one of the captive orcas at the company’s Florida location. SeaWorld withdrew its trainers from orca tanks after the incident, NPR added; but the damage to its reputation was done, as activists began to focus in on its treatment of whales and the psychology of the animals in captivity.

Legislators and regulators have also chipped away at the company’s fortunes. “SeaWorld suffered another blow last month when the California Coastal Commission approved a SeaWorld plan to expand its orca enclosures in San Diego but added the condition that the park must end its killer whale breeding program and halt the transfer of new whales to the park,” the Los Angeles Times recalled. “The conditions would eventually put an end to the park’s most popular attraction.”

Meanwhile, Rep. Adam Schiff, D-Calif., has forged ahead with a plan to federally prohibit the captive breeding of orcas. “The fact still remains that as long as SeaWorld holds orcas in captivity, the physical and psychological problems associated with their captivity will persist,” he said, according to the AP.

Added troubles

In a grim irony, SeaWorld’s troubles have not been confined to their featured marine animals. “A Wilsonville man is suing SeaWorld in San Diego, California after a trained hawk attacked his service dog,” KATU reported. “His dog may have contracted an aggressive disease as a result. Robin Revel has mounting veterinarian bills for his service dog Yogi that he didn’t expect after the attack happened in February. That’s why his attorney e-filed the liability lawsuit in San Diego on Wednesday.”

An unexpected wave of disease has exacerbated increases brought on by Golden State policymakers. “While the avian flu outbreak this spring that resulted in the killing of 48 million domestic chickens and turkeys, mostly in the Midwest, continues to have a ripple effect across the country, a perfect storm of additional factors in California, namely the rollout of Proposition 2 and higher chicken feed prices, are wreaking havoc on Bay Area supermarket egg prices and limiting the supply of eggs to local restaurants, ice cream shops and bakeries,” the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Citing data from the Department of Agriculture, KGO San Francisco noted that prices for a carton of large eggs jumped from $1.45 last August to $3.61 this month. Meanwhile, since last May, California has produced nearly 20 percent fewer eggs, according to USDA figures.

Costly chickens, costly eggs

According to the egg industry, that dip in production numbers should be attributed primarily to the passage of Prop. 2. Passed into law by voters as the Prevention of Farm Animal Cruelty Act, the Chronicle recalled, Prop. 2 “requires that all eggs sold in California come from farms that allow chickens to move around freely. Because each egg-laying hen must have 116 square inches of space, rather than the standard 67 inches of space in battery cages, there are fewer hens overall, and farms had to be upgraded.”

Those upgrades imposed costs passed along to consumers, industry advocates observed. “The costs of having to build new structures and new facilities were incurred by the egg farmers, and those costs have to get passed along,” said John Segale, spokesman for the Association of California Egg Farmers, in comments to the Associated Press. What’s more, the limitations imposed by Prop. 2 worsened the impact of the avian flu outbreak. Ken Klippen, president of the National Association of Egg Farmers, told AP that some of the big Iowa farms that meet Prop. 2 requirements have been knocked out completely by the disease.

More costly feed, meanwhile, has pushed egg prices higher. Klippen added that “California producers have to pay 20 cents more per dozen eggs for chicken feed because it’s mostly shipped from the Midwest.”

After hitting record prices earlier this summer, as Reason noted, consumers faced even greater sticker shock this fall.

Struggling to respond

As is often the case, the changing market has disproportionately affected small businesses; bakery owner Terri Littleton told Fox Sacramento she “survived the initial jump in prices when California’s law giving more cage space to egg laying chickens went into effect. But the avian flu epidemic and higher feed prices in drought-ridden California have made eggs even more expensive.”

Proprietors have been forced to make unattractive choices about how to compensate for the changes. Littleton stressed that “raising prices is a tough proposition for businesses that work on a small budget, and changing recipes might even be more harmful.” The experience of some larger chains appeared to underscore that point. One CNN report revealed that consumers have lashed out at Panda Express restaurants for pulling eggs from their fried rice and hot and sour soup recipes.”

In an ironic twist, not all egg merchants have found themselves in a painful bind. Anecdotal evidence suggested that specialty sellers could benefit from relatively more expensive egg prices. “We have seen people that we have not seen before at the farmers’ market, and they are saying if we’re going to pay that amount at the grocery store, we’d rather buy a fresher egg and a higher-quality egg,” one pasture-raised chicken rancher told the Chronicle. Eggs produced by so-called free range chickens now typically retail for  about $9 a dozen.

Against this backdrop of human misery, what are the Democrats who control the Legislature doing? Focusing on (alleged) animal misery far more than (documented) human misery.

Why? Because animals are people, too — extra-special people.

This article is from the U-T San Diego:

“SACRAMENTO — Backed by strong emotional arguments and a passionate grassroots following, animal welfare advocates have steadily achieved milestone protections in California for cuddly household pets and shiver-inducing predators alike.

“The list of laws is as sweeping as it is long. Mountain lions cannot be hunted for sport. Dogs can be tethered in the yard for only so long. Chickens must have larger cages. And landlords cannot force renters to declaw their cats.

“Another big one may be added this year with the introduction of closely watched legislation to ban orca shows and their captive breeding at SeaWorld in San Diego — one of the state’s premier tourist attractions and a leader in marine mammal research.”

Raising minimum wage is not a job-creation policy

This is hilariously telling about the people whom California Democrats elect to state office. They care most about union members, urban professionals, trial lawyers and environmentalists, and their passions — like animal rights.

This is obvious to insiders who know how the Legislature works, but not to most people. Sure, millions of Californians buy the idea that Republicans are mostly driven by greed, based on what they’re told by the media, and at times by actual evidence. But if these folks looked past the window dressing provided by the Democratic Party — which often goes unchallenged by the media — then what would a hard look at Golden State Dems show?

An absolute lack of interest in helping create private-sector jobs or in trying to reduce the cost of living by making it easier to build housing.

In the Legislature, Dem oomph goes to the interests of union members, urban professionals, trial lawyers and environmentalists.

Yes, there is a push to raise the state minimum wage. But that won’t create middle-class jobs. Unfortunately, unlike the elected Democrats in America’s other megastates — Texas, Florida and New York — the ones in California by and large still haven’t figured out that helping free enterprise is a good thing because it leads to creation of such jobs.

Here’s another way to frame this screwy phenomenon: In California, Lt. Gov. Gavin Newsom stands out for pro-business views that would be absolutely banal in 98 percent of America. When Newsom argues that businesses are rattled by uncertainty about regulatory and tax changes, he is saying that in processing information, business owners act like human beings.

That this observation can seem like heresy to many in the California Democratic Party is a testament to its domination by sclerotic and slavish worshipers of the state’s screwed-up, anti-growth status quo.

Great, just great.