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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela | Activists and SeaWorld debate the life spans of killer whales

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Activists say killer whales live longer in the wild. SeaWorld disputes that, saying its orcas live just as long in captivity. The numbers each side uses have come under criticism.

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California bill would ban orca shows at SeaWorld | CNN

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A California state legislator wants to ban the orca killer whale shows at SeaWorld, in the wake of CNN's controversial documentary "Blackfish."

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Smart, Social and Erratic in Captivity (Published 2013)

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A film, a book and a trainer’s death have renewed debate among scientists and animal advocates on the wisdom and morality of keeping killer whales in marine parks.

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When a kid in Malibu, California forced the rest of her classmates to miss out on a day at SeaWorld because she was misled by Blackfish, it made national news.

Ever since that girl forced the radical agenda of animal rights groups like PETA, The Dodo and others, they have claimed that children are rejecting accredited zoological organizations in favor of a debunked documentary.

However, we are learning this isn't the case, and in fact quite the opposite is happening nationwide!

Children of all ages are rejecting the radical agenda being shoved in their faces and asking for alternatives. Not only are they analyzing the source material the school is presenting to them, they're demanding they be allowed to think critically by hearing both sides of the issue, which is a victory for anyone interested in education.

Here we have a few stories of kids who are standing up to radical activists and demanding that they hear the full story and learn the truth:

Austin and Goliath in San Antonio, Texas

When one of Austin's teachers announced that they would be required to watch Blackfish in school, Austin stood up and demanded that they allow a SeaWorld trainer from SeaWorld San Antonio to come in afterwards to comment about the film.

The teacher responded, "We don't have time for that." Austin quickly countered, "Then we don't have time for Blackfish." The teacher agreed and the class was spared 80 minutes of out-of-context YouTube clips and propaganda.

Chris Brings Keiko to Texas

When Chris learned about the new book "Killing Keiko" by Mark Simmons, he went straight to his school's library. When he found out it wasn't available, but other radical animal rights books were, he kindly asked if "Killing Keiko" could be included. The librarians happily agreed and ordered the book. It is now available to all the students at his high school.

We have begun to learn that students in Florida, California, Idaho, Utah, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan and more are all requesting that their libraries stock Killing Keiko.

Nikki vs. The Debate Team in New York, New York

When Nikki learned that her debate team would have to debate "Pro: SeaWorld should be closed" she had to fight other class members to represent the "Con" which was to defend SeaWorld in the debate. After days of research and preparation, she ended the debate convincing numerous audience members from the rival school that SeaWorld does incredible good in the world and should NOT be closed!

These 3 stories are just the tip of the iceberg. There has been so much interest in SeaWorld's real story that SeaWorld has been piloting an education program that would allow their trainers to virtually talk with any classroom about the amazing animal care their animals receive.

It is a new era and children around the country are demanding that they get to hear both sides and learn the truth!

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Kids Nationwide Reject the Blackfish Agenda

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Kids of all ages are rejecting the radical agenda being shoved in their faces and asking to be allowed to think critically about the issues.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Get the latest Shark Week 2022 updates, find out how to watch your favorite Shark Week specials and learn all about these majestic creatures.

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Bloodthirsty, ruthless, killer: shark. For years people have feared and slaughtered sharks because of the bad rap they have received from Hollywood, but these beliefs are not justified.

Sharks are not vicious and are actually quite gentle. Of the more than 388 species of sharks only two (the Great White and the Tiger) have been known to attack man and then only because of mistaken identity. Wetsuits and surfboards used by surfers are mistaken by sharks as the thick, rubbery, skin of seals, which are their main diet. Once the shark bites the surfer, it almost immediately lets go because it does not taste like its favorite meal.

Not all big sharks have huge jaws full of teeth, as many people believe. Whale sharks, the largest fish in the world, are the most affable creatures you will encounter in our world's oceans. These sharks (that can weigh over three thousand pounds and grow up to five stories in length) have no teeth at all. Instead they have a mouth full of baleen that they use to filter plankton and tiny fish out the hundreds of gallons of sea water that passes through their monstrous mouths at one time. These peaceful giants have been known to let divers ride on their backs and don't show any aggression when approached.

People should treat sharks with respect, as they should all earth's creatures. The only way for future generations to learn to appreciate these magnificent creatures (instead of fear them) is through education. This can be accomplished through programs which highlight the good points about sharks, instead of the myths surrounding them. Another way is to make ocean research available to all people - everyone should have the chance to learn the truth about sharks. ^

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Sharks: Killers Or Just Misunderstood? | Teen Ink

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Bloodthirsty, ruthless, killer: shark. For years people have feared and slaughtered sharks because of the bad rap they have received from Hollywood, but these beliefs are not justified.Sharks are not vicious and are actually quite

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Sharks are scary-no doubt about it. Just ask anyone who's seen Jaws or other films that feature these sharp-toothed creatures.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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When a great white shark is born, along with up to a dozen siblings, it immediately swims away from its mother. Born on the east and west coasts of North America, the south of Africa and southwest Australia, baby sharks are on their own right from the start. Their mother may see them only as prey.

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When a great white shark is born, along with up to a dozen siblings, it immediately swims away from its mother. Born on the east and west coasts of North America, the south of Africa and southwest Australia, baby sharks are on their own right from the start.

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Newsela - Spinner shark attacks Florida teen surfer

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Just another day riding the waves changed suddenly when an 18-year-old surfer was bitten by a shark. He said that once healed, he’ll be back on the board, but more aware of his surroundings.

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Elio, 13, was killed by an 8 foot bull shark while surfing at Cap Homard two weeks ago, on the west coast of the island paradise.

Since 2011 there have been 16 shark attacks, 7 of which have been fatal including the death of a 15-year-old girl in 2013, which prompted the government to impose a ban on bathing and surfing unsupervised along more than half of the island's coastline.

The attacks have devastated the island's economy as surf shops have been forced to close causing a 13 per cent drop in leisure tourism.

Rival holiday destinations in the region such as Mauritius and the Maldives have benefited from these shark attacks as more tourists visit these islands on a yearly basis.

Experts have tried to come up with a reason for the rise in shark attacks with some claiming the opening of a marine reserve in 2007 which was intended to boost the biodiversity of the coral in the area coupled with a fishing restriction in the area has led to an increase of prey for the sharks.

Other experts believe urbanisation is the root cause of the shark problem.

The increased levels of wastewater flowing in to the sea as a result of rising urbanisation on the island has created the perfect conditions for the bull sharks as they thrive in murky water.

Surfers and bodyboarders have called for more action to be taken to make the waters safer for humans.

Marine biologist Antonin Blaison said: "we will have to change our ways to account for the sharks' presence".

With no real plan of action and the tourism industry on the island continuing to plummet, Reunion's government may have to refocus their efforts on promoting the islands land attractions which boasts 91 different species of birds and a host of exotic animals.

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Rise in shark attacks scares tourists away from paradise isle of Reuni

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A RISE in fatal shark attacks off the coast of Reunion Island including the death of rising surf star, Elio Canestri, has stopped surfers from visiting the French territory.

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The White Shark, more commonly referred to as the "Great White," has been reported to be involved in more attacks on humans than any other shark.
Fossil remains suggest the Great White dates back to the early Eocene eras, which lasted from about 56 to 34 million years ago.

Mature males reach an average size of 10.5 feet while females can average 14 feet. Active during daytime hours, Great Whites feed on marine animals - they don't like sea birds or sea otters particularly. It's thought that they attack humans when they mistake diver and surfer silhouettes in the water during approaching from below the surface of the water. An alternative theory has also been suggested that Great Whites attack unfamiliar objects to test their potential as food. If true, that would help explain their involvement over the years in myriad hit-and-run attacks near beaches.

Not very much is known about the size of the great white's total population. Described as a slow-growing animal with low fertility rates, the Great White is considered at risk of overfishing.

Tiger Shark

According to theInternational Shark Attack File, the Tiger shark ranks No. 2 behind the white shark in the number of reported attacks on humans. The shark-monitoring group notes that the animal's "large size and voraciousness" qualify it as a formidable ocean predator. Surfers and swimmers need to know that Tiger sharks tend to be both curious and aggressive when they spot humans in the water.

Shortfin Mako

Powerful, fast and aggressive, the Shortfin Mako has been blamed for many reported shark attacks on humans. In more than a few cases, also blame human error as fisherman have been known to get injured after dragging hooked makos into their boats.
The Shortfin Mako is believed to be the fastest of any shark, able to swim up to 20 miles per hour. Prior to attacks, the sharks tend to swim in figure eight patterns and approach their prey with mouths open. The popularity of Mako meat in shark fin soup has reduced their populations; the World Conservation Union has listed the Shortfin mako as "Near Threatened."

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Swimmers, Surfers and Divers Need to Pay Special Attention to these Five Species

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Back to Animals

A zoo can be an awesome place to see animals first hand and learn about what they eat, their habits, environment, and all sorts of other interesting facts about animals. Another name for a zoo is zoological garden.

Today zoos are becoming better and better places for animals. In the past some zoos were somewhat cruel to animals. Placing animals in environments they were not suited for and often not keeping the animal's best interest in mind. However, today many zoos do wonderful work in animal research and take great care of their animals.

Photo by Ducksters

Some good things that many Zoos do today include:

Acting as sanctuaries for endangered animals. They provide a safe environment for animals that are being threatened by changes in the environment. Often zoos will work to breed and maintain endangered animal populations. Sometime animals are nearly extinct in the wild and the only place they survive is in zoos.

