Rose Parade’s Seaworld Float Protestor Plans Unusual Court Defense

Amanda Slyter—one of 16 protesters arrested for “interfering with a special event” after blocking the SeaWorld float at the Rose Parade— is scheduled to go to trial on Wednesday and her defense counsel reportedly will argue an unusual legal defense.

Sources say Slyter’s defense team will argue that the capture and lifetime confinement of orcas in SeaWorld’s concrete tanks constitute an emergency that necessitates action and that, therefore, her disruption of a propaganda plan to support continued captivity must be permitted under law.

This is possibly the first time that “necessity” (also known as the “less of two evils” or “greater good” defense) has been argued exclusively to justify action taken to prevent harm done to captive animals used in entertainment.

Outside the courthouse, dozens of PETA supporters are expected to hold signs that read, “Boycott SeaWorld!”

“Every day that orcas suffer in captivity, denied everything that is natural and important to them for the sake of a theme park’s bottom line, is an emergency,” Slyter says. “PETA and I are pleading with everyone to help these orcas by rejecting SeaWorld’s prisons—and by demanding that the orcas be moved to coastal sanctuaries.”