Court to Drop Charges Against PETA Rose Parade Protestor

Today, a Pasadena court will reportedly drop all charges against PETA supporter Amanda Slyter, who was arrested in January and charged with “interfering with a special event” for using her body to block the SeaWorld float at the Rose Parade.

That information, along with news that a planned demonstration now will not occur, comes from PETA’s Washington, D.C. headquarters.

Slyter was prepared to use the rarely seen “necessity” (or “lesser of two evils” or “greater good”) defense. Her counsel argued that the cruel capture and lifetime confinement of orcas to SeaWorld’s tiny concrete tanks constitute an emergency that necessitated action—in Slyter’s case, her disruption of SeaWorld’s propaganda plan.

“This trial is just one step in the vigorous and growing movement to free the orcas who are cruelly confined at SeaWorld and denied everything that is natural and important to them at SeaWorld,” says Slyter. “More and more people are demanding that SeaWorld move the orcas to a coastal sanctuary where they would enjoy some semblance of a natural life.”

Since the release of the documentary Blackfish, SeaWorld’s stock has dropped 47 percent, and in just the last week, the company’s CEO resigned and more than 300 other employees were laid off. As for this year’s Rose Parade? There will be no SeaWorld float in sight.