Education on wildlife. Zoos provide a great opportunity for us to learn more about creatures from distant lands.

Research on wildlife and how we can help animals survive radical changes. Zoos do veterinary medicine research as well.

Today's modern zoos house animals in enclosures that are similar to the animal's natural habitat. This can include buildings made for nocturnal animals where they are bright at night, so the animals can sleep, and dark during the day, so zoo visitors can see the animals moving about. Also, climates are controlled in some zoo enclosures for animals like penguins and polar bears. Many zoos have great open spaces as well where animals may graze together. Some zoos have an area where you can take a mini-safari or ride around in a truck or bus to hopefully see the animals up close.

Perhaps the most famous zoo is the San Diego Zoo in Southern California. Many modern zoo practices were pioneered at the San Diego Zoo. The largest zoo in number of animals is the Bronx Zoo with over 6000 animals. The largest zoo in land size is the North Carolina Zoo with 535 acres.

Photo by Ducksters

Seeing an elephant, giraffe, lion, polar bear, penguins, seals, or other incredible creatures at the zoo can be an amazing experience. Be sure to check out your local zoo and get the opportunity to see some awesome animals and learn more about nature.

Another great place to see animals, similar to a zoo, is at an aquarium. Most states have an aquarium where they display all sorts of fish and some sea mammals.More on endangered species:
Amphibians in Danger
Endangered Animals
How Animals Become Extinct
Wildlife Conservation
Zoos

Back to Animals

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Learn about the zoo. History and types of zoological gardens. List of Zoos with interesting animals.

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How do you feel about keeping animals in zoos? Read both sides of the argument to help you decide.

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These photos of unexpected animal friendships will melt your heart.

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With Magazines+, you get fresh, high-interest content delivered all year long-in print, online or both. Every single story, video and activity is designed to hook your students and keep them engaged. And because Magazines+ complements your curriculum, it's easy to implement during any part of the school day!

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Scholastic Classroom & News Magazines | Subscribe Now!

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Easy to Use. Hard to Put Down. With Magazines+, you get fresh, high-interest content delivered all year long-in print, online or both. Every single story, video and activity is designed to hook your students and keep them engaged. And because Magazines+ complements your curriculum, it's easy to implement during any part of the school day!

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Learn more about the Association for Zoos and Aquariums’ members, educational programs, and conservation efforts, as well as the kinds of facilities we support.

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Newsela | Why do zoo animals get pumpkins? For play and public relations

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Newsela | Arthritic elephant finds relief in a pair of enormous Teva sandals

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Teachers' #1 Choice for Current, On-Level Nonfiction

Over 6 million students read Scholastic News every week! See why so many teachers rely on this exceptional magazine to engage their students, build nonfiction-reading skills, and increase content-area knowledge.

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Teachers' #1 Choice for Current, On-Level Nonfiction Over 6 million students read Scholastic News every week! See why so many teachers rely on this exceptional magazine to engage their students, build nonfiction-reading skills, and increase content-area knowledge.

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With Magazines+, you get fresh, high-interest content delivered all year long-in print, online or both. Every single story, video and activity is designed to hook your students and keep them engaged. And because Magazines+ complements your curriculum, it's easy to implement during any part of the school day!

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Scholastic Classroom & News Magazines | Subscribe Now!

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With Magazines+, you get fresh, high-interest content delivered all year long-in print, online or both. Every single story, video and activity is designed to hook your students and keep them engaged. And because Magazines+ complements your curriculum, it's easy to implement during any part of the school day!

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Apollo was the NASA program that resulted in American astronauts' making a total of 11 spaceflights and walking on the moon.

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Scholastic Teaching Tools | Resources for Teachers

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Explore Scholastic Teaching Tools for teaching resources, printables, book lists, and more. Enhance your classroom experience with expert advice!

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Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

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Editor's Note: Amitai Etzioni is professor of international relations and director of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington University.

Story highlights

While space travel still gets a lot of attention, not enough attention has been accorded to a major new expedition to the deepest point in the ocean, some 7 miles deep - the recent journey by James Cameron, on behalf of National Geographic.

The cover story of the prestigious journal Foreign Affairs lays out the "Case for Space." "60 Minutes" recently ran a story about the dire effects on Florida's space industry of scaling back our extraterrestrial endeavors. Newt Gingrich gained attention earlier this year by calling for building a permanent base on the moon. And President Obama has talked of preparing to eventually send Americans into orbit around Mars.

Actually, there are very good reasons to stop spending billions of dollars on manned space missions, to explore space in ways that are safer and much less costly, and to grant much higher priority to other scientific and engineering mega-projects, the oceans in particular.

The main costs of space exploration arise from the fact that we are set on sending humans, rather than robots. The reasons such efforts drive up the costs include: A human needs a return ticket, while a robot can go one way. Space vehicles for humans must be made safe, while we can risk a bunch of robots without losing sleep. Robots are much easier to feed, experience little trouble when subject to prolonged weightlessness, and are much easier to shield from radiation. And they can do most tasks humans can.

British astronomer royal Martin Rees writes, "I think that the practical case (for manned flights) gets weaker and weaker with every advance in robotics and miniaturization. It's hard to see any particular reason or purpose in going back to the moon or indeed sending people into space at all." Nobel Laureate Steven Weinberg calls manned missions "an incredible waste of money" and argues that "for the cost of putting a few people on a very limited set of locations on Mars we could have dozens of unmanned, robotic missions roving all over Mars."

The main argument for using humans is a public relations one. As Neil deGrasse Tyson puts it in Foreign Affairs, "China's latest space proclamations could conceivably produce another 'Sputnik moment' for the United States, spurring the country into action after a relatively fallow period in its space efforts." Also, astronauts are said to inspire our youth to become scientists and explorers. However, it is far from established that we cannot achieve the same effects by making other R&D projects our main priority.

Take the oceans, about which we know much less than the dark side of the moon. Ninety percent of the ocean floor has not even been charted, and while we have been to the moon, the technology to explore the ocean's floors is still being developed. For example, a permanent partially-submerged sea exploration station, called the SeaOrbiter, is currently in development.

The oceans play a major role in controlling our climate. But we have not learned yet how to use them to cool us off rather than contribute to our overheating. Ocean organisms are said to hold the promise of cures for an array of diseases. An examination of the unique eyes of skate (ray fish) led to advances in combating blindness, the horseshoe crab was crucial in developing a test for bacterial contamination, and sea urchins helped in the development of test-tube fertilization.

The toadfish's ability to regenerate its central nervous system is of much interest to neuroscientists. A recent Japanese study concluded that the drug eribulin, which was derived from sea sponges, is effective in combating breast, colon, and urinary cancer.

Given the looming crisis of water scarcity, we badly need more efficient and less costly methods to desalinate ocean water. By 2025, 1.8 billion people are expected to suffer from severe water scarcity, with that number jumping to 3.9 billion by 2050-well over a third of the entire global population.

If the oceans do not make your heart go pitter-patter, how about engineering a bacteria that eats carbon dioxide - and thus helps protect the world from overheating - AND excretes fuel which will allow us to drive our cars and machines, without oil? I cannot find any evidence that people young or old, Americans or citizens of other nations, would be less impressed or less inspired with such a breakthrough than with one more set of photos of a far away galaxy or a whole Milky Way full of stars.

Space enthusiasts claim that space exploration has generated major spinoffs for our life right here on Earth. Tyson quotes President Obama suggesting that the Apollo mission "produced technologies that have improved kidney dialysis and water purification systems; sensors to test for hazardous gases; energy-saving building materials; and fire-resistant fabrics used by firefighters and soldiers," and adds a few more innovations to the list: "digital imaging, implantable pacemakers, collision-avoidance systems on aircraft, precision LASIK eye surgery, and global positioning satellites."

Of course, the space environment is radically different from the one on Earth. Materials and technologies that are suited for a vacuum, zero gravity, and extreme cold and heat are not the ones we typically can use on Earth.

Opinion: Gingrich's moon colony lost in the laughter

Elias Carayannis, professor of Science, Technology, Innovation and Entrepreneurship at The George Washington University, notes "government agencies - particularly those such as the National Space and Aeronautics Administration that are continually pressured to justify their activities - tout the spin-off value of their investments in sometimes quite extravagant claims." Products such as Velcro, Tang, and Teflon that are often cited as spinoffs of space technology did not actually result from the space program.

Space promoters tell us, once every few months, that there are signs that there might be or has been water on one of the planets that might make "life" possible. I wonder if some of those who hear these reports interpret them to mean that we expect to find a civilization out there, one that we could ally with, say against the Chinese. What scientists are really talking about is organic material, the kind found in any compost - not a reason to spend billions of dollars of public funds.

In short, do not cry for Mars. It is not going away. We can send R2D2 to explore it and still keep a whole pile of dough for important and inspiring exploration missions right here on Earth, starting at the beach nearest you.

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Editor's Note: Amitai Etzioni is professor of international relations and director of the Institute for Communitarian Policy Studies at George Washington University. While space travel still gets a lot of attention, not enough attention has been accorded to a major new expedition to the deepest point in the ocean, some 7 miles deep - the recent journey by James Cameron, on behalf of National Geographic.

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For centuries, people dreamed about leaving Earth and travelling to other worlds. Then, in 1957, the Soviet Union made the first small step into space by launching a small satellite, called Sputnik. The Space Age had begun.

Early space activities were dominated by the United States and the Soviet Union. However, as time went by, Europe and Japan also learned how to build their own satellites and rockets. Today, countries such as China, India, South Korea, Israel and Brazil are developing their own space industries.

