PETA demands Sea World release orcas, cites 13th amendment banning slavery

SAN DIEGO - Attorneys for the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals are scheduled to argue in federal court today against SeaWorld San Diego on behalf of some of the theme park's killer whales.

PETA filed a lawsuit against SeaWorld last October, demanding that five orcas be released immediately on grounds that the 13th Amendment banning slavery should apply to animals.

''All five of these orcas were violently seized from the ocean and taken from their families as babies,'' said PETA President Ingrid Newkirk upon filing the suit. ''They are denied freedom and everything else that is natur...