Campaign Overview

Elephants in Captivity

Six Flags Marine World Info

Six Flags Marine World Fact Sheet

The Six Flags Marine World Amusement Park

Six Flags Marine World (SFMW) is an amusement park in Vallejo, California featuring roller coasters, theme rides, concessions and restaurants. The park also exhibits exotic animals, including elephants, tigers and dolphins. Six Flags heavily promotes the fact that it exhibits exotic animals, including elephants, in its advertising for the park.

SFMW is one of 38 theme parks throughout North America and Europe operated by the Six Flags Corporation. Six Flags annual revenues are in excess of $1 billion.

Prior to being taken over by Six Flags in 1997, the park was called Marine World Africa USA, and was operated by a non-profit organization. At that time, the park featured animal exhibits and was accredited by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association (AZA). Despite the transition of the park under Six Flags from a zoo-like facility to a for-profit roller coaster theme park, the park has maintained its AZA accreditation.

Six Flags Marine World’s Animal Care Record

Six Flags has been cited and fined for violations of animal care standards issued under the Animal Welfare Act, 7 U.S.C. § 2131 et seq. – a federal statute governing the treatment of all animals that are exhibited for commercial purpose. Since Six Flags took over management of the Marine World park in 1997, in fact, AT LEAST 27 animals have died, including both of the parks orcas (killer whales), four elephants (plus two babies – one died in utero during labor/ the other was still born), two dolphins, a sea lion, a camel, numerous sheep, two kangaroos and at least ten wallabies.

In March 2001, two former Marine World employees submitted sworn testimony to the U.S. Department of Agriculture attesting to animal beatings, neglect, suffering and terror caused by inadequate veterinary care, improper housing, mishandling by untrained and unqualified personnel, and exposure to noise from thrill rides and growing crowds at the park. Among these employees’ allegations: that Six Flags management consistently puts profits above animal welfare and public safety concerns, and that employees who complained about animal welfare or public health violations were promptly fired from their jobs. Their affidavits are available at: http://www.idausa.org/news/newsarchives/news_mwcomplaint.html

Six Flags Marine World’s Elephant Care

Since 1997 when Six Flags took over Marine World, four adult elephants have died at the park. These include Kala, a two-year old male who died less than six months after being shipped to the California park from a zoo in Missouri, and two elephants who were euthanized in 1998 and 1999. In addition, Tika, a 24-year old female elephant died in November 2002 after her baby died in utero during labor a month before. Her body failed to expel the full-term fetus; she was euthanized after suffering from a massive systemic infection.
Tika had been artificially inseminated, as had Misha, a 22-year old elephant whose calf was still born in March 2003.

The Six Flags’ elephant facility is located in close proximity to two large roller coasters as well as being bordered by a noisy highway. The result is a high level of noise pollution but also a vibration level possible of causing prolonged low-level stress for the elephants. According to Carole Buckley of the Elephant Sanctuary, elephants at Marine World are kept on chains throughout the night and any other time they are not on exhibit or being utilized for entertainment in the park. Six Flags uses “negative reinforcement as well as systematic corporal punishment in the daily management of elephants,” Ms. Buckley wrote to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service urging it to reject the park’s 2002 application to import two baby endangered Asian elephants from India.

In addition, Six Flags Marine World uses elephants in shows, in which they perform circus-like tricks for the public, and in a tug-of-war, in which people line up behind an elephant and pull on a rope, while the elephant pulls the other way. The park allows people to pet and feed the elephants, and charges an additional fee (on top of the $43.99 admission fee) for elephant rides.

Six Flags Marine World, A Commercial Venture

The Six Flags Marine World park is a strictly commercial venture. It charges the public $43.99 to enter. It generates revenues for a billion dollar-a-year corporation. In the U.S., Six Flags applied for a permit to import the two baby Asian elephants from India under the aegis of a newly created “New Marine World Foundation. However, the officers of this foundation are the Chief Executive Officer, the Chief Financial Officer and the General Counsel of the Six Flags Corporation. In addition, the foundation’s mailing address is the same as the Six Flags corporate address.