During the last 60 years, unmanned probes have been sent towards all of the planets in the Solar System, as well as many satellites, asteroids and comets. Spacecraft have soft-landed on half a dozen worlds, while rovers have driven over the surfaces of the Moon and Mars. The Sun has also been explored in great detail by a fleet of spacecraft.

Many space observatories, such as the Hubble Space Telescope, have been launched to look at the distant Universe. They have sent back some amazing pictures taken in visible light. But they can also observe stars and galaxies at wavelengths that are invisible to human eyes - radio, infrared, ultraviolet, X-rays and gamma rays. The flood of discoveries has changed the way we look at the Universe.

More than 500 people have also flown in space since Yuri Gagarin paved the way in 1961. 20 people have travelled to the Moon and 12 of them have walked on the Moon. Space stations have been built, and astronauts have learned to live and work in space for many months, or even years.

Last modified 26 January 2011

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For centuries, people dreamed about leaving Earth and travelling to other worlds. Then, in 1957, the Soviet Union made the first small step into space by launching a small satellite, called Sputnik. The Space Age had begun. Early space activities were dominated by the United States and the Soviet Union.

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Teachers' #1 Choice for Current, On-Level Nonfiction

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Teachers' #1 Choice for Current, On-Level Nonfiction Over 6 million students read Scholastic News every week! See why so many teachers rely on this exceptional magazine to engage their students, build nonfiction-reading skills, and increase content-area knowledge.

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COOL STEM JOBS, ENGINEERING,…

Ryan Harris is leading a new wave in surfing by creating eco-friendly boards.

ENGINEERING

An automated system could soon be calling balls and strikes at Major League Baseball games.

ENGINEERING

Share an interactive slide deck with your students.

ENGINEERING

Reading Comprehension: Answer multiple-choice and short-answer questions about…

ENGINEERING

Analyzing Data: Compare how well a human eye and a camera track a ball's motion.

COOL STEM JOBS, ENGINEERING

Designing Solutions: Design a miniature surfboard made of recycled materials.

ENGINEERING, COOL STEM JOBS

How Jessica Kilroy uses her rock climbing skills to keep wind turbines spinning

ENGINEERING

Read a short science news article about a material based on gecko feet.

ENGINEERING

Read a short science news article about a student engineering project.

COOL STEM JOBS, ENGINEERING

Carrying Out Investigations: Conduct an investigation with a given procedure about…

ENGINEERING, PHYSICS

This teen is a kite-flying master. Find out how physics helps his kites soar.

EARTH SCIENCE, ENGINEERING,…

Discoveries made by female scientists continue to change the world.

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Engineering activities and videos for kids grades 6-10 | Scholastic Science World Magazine

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Find engineering activities, videos, and games for your science classroom from Scholastic Science World Magazine.

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Scholastic Classroom & News Magazines | Subscribe Now!

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AP

New York City's do-gooders are at it again, this time looking to put a 10-cent fee on each plastic bag that stores normally provide to their customers without charge.

This isn't just another burden on the city's beleaguered small retailers, it's also a terrible idea for public health.

When then-Mayor Mike Bloomberg pushed a similar proposal a few years back, it never even got a hearing. But the new bill already has 19 City Council members signed on as co-sponsors.

And Deputy Mayor Anthony Shorris told WNYC radio this month that the fee is a direction the de Blasio administration is "very supportive of."

I long ago lost count of how many regulations of the past decade have unintended, bad consequences that hit the city's small retailers the hardest.

These beleaguered store owners already face an army of enforcement agents who treat them like a cash cow. The city's bids to promote "the public good" never take into consideration the health of these stores or the neighborhood economies that they support.

Our local army of regulators belongs to what the author Saul Bellow called the Good Intentions Paving Co.

This company's projects are always well-meant, but when they turn out to have undesired costs, tradeoffs and side-effects, the company leaders sincerely believe that none of the blame can possibly attach to them. After all, their intentions were good!

The irony here is that the bag fee poses a direct threat to New Yorkers' health.

The point of the bag tax is to force consumers to substitute reusable bags for the no-longer-free plastic ones.

Problem is, reusable bags play a significant role in food contamination unless they're properly washed on a regular basis - something people rarely do.

In a public-health study done at the University of Arizona, researchers found that only 3 percent of shoppers with multi-use bags said they regularly washed them. The same study found bacteria in 99 percent. Half carried coliform bacteria, and 8 percent carried E. coli - an indicator of fecal contamination.

"I classify them as pretty dirty things, like the bottom of your shoes," said Ryan Sinclair of the Loma Linda University School of Public Health, a co-author of the study.

As the study showed, the reusable bags function as a Petri dish for all kinds of contaminants. Further, three-fourths of their users acknowledged that they don't use separate bags for meats and for vegetables, and about a third said they used the bags for, well, all sorts of things (storing snacks, toting books).

A study by the Centers for Disease Control verified the dangers: "Reusable bags, if not properly washed between uses, create the potential for cross-contamination of foods.

"This potential exists when raw meat products and foods traditionally eaten uncooked (fruits and vegetables) are carried in the same bags, either together or between uses. This risk can be increased by the growth of bacteria in the bags."

What about the environmental benefit? At best, it's smaller than the do-gooders imagine.

It takes less energy to make plastic bags than the canvas ones that the "reusers" usually push - and, in fact, consumers find multiple post-store uses for the plastic, from in-home trash bags to padding in a storage box.

Yes, most wind up in the garbage eventually - but before we restrict them, let's figure out ways to make plastic-bag recycling more efficient - something that the Department of Sanitation has failed to do.

Polls throughout the country find that people overwhelmingly reject bans and regressive taxes. Imagine the results if people knew more about the health threat posed by reusable bags.

Let's shelve the bag fee and search for better ways to aid the environment that don't burden our small businesses and threaten our citizens' health.

Brad Gerstman is a lawyer, lobbyist and co-founder of the New York Association of Grocery Stores.

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The City Council's plan to promote E. coli

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New York City's do-gooders are at it again, this time looking to put a 10-cent fee on each plastic bag that stores normally provide to their customers without charge. This isn't just another burden on the city's beleaguered small retailers, it's also a terrible idea for public health.

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Plastic retail bags - the kind you get from your grocer or at the corner store - are being targeted for bans and taxes in communities around the country, regardless of the unintended consequences. Bans and taxes have a negative impact on working families and seniors on fixed incomes, but they don't help the environment in any meaningful way-in fact they can cause bigger problems.

Banning and taxing recyclable, reusable products doesn't make sense, even in the most well-intentioned scenarios. Keep reading to find out why.

Environment
Plastic bags are the most environmentally friendly option at the checkout. Find out the surprising green truth for yourself.

Recycling
Plastic bag recycling is simple and effective, thanks to thousands of recycling drop-off locations across the country.

Jobs and Economy
Bag bans and taxes make trips to the grocery store more expensive, especially for low- and fixed-income families - with no meaningful impact on the environment to back them up. They also threaten thousands of U.S. manufacturing jobs.

Health
Be mindful with your reusable canvas and non-woven bags. Without frequent washing and appropriate storage, reusable bags can harbor dangerous bacteria.

Reuse
Nearly 90% of Americans reuse plastic bags. What do you do with yours?

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Plastic retail bags - the kind you get from your grocer or at the corner store - are being targeted for bans and taxes in communities around the country, regardless of the unintended consequences.

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Toronto is banning plastic shopping bags in stores.

Starting in January 2013, you'll have to bring your own reusable bag to the store to cart your goods away.

More than 250 million bags end up in landfill every year, never breaking down into compost, according to a report by CBC News.

Plastic bags can also clog drainage systems and, when they are washed out to sea, can hurt fish and other marine animals.

Plastic bags are banned or restricted in about a quarter of the countries in the world, according to online encyclopedia Wikipedia.

Countries including Italy and South Africa have banned plastic bags. Many large cities have also banned them.

Toronto currently charges five cents per bag-for instance, for people who want a plastic bag to carry their groceries home.

The five-cent fee was put in place to discourage people from using the non-environmentally friendly product. Instead, people are encouraged to bring their own reusable bags to stores.

After Ireland put a fee on plastic bags in 2002, 90 per cent fewer bags were used. In 2010 Washington D.C. began charging five cents per plastic bag and that city's consumption of them went down from 22.5 million to three million in the first month.

In Toronto, the plastic bag fee has cut down on the number of plastic bags used by half, according to Metro newspaper.

A ban was not exactly what Toronto mayor Rob Ford had in mind when he brought up the subject at City Council on Wednesday. In fact, he wanted to end the five-cent fee on bags.

However, Councillor David Shiner proposed a very different motion. He suggested Toronto do away with plastic bags altogether.

That motion passed, 24 to 20. Starting on Jan. 1, 2013, retailers in Toronto will not be allowed to give out or sell any plastic shopping bags, including ones that claim to be "compostable or biodegradable."

According to Metro, "Ford appeared upset after the vote, blinking rapidly." Ford said council's decision didn't make any sense, and said he felt the motion will be overturned.

Council also voted to stop the five-cent fee for plastic bags, from July 1 until the ban takes effect. That means stores will be able to hand out plastic bags free in Toronto for six months.

Ford later told a news radio station that he would like to see Torontonians come down to City Hall to protest the ban. He said he thinks the ban is the dumbest thing Toronto council has ever done.

