PETA Claims SeaWorld Had Employee Pose As Activist To Spy On Them
PASADENA (CBSLA.com) — People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals claims SeaWorld had one of its employees masquerade as an activist to spy on their group.
The animal rights group says the suspected infiltrator even encouraged them to disrupt last year's Rose Parade, which featured a float sponsored by the marine animal theme park.
"This was just a desperate attempt on their part - corporate espionage, further dirty tricks - and we're not surprised by it," PETA spokesperson Lisa Lange said. "He was really trying to incite activists to act illegally and, in some cases, violently."
CBS2 spoke with Lange last year after she and 16 other were arrested during the parade for protesting SeaWorld's float, as well as their treatment of Orca whales and other animals.
Among those arrested, Lange says, was Paul McComb, a SeaWorld employee who used the alias Thomas Jones to infiltrate PETA in 2012.
But PETA members say he never met up with the group outside the Pasadena Police Department after the parade arrest. And evidence of his arrest allegedly disappeared.
"Everybody else went through the system. We were arrested and booked and all of that, but he just vanished. So that and a few other things just started to really smell bed," Lange said.
PETA began investigating and Lange says one address for Thomas Jones wasn't valid, "and the second one ended up being a P.O. box registered to the director of security for SeaWorld San Diego, so that was the big tip-off."
SeaWorld is still in a campaign to rebuild their reputation following the documentary expose "Blackfish."
The company didn't deny PETA's claims.
"This is a responsibility that we take very seriously, especially as animal rights groups have become increasingly extreme in their rhetoric and tactics," SeaWorld Communications Director David Koontz. "In fact, PETA itself actively recruits animal rights activists to gain employment at companies like SeaWorld."