CURRICULUM CONNECTIONS
By Jonathan Tilly

Writing/Discussion Prompt
What do you think should be done about plastic bags. Should they be free of charge, cost 5 cents, or be banned altogether. Make a jot list of reasons to support your answer.

Reading Prompt: Purpose
Use the information in today's article to write a letter to Toronto's City Counsel. OK, now go ahead... and send send it. Let them know what you think!

Primary, Junior, & Intermediate
Identify a variety of purposes for reading and choose reading materials appropriate for those purposes (OME, Reading: 1.2).

Grammar Feature: Verbs
Verbs are action words. Every sentence includes at least one verb. The verbs authors choose help readers understand the text. Underline the "key" verbs in today's story that help you understand it. How do these verbs affect your understanding?

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Mayor Ford is furious that Toronto's city council voted to ban all plastic bags in 2013. Read the facts and form your own opinion! Kids News

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Explore National Geographic. A world leader in geography, cartography and exploration.

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California’s bag ban hurting the job market?

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American Progressive Bag Alliance Chairman Mark Daniels on California’s plastic bag ban and how it impacts the state’s economy.

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The battle between bottled water enthusiasts and tap water die-hards is finding new ground on YouTube, with dueling videos from environmental activists and the International Bottled Water Association.

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The battle between bottled water enthusiasts and tap water die-hards is finding new ground on YouTube, with dueling videos from environmental activists and the International Bottled Water Association.

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Around the world, people throw away roughly four million tons of trash every day-that's enough to fill 350,000 garbage trucks or 10 Empire State Buildings. About 12.8 percent of that waste is plastic, which causes big problems for wildlife: some animals mistake plastic for food, while others can become entangled in the trash.

Don't use face wash or toothpaste with microbeads. These tiny plastic beads go down the drain, eventually making their way to rivers, lakes, and the ocean at a rate of eight trillion a day in the United States. Because these toxic beads look a lot like fish food, it's not uncommon for bigger fish and sea turtles to munch on them-a dish that could be deadly.

Say no to straws! In 2015 a viral video showed an olive ridley sea turtle in obvious discomfort as a team of experts work to dislodge something deep within its nostril. At first, they thought it was a worm. But experts were stunned to see what it really was: a plastic drinking straw.

Instead of packing your sandwich and snacks in plastic bags, use reusable containers or cloth sacks instead. Same goes for your drink: Skip the juice boxes and opt for a refillable water bottle.

Reduce the amount of plastic bags clogging up our trash and oceans by shopping with reusable bags instead.

To eliminate some of the excess packaging piling up in landfills, encourage your family to shop for snacks, cereal, and pasta in the bulk section of your grocery store (if yours doesn't have any bulk items, check out a nearby natural food shop). Then, store it all in reusable glass jars.

Pack an apple, a banana, or an orange. Fruit fills you up in a healthy way, plus there's no need for extra packaging. (Save the core, peels, and rinds for your compost bin.)

Using these tips, keep track of the trash you toss. Every week, try to throw out less and less and see how much you can minimize your waste in a month. Some people have managed to put an entire year's worth of garbage in one jar. Can you beat that?

If your family is like many in the United States, unloading the week's groceries includes hauling a case or two of bottled water into your home. On your way to a soccer game or activity, it's easy to grab a cold one right out of the fridge, right?

But all those plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That's enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.

Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That's about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.

So why don't more people drink water straight from the kitchen faucet? Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them than water out of the tap, but that's not always true. In most places in the United States, local governments make sure water from the faucet is safe. There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may leach into the water.

People love the convenience of bottled water. But maybe if they realized the problems it causes, they would try drinking from a glass at home or carrying water in a refillable steel container instead of plastic.

Plastic bottle recycling can help-instead of going out with the trash, plastic bottles can be turned into items like carpeting or cozy fleece clothing.

Unfortunately, for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. The rest are sent to landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate.

Water is good for you, so keep drinking it. But think about how often you use water bottles, and see if you can make a change.

And yes, you can make a difference. Remember this: Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.readable_text
Around the world, people throw away roughly four million tons of trash every day-that's enough to fill 350,000 garbage trucks or 10 Empire State Buildings. About 12.8 percent of that waste is plastic, which causes big problems for wildlife: some animals mistake plastic for food, while others can become entangled in the trash.

Don't use face wash or toothpaste with microbeads. These tiny plastic beads go down the drain, eventually making their way to rivers, lakes, and the ocean at a rate of eight trillion a day in the United States. Because these toxic beads look a lot like fish food, it's not uncommon for bigger fish and sea turtles to munch on them-a dish that could be deadly.

Say no to straws! In 2015 a viral video showed an olive ridley sea turtle in obvious discomfort as a team of experts work to dislodge something deep within its nostril. At first, they thought it was a worm. But experts were stunned to see what it really was: a plastic drinking straw.

Instead of packing your sandwich and snacks in plastic bags, use reusable containers or cloth sacks instead. Same goes for your drink: Skip the juice boxes and opt for a refillable water bottle.

Reduce the amount of plastic bags clogging up our trash and oceans by shopping with reusable bags instead.

To eliminate some of the excess packaging piling up in landfills, encourage your family to shop for snacks, cereal, and pasta in the bulk section of your grocery store (if yours doesn't have any bulk items, check out a nearby natural food shop). Then, store it all in reusable glass jars.

Pack an apple, a banana, or an orange. Fruit fills you up in a healthy way, plus there's no need for extra packaging. (Save the core, peels, and rinds for your compost bin.)

Using these tips, keep track of the trash you toss. Every week, try to throw out less and less and see how much you can minimize your waste in a month. Some people have managed to put an entire year's worth of garbage in one jar. Can you beat that?

If your family is like many in the United States, unloading the week's groceries includes hauling a case or two of bottled water into your home. On your way to a soccer game or activity, it's easy to grab a cold one right out of the fridge, right?

But all those plastic bottles use a lot of fossil fuels and pollute the environment. In fact, Americans buy more bottled water than any other nation in the world, adding 29 billion water bottles a year to the problem. In order to make all these bottles, manufacturers use 17 million barrels of crude oil. That's enough oil to keep a million cars going for twelve months.

Imagine a water bottle filled a quarter of the way up with oil. That's about how much oil was needed to produce the bottle.

So why don't more people drink water straight from the kitchen faucet? Some people drink bottled water because they think it is better for them than water out of the tap, but that's not always true. In most places in the United States, local governments make sure water from the faucet is safe. There is also growing concern that chemicals in the bottles themselves may leach into the water.

People love the convenience of bottled water. But maybe if they realized the problems it causes, they would try drinking from a glass at home or carrying water in a refillable steel container instead of plastic.

Plastic bottle recycling can help-instead of going out with the trash, plastic bottles can be turned into items like carpeting or cozy fleece clothing.

Unfortunately, for every six water bottles we use, only one makes it to the recycling bin. The rest are sent to landfills. Or, even worse, they end up as trash on the land and in rivers, lakes, and the ocean. Plastic bottles take many hundreds of years to disintegrate.

Water is good for you, so keep drinking it. But think about how often you use water bottles, and see if you can make a change.

And yes, you can make a difference. Remember this: Recycling one plastic bottle can save enough energy to power a 60-watt light bulb for six hours.

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Water is vital for life and is an essential nutrient. Nutrients are substances in food and drink that are utilized by your body in metabolic and/or sustaining functions. Essential nutrients are those that must be consumed regularly, as your body does not produce the amount needed without utilizing external sources in the form of dietary intake. Deprivation of water will kill an individual faster than being deprived of any other nutrient. This important liquid is a vital component of most major body processes.

Lubricant

A primary function of water is to serve as a lubricant. For example, it is found in saliva and is a substantial component in the fluid surrounding joints. Water is also in and surrounding body structures such as the brain, spinal cord and eyes. The water layer helps protect and cushion these vulnerable areas from shock and trauma that could otherwise cause significant damage.

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Body Temperature Regulation

Water is an important agent in body temperature regulation. The human body cannot function unless this is maintained within a certain range. Water helps achieve this in two ways. Since water is slow to change temperature and is efficient at storing heat, the amount of water in the body composition, 60 to 75 percent, is a natural temperature regulator. Another way this nutrient is used by the body for this purpose is through the process of perspiration. As water evaporates from the skin, the body is cooled.

Important for Chemical Reaction

Protein and carbohydrates are two nutrients necessary for healthy body functioning. They provide energy and are vital for growth and development. However, these two substances are useless to the body without water. Water enables a chemical reaction to occur which results in protein and carbohydrates becoming absorbable and usable by the body.

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Transportation

Water is essential in the body's transportation system. Nutrients and other necessary elements must be sent to all parts of the body in order to ensure functioning of every single body process, from respiration to muscle movement to digestion and waste removal. Without water as the movement medium, the body would not function.

How to Stay Hydrated

Because water is vitally necessary for your body to function properly, it's important to stay well-hydrated. The average person should drink around eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day, although this can vary. You may need to drink more fluids if you exercise, are pregnant or are experiencing very warm weather. As a rule of thumb, drink a glass of water or another beverage during meals and between meals. Also, drink water before, during and after a workout.

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Note that all beverages and foods contain some water and will help keep you hydrated. Foods like watermelon, spinach and celery are especially high in water content, providing needed fluids to keep you hydrated. If you aren't thirsty, though, and have pale urine, don't over-hydrate yourself. Drinking too much water can actually be life-threatening.

References

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water in diet university of nebraska extension: water mayoclinic.com: water: how much should you drink every day

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What Is the Purpose of Water & the Function It Provides for the Body?

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It is necessary for us to consume water to support our essential bodily functions. Whether...

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Newsela | Opinion: Turn on the taps! Bottled water industry is bad for the Earth

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Bottled water is a big business that depletes aquifers, harms ecosystems and adds to the garbage disposal problem. Plus, tests show bottled water is no healthier than tap water.

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About this film

The Story of Bottled Water, released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day), employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand-how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows virtually free from the tap. Over five minutes, the film explores the bottled water industry's attacks on tap water and its use of seductive, environmental-themed advertising to cover up the mountains of plastic waste it produces. The film concludes with a call for viewers to make a personal commitment to avoid bottled water and support public investment in clean, available tap water for all.

Share

Movie Resources

Credits

The Story of Bottled Water was co-created and released by The Story of Stuff Project and a coalition of partners, including Corporate Accountability International, Food & Water Watch, Polaris Institute, Pacific Institute and Environmental Working Group. The movie was produced by Free Range Studios.

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The Story of Bottled Water - Story of Stuff

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About this film The Story of Bottled Water, released on March 22, 2010 (World Water Day), employs the Story of Stuff style to tell the story of manufactured demand-how you get Americans to buy more than half a billion bottles of water every week when it already flows virtually free from the tap.

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Extreme Sports Facts

Check out our range of extreme sports facts.

Learn about the summer and winter X Games, different types of extreme sports, the surfaces and environments such as water, land, snow and air, as well as lots more interesting facts and information.

Extreme sports, sometimes called action sports or adventure sports, do not have an exact definition but are generally considered to be activities that are seen as having a high level of potential danger.

Extreme sports often involve high speeds, dangerous heights, the requirement for a high level of specialist technical skill, and highly specialized gear or equipment.

Success in extreme sports usually involves judging panels scoring athletes based on visual and technical criteria and completion of a 'trick'.

Height based extreme sports include Bungee jumping, skydiving, BASE jumping, paragliding and hang gliding.

Water based extreme sports include scuba diving, windsurfing, kitesurfing, wakeboarding surfing, whitewater kayaking and rafting.

Wheel based extreme sports include BMX, skateboarding, mountain biking, inline skating, rally car and motocross.

Winter based extreme sports include skiing, snowboarding, and snowmobile.

Cliff and cave based extreme sports include rock climbing, ice climbing, caving, free diving, mountaineering and cave diving.

The X Games are an annual extreme sports event, organized by the U.S. sports broadcaster ESPN. Participants compete to win gold, silver, and bronze medals along with prize money.

The first Summer X Games were held in 1995 in Newport, Rhode Island. The first Winter X Games were held in 1997 at Mountain Resort, Big Bear Lake, California.

X Games are typically held in the USA. The winter games are held in January or February and the summer games are usually held in August.

X Games have also been held in Asia since 1998 and Europe since 2010.

The X Games competitions often makes heroes of those athletes who are talented and brave enough to pull of a new and exciting 'trick' such as Tony Hawk's 900 in skateboarding, Travis Pastrana's double backflip in freestyle motocross, Heath Frisby's first snowmobile front flip or snowboarder Torstein Horgmo's triple flip.

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Extreme Sports Facts - Information About X Games, Action Sports & More

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Extreme Sports Facts Check out our range of extreme sports facts. Learn about the summer and winter X Games, different types of extreme sports, the surfaces and environments such as water, land, snow and air, as well as lots more interesting facts and information.

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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With Magazines+, you get fresh, high-interest content delivered all year long-in print, online, or both. Every single story, video, and activity is designed to hook your students and keep them engaged. And because Magazines+ complements your curriculum, it's easy to implement during any part of the school day!

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Scholastic Classroom & News Magazines | Subscribe Now!

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Scholastic Magazines+ cover the latest topics to enhance instruction in math, science, reading, social studies, and more! Subscribe Today!

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Do you like the excitement of extreme sports? If so, you might be an 'adrenaline junkie'. Find out more about white-water rafting and parkour in this video.

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/ CBS News

Extreme sports bring excitement, and are starting to draw big bucks.

But are the athletes putting too much on the line?

The daring participants say extreme sports are all about the thrill, the rush of adrenaline they get. They're climbing higher, jumping farther and moving faster, all in the name of personal glory.

Still, when things go wrong, they pay a heavy price.

Humans aren't supposed to fly, but Jeb Corliss comes pretty close.

His extreme exploits have a huge following. One video of him in action alone has gotten almost 9 million views.

Corliss hurt in stunt jump
Uncertainty clouds recovery of skiier Sarah Burke

On Monday, Corliss was seriously injured on Table Mountain in Cape Town, South Africa. Moments after he stepped off a cliff -- a 3,500-foot drop -- he hit the wall, breaking both his legs. He had to be taken by helicopter to a hospital.

Only a day before that, another extreme athlete, ice climber John Roberts, died after a 60-foot fall in Colorado.

And last Tuesday, free-skier Sarah Burke was critically injured during a training run in Utah.

All of these athletes take risks and are at the leading edge of extreme sports -- a one-time bit player on the sports scene that has exploded in recent years, thanks in part to social media and TV coverage.

The extreme athletes known as "Birdmen" even attracted the attention of "60 Minutes" in 2010.

Sponsorships have helped extreme athletes soar to new heights. Corliss has eight sponsors, including camera company GoPro.

GoPro CEO Nick Woodman says what Corliss does is risky, but not nearly as risky as most people would think, because he's so good at it.

Corliss jumped without permission from South African authorities, a jump that not only put him in danger, but his rescuers, as well -- one of the many reasons why big brands tend to shy away.

"A lot of big brands, (and) rightly so, don't want to take that chance. You don't want to see blood spattered all over a logo that you've invested millions and millions of dollars in," says sports marketer Joe Favorito.

But, Favorito adds, athletes who are determined will find a way. "What they're trying to do is offset costs and take it to another level as, quote, a professional athlete," he said. "And people think, when you're associated with sponsors, that makes you a professional. Sometimes, it makes you become a little more risky."

Professional skier and base-jumper JT Holmes knows how dangerous extreme sports can be. He knew Burke, and watched his close friend, Shane McConkey, die after jumping off a 2,000 ft cliff. Holmes was also the subject of the Steve Kroft "60 Minutes" story on "Birdmen," and was a stunt man for the film "Transformers." Holmes insisted on "CBS This Morning" that he engages in extreme sports because they're "just good, clean fun." He admitted he thinks about the possibility the activities could kill him. "Certainly," Holmes said. "Every single jump, every single ski run, you have to be aware of the (possible) consequences and, if you're going to choose to put yourself in these perilous situations, you need to be prepared."

To see the entire interview, click on the video below.

Jeff Glor

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They've become big business, but a death and some injuries have led some to question whether they're worth the money, thrill

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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Choose Your AdventureWelcome to the Outdoors section of Exploration Junkie! Exploration often implies various outdoor activities and sports - on land, in the water, or in the air. And of course, it's also a lot of fun. Develop your outdoor skills now and take your outside experiences to a whole new level!

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In order for us to understand why people enjoy extreme sports, it is vital for you to understand what extreme sports are; the background, why they are called extreme and why they are categorize on the basis of enjoyment styles.

In recent years, the term extreme sports has evolved on grand scale. It can be categorized into three main types: Air, Land and Water. Now you'll start unleashing, how they work and why do people enjoy them.
These extreme sports are often subject of debates based of the fact that how a sport is called extreme. Often popular in younger-than-average crowd (though not mandatory), these sports are not inducted or sanctioned by schools. These sports are practiced mostly on individual level, while in many cases professional coaching can also be acquired.

Now we tell you the secret recipe of their buzz:

Control and physics: The reason why people enjoy these sports are that they are normally played, exercised or practiced in free or uncontrolled environment like base jumping and sky diving. It means while traditional athletes play in controlled environment like fields and gyms. Extreme athletes have to operate and display their skills in free-flowing natural environment. For this reason the aspects and understanding of laws of physics and how to apply and use them are really crucial for success.

Thrill: This is the single most attractive factor in people's interest for extreme sports. The adrenaline rush is what differentiates it from any other type of sports. The thrill that is derived in extreme sports is highest. The athletes are fully exposed and at the mercy of direct danger. The catch is how to maintain composure and apply skills when it is in extreme scenario. Extreme sports are also widely condemned for the same reason. As many don't think it is a game to put one's self in harm's way with full throttle, without understanding the intensity of consequences.

Pushing The Limits: Extreme sports as the name goes is about pushing the limits. The balance and control of regular instincts application is tried in the highest pressure scenario. The response, nerves and the grip over the un-controllable is the main zeal why people who play or watch, enjoy it.

Man against Nature: As we mentioned earlier that they are about natural elements- Air, Water and Land. These games are loved because the natural elements react to human extreme or instincts. The passion of man to overcome the natural barriers is an addiction for these athletes and spectators. Many a time these overtures have dire impacts, but the fear of danger is the prime motivator to excel in its skill.

Some of the mainstream extreme sports are base jumping, bungy jumping, sky diving, gliding, extreme skiing, mountain biking, cliff-diving, scuba diving, wind surfing. No matter what extreme sport you may enjoy know your limits, or you'll be pushed.

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In order for us to understand why people enjoy extreme sports, it is vital for you to understand what extreme sports are; the background, why they are called extreme and why they are categorize on the basis of enjoyment styles. In recent years, the term extreme sports has evolved on grand scale.

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On Wednesday October 18th, eight of the world's best wingsuit jumpers gathered at the edge of Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie, China to participate in the inaugural World Championships of the extreme sport. Originally scheduled to be held on the 13th, the event had to be delayed due to bad weather, a fact that did not seem to bother the contestants who all just wanted to soar in the skies!

Wearing their special 'birdman suits' each competitor leaped off the 1,400 meter (4,600 ft.) ledge one at a time and maneuvered the tricky route that required them to fly around an anchored Red Bull hot-air balloon, then straight down the Tianmen mountain and under a moving tramway cable to the ' finish line'. Their only goal? To fly as fast as they could to earn the coveted title of the World's First Wingsuit Champion.

South Africa's Julian Boulle dominated the day with a speedy descent time of 23.41 seconds. While that was pretty impressive, it was not as good as the 23.01 seconds it took him to complete the same course at the preliminaries that took place on Wednesday October 17th. Close on his heels was Norwegian flyer Espen Fadness with time of 23.55 seconds followed by Britain's James Boole who zipped in at 23.84 seconds.

The third place win was particularly sweet for the British athlete given that the professional skydiver had experienced a severe crash in 2008 when his parachute failed to open during a wingsuit flight over Kamchatka, Russia, resulting in a broken back, cracked rib and a bruised lung. Forced to wear a body brace for three months, he had thought he would never be able to jump again.

Missing from the roster of winners or even finalists was world record holder and the person that is largely responsible for turning wingsuit diving into a mainstream extreme sport - Jeb Corliss, who injured his legs during the qualifying event the previous day and was unable to participate in the Thursday finals.

However, the fearless diver has already performed an even more daring stunt in the same area by flying through a narrow opening on the side of the Tianmen Mountain in 2011 and, there's always next year, when the organizers are promising to come up with an even more thrilling and tougher route - We for one, cannot wait!

Resources: Chinadaily.com, telegraph.co.uk, dailymail.co.uk

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The World's First Wingsuit Champion Is Crowned

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On Wednesday October 18th, eight of the world's best wingsuit jumpers gathered at the edge of Tianmen Mountain in Zhangjiajie, China to participate in the inaugural World Championships of the extreme sport.

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Wingsuit Daredevil Jeb Corliss Completes Another Heart-Stopping ‘Flight’

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Wingsuit Daredevil Jeb Corliss Completes Another Heart-Stopping ‘Flight’ has 559 reviews and 0 ratings. Reviewer supermanbruh wrote: “I like artice, great vocabulary game”

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They do it because they have to. They need the feeling of exertion, that head rush of air and attitude. They want what Warren Shouldice knows is hard to explain unless you flip head over skis, knees over board, and kick snow in the face of danger.

That's what drew Shouldice to freestyle aerials and helped him become a world champion after he had broken his neck and compressed his back. It's what powered the late Sarah Burke to four Winter X Games championships and made her a success in the superpipe, skiing's answer to snowboarding's half-pipe.

"It's almost no fun doing it if there's no risk involved," said Shouldice, a 12-time World Cup medalist in a daredevil game. "The trick is making it a manageable risk."

When Burke died Thursday, nine days after falling during a training run in Park City, Utah, it saddened a nation and a sporting community world-wide. Burke was 29 and happily prepping for her sport's inclusion in the 2014 Sochi Olympics. She had been injured many times before - a broken back, a torn shoulder - but nothing could dampen her love of skiing and the need to push herself to the brink of manageable risk and beyond.

Such is the appeal of many established and extreme sports, both for participants and spectators. The risks and rewards provide the thrills. Alpine skiing, particularly the ultra-fast downhill, has been a major attraction for decades. But the advent of the X Games upped the adrenalin quotient considerably.

The Games were the brainchild of ESPN producer Ron Semiao. In 1993, Semiao was looking for programming to fill the cable channel's fledgling ESPN2. He spotted a series of oddball sports that seemed to have a culture all their own and suggested to his bosses that ESPN create a made-for-TV sporting event. Two years later ESPN launched the first Extreme Games, a week-long competition that featured bungee jumping, mountain biking, skateboarding and street luge. Ratings weren't great and some critics panned the spectacle as "moronic." But ESPN stuck with it and made the games an annual event, later adding a second winter sports program. It also changed the name to X Games.

The popularity of the X Games took off and today they rival the Olympics in some respects. The X Games pull in more than 100,000 spectators and draw a television audience of around 44 million. They have also attracted major sponsors such as Ford, BF Goodrich, Sony and athletes such as Shaun White make up to $8-million annually in sponsorship deals.

The X Games are so popular, ESPN has announced plans to expand from two annual events to six, three summer and three winter. Bids from potential host cities have been flooding in, including one from Whistler B.C., which sees the X Games as a complement to the 2010 Olympics. Meanwhile rival network NBC has started a competing series called Dew Tour with PepsiCo and the Olympics have taken up some X Games sports, including Burke's specialty halfpipe skiing, which will be in the 2014 Games in Sochi.

The X Games "have gone viral," says Lee Berke, who runs consulting firm LHB Sports, Entertainment & Media Inc. in New York. "It's very grassroots in its appeal." Berke added that the X Games have won over major sponsors because the viewing audience is so young, largely 18-34, which means many have yet to form brand loyalties.

But at the root of it all is the question: why? Why do athletes gamble with their lives by doing something so inherently dangerous? Like flying upside down off a 22-foot snow wall or skiing from ridiculous heights?

Asit Rathod has a wonderful life. He's single, active, works at a sales job in Portland, Ore. But as often as he can, he climbs to the top of Mt. Hood and skis off a cliff with a parachute on his back. He's done it many times and is now eyeing bigger verticals - Mount Kilimanjaro and Mount Everest.

Ask him why he does it and Rathod's passion runs wild.

"People always say, 'Why do you feel the need to risk your life?' It's about the power of adventure. In day-to-day life, adventure has been ripped from us in the way we drive, the way we eat. You get to that place where you have to have that adventure," he said. "The risk is always the excitement."

Rathod was a good friend of Shane McConkey, who died in 2009 when he skied off a cliff in Italy and his chute failed to open. Over the past four years, Rathod has lost "six, seven good friends" to extreme-sport accidents yet he has no plans to take up something with a safer track record.

"You remember their spirit. You remember their smile," he said of his fallen comrades. "If anything, it gives you more inspiration to do what you're doing. It's like Nietzsche said, 'The secret to reaping the greatest fruitfulness and the greatest enjoyment from life is to live dangerously.'"

Jacques Rogge, the president of the International Olympic Committee, was saddened by the news of Burke's death but insisted freestyle skiing is no more dangerous than any other winter sport. "There are always risks attached to sport," he stated.

Mitigating those risks is the relentless challenge. The International Ski Federation is presently examining how to equip downhill skiers with air bags to protect them during high-speed spills. FIS has been working with Dainese, the Italian company that makes protection for mountain bikers and motorcyclists. Canadian downhillers Erik Guay and Jan Hudec have been involved in the testing. Three years into the project, FIS is hoping to have a race suit fully ready for the end of this year.

Not so high tech, yet just as important, is the way young athletes are trained for their sport. Alpine Canada is holding a series of speed skills camps to instruct young racers on how to ski safely. At Calgary's Canada Olympic Park, there are plans to expand on an acrobatics room with trampolines and foam pits for budding freestylers. The kids, ages 9 to 14, practise there first before graduating to jumping off a ramp and landing in an air bad. Eventually, after hundreds of practice jumps, they move to the snow and begin in moderation.

"What we're doing is hiring top coaches to train top athletes," said Daniel Lefebvre, COP's director of education/sport development. "You have to build their confidence."

Shouldice, who recovered from both of his bad crashes but is currently sidelined with a concussion, endorses all of that - solid training and coaching. He also believes Burke's death, whole tragic, will not adversely affect freestyle skiing.

"I don't think this is going to change anyone's opinion of freestyle," he said. "Yes, there are risks. There are risks driving to work every day, Look at the number of people in freestyle and this is our first death. A lot of sports can't say that."

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Given the risks involved, where's the appeal in extreme sports?

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They do it because they have to. They need the feeling of exertion, that head rush of air and attitude. They want what Warren Shouldice knows is hard to explain unless you flip head over skis, knees over board, and kick snow in the face of danger.

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Overconfidence and a lack of training and a habit of not wearing safety gear, especially helmets, help cause more than 40,000 head and neck injuries nationally a year in sports like skateboarding.

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I would like to begin by defining “zoo.” It is a park-like area in which live animals are kept in cages or large enclosures for public exhibit. Hold on, large enclosures? More like tiny cages. As zoo funds are cut, cages become smaller wi

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Newsela | Some clever chimps stage escape at Kansas City Zoo

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It took a branch, a wall, and a smart chimpanzee ringleader to cause a "Code Red" at the zoo.

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Learn more about the Association for Zoos and Aquariums’ members, educational programs, and conservation efforts, as well as the kinds of facilities we support.

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Newsela | Instructional Content Platform

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Newsela is an Instructional Content Platform that supercharges reading engagement and learning in every subject.

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8 Ways to Tell a REAL Sanctuary From a Roadside Zoo | PETA Kids

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Roadside zoo or animal sanctuary? This list will explain the difference—so you can figure out if a place is hurting or helping animals.

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This is an archived article and the information in the article may be outdated. Please look at the time stamp on the story to see when it was last updated.

The N.C. Zoo is one of only two state-operated zoos in the country. While more than 60 percent of its operating budget comes from the state, all of its conservation, research and education programs - and even the animals exhibited at the park - are purchased with private funds raised by the North Carolina Zoological Society.

Karen Brown with the Zoo Society says the "Adopt an Animal" program features a list of animals that can be "adopted" for a year.

Those who "adopt" an animal get a certificate, a photo of the animal and a fact sheet about the species.

Funds raised through the program benefit the Zoo's Animal Enrichment Program, which allows the Zoo to pay for additional training for zookeepers as well as purchase treats for the animals.

Some of the most popular animals for "adoption" are the African elephant, the polar bear, the zebra, the giraffe and the chimpanzee.

For more information about "adopting" zoo animals, visit nczoo.com or call the Zoo Society at (336) 879-7250.

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NC Zoo's 'adoption' program benefits animals, zookeeper training

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The N.C. Zoo is one of only two state-operated zoos in the country. While more than 60 percent of its operating budget comes from the state, all of its conservation, research and education programs - and even the animals exhibited at the park - are purchased with private funds raised by the North Carolina Zoological [...]

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/ CBS News

WASHINGTON - The National Zoo has a reputation as a leader in animal care, science and cute photo opportunities such as the naming of Bao Bao the baby panda earlier this month.

But a CBS News investigation has learned that behind the scenes, there are insider allegations of mismanagement involving animal care. Five sources with more than 35 years' combined experience at the National Zoo have raised concerns to CBS News about recent animal injuries, deaths and escapes.

The sources don't want to be identified for fear of retaliation. They say problems began last year when the zoo decided to double the population of the Cheetah Conservation Station, adding a half dozen new species but no extra space. Besides cheetahs, the CCS also houses zebras, gazelles and other species.

CBS News asked animal biologist and ethicist Marc Bekoff to look at the complaints. He was an independent reviewer of a 2005 National Academy of Sciences investigation of the zoo that found "systemic problems at the highest levels."

Of the newly raised issues, Bekoff said: "I call it 'fetch and pray.' You get the animals and then you pray that the project will work out."

The CCS' new animal mix didn't always work out. Issues identified by the zoo sources include two newly acquired hornbill birds that were kept in an indoor shack for seven months because their exhibit yard wasn't ready. Only after a volunteer complained were the birds allowed in an outdoor space. But the wallaby that had to share its yard with these new arrivals became frightened, according to sources, bloodied its nose and spent much of its time frightened and hiding.

One of two new red river hogs quickly became malnourished and died of an infection. The other hog, along with oryxes and sitatungas (two types of antelopes), sometimes became overly aggressive when mixed together, and some were injured in vicious fights.

It's not unusual for animals to spar, but the zoo sources say management failed to predict easily foreseeable conflicts between species and genders, and had ineffective backup plans for separating and protecting the animals when the conflicts arose.

"It's no surprise to me as a field biologist that so many of them do not work out," Bekoff told CBS News. "They're just too hastily put together and they're not well thought through."

Zoo spokeswoman Pamela Baker-Masson says the National Zoo meets the highest industry standards and the animals always receive the best care.

"We take great care in introducing our animals to these various habitats and transitioning them. Ideally, these things wouldn't happen, of course," said Baker-Masson. "I think my colleagues were very well aware and they know these species and they know how to take care of these species. ... Every single animal has a very specific course of action and a plan."

Bekoff says the zoo's plans appear to have been inadequate. "They should only be able to get the animals when it can be shown that they can properly house them and care for them."

Two animals in the CCS, a Dama gazelle and a pregnant kudu (another type of antelope), died when they got spooked on separate occasions and ran into barriers in their confined spaces, breaking their necks.

The gazelle death happened last month after a zebra attacked a veteran zookeeper. The commotion apparently frightened the gazelle, which is on the endangered species list. Zoo sources say it wasn't found for hours. The pregnant kudu died last June. Zoo sources say as the animal lay suffering with a broken neck, workers were unable to quickly locate necessary veterinary records.

Baker-Masson says Dama gazelles and kudus are skittish animals by nature and were housed in adequate spaces that met the requirements of the American Zoological Association, which recently re-accredited the facility.

As for the hornbill birds that were keep indoors for eight months, Baker-Masson says the space was "more than adequate and it gave the staff a very good amount of time to prepare and work with the hornbills" but "ideally they would have [had] access to their outdoor yard space more quickly."

Bekoff calls the lengthy indoor confinement "totally unacceptable."

"There's not one single excuse that I would accept," he said. "Basically this is a form of animal abuse and animal neglect. ...They get an 'F' in this project.'

Zoo sources also expressed concern about two escapes from the CCS: a vulture whose wings were allegedly not properly clipped and a red panda who managed to climb out of its exhibit. Both animals were later recaptured and zoo officials say the failures that allowed the escapes have been fixed.

CBS News has learned that the zoo convened a task force last summer to investigate the internal complaints about animal care at the CCS. The task force made findings last August and Baker-Masson says some of its recommendations are already being implemented.

Zoo officials refused CBS News' repeated requests to release the task force report even though, under public records law, it's considered public material.

As to why the National Zoo is withholding the information, Baker-Masson provided a number of rationales. First, she said that the task force report was still only a draft, four months after it was scheduled to be completed. However, when CBS News asked for the draft, she would not provide that either.

Later, in an interview, Baker-Masson said that the task force report is finished, but that the zoo isn't ready to release it.

"We're more than happy to [release the task force report]," Baker-Masson told CBS News. "But we have to do it in a thorough and process-oriented way that makes sense."

She acknowledged that some of the concerns investigated were founded.

"Absolutely," Baker-Masson said. "Anytime a concern is raised, it's looked at very seriously and we have to examine, you know, what changes are appropriate for that particular species, what changes are appropriate for the staff, what changes are appropriate for the facility itself. So yes, absolutely, some changes have been made."

Another incident the zoo is keeping mum about is the November zebra attack on the zookeeper. Baker-Masson says that AZA standards require that there always be a barrier between a keeper and zebras, which can inflict serious bite wounds. But the zoo says three weeks after the attack, it still has not identified how the zebra got to the keeper and it would not release the incident report or other public information about it. The injured zookeeper was recently released after several weeks in the hospital.

Trending News

Sharyl Attkisson

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Are there animal care problems at National Zoo?

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CBS News WASHINGTON - The National Zoo has a reputation as a leader in animal care, science and cute photo opportunities such as the naming of Bao Bao the baby panda earlier this month. But a CBS News investigation has learned that behind the scenes, there are insider allegations of mismanagement involving animal care.

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Story highlights

A California state legislator is proposing to ban the captivity of killer whales for entertainment at SeaWorld in the wake of CNN's controversial documentary " Blackfish."

"It is time that we embrace that the long-accepted practice of keeping orcas captive for human amusement must end," state Assemblyman Richard Bloom, a Democrat from Santa Monica, said at a press conference Friday at the city's oceanfront pier.

Bloom was joined by "Blackfish" director Gabriela Cowperthwaite, two former SeaWorld orca trainers and an animal welfare activist.

"This is about greed and this is about corporate exploitation, both of the whales and the trainers, but most importantly the whales," said John Hargrove, a former SeaWorld orca trainer who resigned in August 2012.

A Bloom statement described the proposal as "landmark legislation calling for comprehensive improvement to orca protection laws in California."

Currently, there are no laws prohibiting the captive display of orcas, but there are federal laws governing the care, capture and research use of the killer whales, Bloom said.

The documentary, produced by Magnolia Pictures and acquired by CNN Films, recounts the 2010 death of longtime SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau by a killer whale named Tilikum, a 12,000-pound bull, in Orlando, Florida.

SeaWorld also offers orca shows at a third site, in San Antonio, Texas, but the California legislation would apply only to SeaWorld's San Diego facility.

The film challenges the concept of keeping killer whales for entertainment and implies Tilikum had been driven to madness by captivity.

Since then, a fiery controversy has erupted.

SeaWorld strongly disputes the allegations that "Blackfish" makes and called the film grossly one-sided and the product of animal activists.

On Friday, SeaWorld spokeswoman Becca Bides criticized the bill.

"The premise behind this proposed legislation is severely flawed on multiple levels, and its validity is highly questionable under the United States and California Constitutions," Bides said in a statement. "We trust that our leaders who are responsible for voting on this proposal will recognize the clear bias of those behind the bill."

Bides added the participants joining Bloom were well-known "extreme animal rights activists, many of whom regularly campaign against SeaWorld and other accredited marine mammal parks and institutions."

"Included in the group are some of the same activists that partnered with PETA in bringing the meritless claim that animals in human care should be considered slaves under the 13th Amendment of the U.S. Constitution - a clear publicity stunt. This legislation appears to reflect the same sort of out-of-the-mainstream thinking," Bides said in a statement. "We engage in business practices that are responsible, sustainable and reflective of the balanced values all Americans share."

The proposed law would end performance-based entertainment for all killer whales in California, captive breeding programs and the export and import of genetic material, and the import and export of orcas within the state.

Also, the proposal would retire all captive killer whales to sea pens if available and would allow retired orcas to be on display, but not perform. The bill would limit the amount of human interaction for trainer safety, according to Bloom's fact sheet.

"Like the elephant - the largest land mammal in captivity - we have realized that orcas are more complex than most other marine mammals and require more space, have a more complex social structure and most importantly need their family network (pod) for a happy and healthy life," said a fact sheet by Bloom.

Currently, California has 10 captive killer whales, and seven of them were captive-born, according to Bloom.

In the past 50 years, California has lost 14 orcas, 12 of which were caught in the wild, Bloom said.

"After the tragic death of SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau, the public has begun to question the moral justification of keeping orcas in captivity for our general entertainment," Bloom's fact sheet said. "As a state we should lead the way in ending captivity for entertainment purposes and should be ensuring our current captive population general welfare needs are taken care of, and that we end any future captivity whether it be by capture or captive breeding programs here in California."

People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals said the proposed legislation "has the potential to end the deep injustice of exhibitions of captive marine life," said spokesman David W. Perle.

"PETA and kind people around the world have called on SeaWorld to retire these deprived orcas to a seaside sanctuary, but the park continues to defend its overt cruelty," Perle said in a statement.

One animal trainer, Grey Stafford of Arizona's Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium, criticized the proposed law, which he said "collapses under its own weight of inconsistencies, particularly with respect to animal welfare and future breeding."

"We still have a lot to learn about the killer whales," said Stafford, who used to train orcas.

The killer whale shows ensure the animal and its ocean habitat remain in the public consciousness.

"I am more concerned about the welfare of all species," Stafford said. "Out of sight means out of mind."

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California bill would ban orca shows at SeaWorld | CNN

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A California state legislator is proposing to ban the captivity of killer whales for entertainment at SeaWorld in the wake of CNN's controversial documentary " Blackfish." "It is time that we embrace that the long-accepted practice of keeping orcas captive for human amusement must end," state Assemblyman Richard Bloom, a Democrat from Santa Monica, said at a press conference Friday at the city's oceanfront pier.

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Sharks in relation to other Animals causing deaths of humans

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Use this Article for SESSION 12

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Aquariums and marine mammal theme parks like SeaWorld, the Miami Seaquarium, and Canada's Marineland are part of a billion-dollar industry built on the suffering of intelligent social beings who are denied everything that's natural and important to them.

Wild orcas and other dolphins live in large, complex social groups and swim vast distances every day in the open ocean. In captivity, they can only swim in endless circles inside tanks that, to them, are the equivalent of bathtubs and they're denied the opportunity to engage in almost any natural behavior. They are forced to perform meaningless tricks and are often torn away from family members when they're shuffled between parks. Many die far short of their species' natural life expectancy.

Families Torn Apart

Countless marine animals (even the original Shamu) were taken from their rightful ocean homes and placed in tanks. Tilikum, the orca who lashed out and killed SeaWorld trainer Dawn Brancheau and two other people, died in a concrete prison 33 years after he was taken away from his Icelandic family. Lolita, torn away from her family when she was just a baby, has spent half a century in the same tank at the Miami Seaquarium. Some countries continue to capture wild dolphins and whales.

Captivity's Tragic Consequences

Frequently housed with incompatible tankmates, dolphins, whales, and other marine mammals are often drugged in order to manage stress-induced aggressive behavior and relieve the endless monotony of swimming in circles. They break their teeth chewing on the metal bars and concrete sides of their tanks and are forced to perform tricks for tourists in exchange for food-all in the name of entertainment.

While wild female orcas can live to be more than 100 years old, orcas at SeaWorld often die by the time they reach their teens and rarely approach even the average life expectancy of wild orcas. More than 40 orcas have died at SeaWorld from causes such as bacterial infections and fractured skulls. More than 300 other dolphins and whales along with approximately 400 pinnipeds have also died at the parks.

While Marineland can no longer breed whales and dolphins or confine new ones-thanks to Canada's recent ban on their captivity-it's still imprisoning the animals currently languishing there. Dozens of dolphins, whales, and walruses have died there-including a walrus named Apollo who recently suffered a heart attack. An orca named Kiska-who was abducted from her family in the ocean as a baby 40 years ago-is confined in isolation and can do nothing but swim in endless circles inside her cramped tank.

The Trouble With 'Interactive' Programs

Touch tanks as well as "swim with dolphins" and "paint with dolphins" programs allow the public to pet, kiss, paint with, or even ride these animals. Such programs invade their already diminished worlds and are intrusive, stressful, and even dangerous for them, as well as being risky for human participants.

Animals in "petting pools" are frequently exposed to foreign bacteria and other pathogens, and they can become anxious, frustrated, aggressive, and even neurotic as a result of being confined to shallow tanks and exposed to constant interaction with humans. Members of the public have been injured at SeaWorld's dolphin-petting pools.

Even programs that enable people to swim with dolphins in nature can be invasive. Boats and swimmers may chase, harass, and scare them, interfering with their natural feeding, resting, migrating, and playing behavior.

Poor Government Regulations

Captive marine mammals have some federal protections in the U.S., but enforcement is lax. There are simply too many animal exhibitors for the limited number of U.S. Department of Agriculture inspectors-as of February 2020, there were 104 inspectors for 12,851 facilities. Even when exhibitors are cited for violating the federal Animal Welfare Act, they're rarely assessed fines or meaningful penalties.

Keeping Dolphins Free

In nature, orcas work cooperatively in search of food. They share complex relationships in a matrilineal society and-in some populations-rarely leave their mother's pod. They have group-specific food preferences and behavior. These attributes, along with their pods' unique dialects, are considered a form of culture that is unrivaled by any species other than humans.

Other dolphins, too, maintain dynamic relationships within a large social network. They live with up to a few dozen others in a pod and can swim as many as 60 miles each day and dive to depths of nearly 1,500 feet in nature.

The world is moving away from keeping intelligent, sensitive cetaceans in captivity. In the U.S., the National Aquarium is building the dolphins in its care a seaside sanctuary-a safe ocean cove in which captive marine mammals can be released into a protected area of the sea to dive deep, feel the ocean currents, and finally live like they should, all while still receiving care, food, and veterinary support. Two whales have been moved from a marine park in China to a seaside sanctuary in Iceland, and The Whale Sanctuary Project just announced plans for a seaside sanctuary for rescued orcas and belugas in Nova Scotia, Canada.

Governments around the world are also recognizing that dolphins (including orcas) and other cetaceans do not belong in tanks. Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, and Croatia have all banned the practice of keeping cetaceans in captivity. In 2013, India's Ministry of Environment & Forests banned the practice of keeping dolphins captive for public entertainment. Other countries, including Brazil, Luxembourg, Nicaragua, and Norway, have highly restrictive standards that make it nearly impossible to keep cetaceans in captivity. The last dolphinarium in the U.K. closed more than 20 years ago.

What You Can Do

Please don't visit marine parks, and never buy tickets to roadside zoos or aquariums that keep ocean animals in captivity. Encourage your local aquarium to create more space for rehabilitating (and releasing) injured wildlife by refusing to breed more animals.

You can also leaflet at local roadside aquariums or marine parks, pressure officials to avoid subsidizing these facilities with taxpayer money, write letters to the editor of local publications, and support legislation that prohibits the capture or restricts the display of marine mammals.
Please join PETA in urging SeaWorld and other marine parks to stop using animals and to relocate the orcas, bottlenose dolphins, and other animals to seaside sanctuaries, where they can thrive in the enrichment and diversity of the sea while still receiving the care that they require.

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Aquariums and Marine Parks are no safe havens for marine mammals like dolphins and whales. Learn more on how you can help animals and not support these facilities.

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SeaWorld plans to spend upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars to build an expanded killer whale environment and programs to protect the creatures in the wild, the company announced Friday.

This announcement comes two days after SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. released a report showing a significant drop in revenue for the first half of 2014. The company has also come under fire from animal-rights activists who claim the company was mistreating its killer whales.

In addition to the new habitat, SeaWorld is pledging $10 million in matching funds for killer whale research. The company said it is embarking on a multi-million dollar partnership focused on ocean health, the leading concern for all killer whales and marine mammals. The total investment will be hundreds of millions of dollars, officials told NBC 7.

SeaWorld San Diego will be first park to debut the new killer whale environments, named the Blue World project, with a planned total water volume of 10 million gallons, nearly twice as much as the existing facility. The new environment will also provide the world's largest underwater viewing experience for guests.

"Our guests will be able to walk alongside the whales as if they were at the shore, watch them interact at the depths found in the ocean, or a birds-eye view from above," Jim Atchison, chief executive officer and president of SeaWorld Entertainment, Inc., said in Friday's announcement.

PETA Foundation Director of Animal Law Jared Goodman called the announcement "a desperate drop-in-the-bucket move to try to turn back the hands of time."

In a written statement obtained by NBC 7, Goodman said, "It will not save the company. What could save it would be the recognition that it needs not to make larger tanks but to turn the orcas out in seaside sanctuaries so that they can feel and experience the ocean again, hear their families, and one day be reunited with them. A bigger prison is still a prison."

Images: Changes Coming for SeaWorld San Diego's Orca Exhibit

At a special announcement in San Diego, SeaWorld lead veterinarian Dr. Christopher Dold said the park has invited a number of experts to be part of an advisory panel to help design the project.

Plans will include a fast-water current. "A treadmill for killer whales," Dold said. "The whales can swim through this and be exercised and stimulated."

Each animal will react differently but they will all explore it and staffers will monitor their reactions, Dold said.

The announcement comes midway through a challenging year for the major theme park. Officials have launched a new publicity campaign to combat the effects of the documentary "Blackfish," which focuses on claims of whale mistreatment. The park also successfully fought a proposed bill in California that would ban using killer whales as performers.

In June, dozens of riders stranded for hours hundreds of feet off the ground in the park's iconic SkyTower ride. Then, in July, a controversial anti-SeaWorld ad was unveiled in time to greet Comic-Con crowds in San Diego.

City Council President Todd Gloria and other city leaders attended Friday's announcement.

The city has a vested interest in how SeaWorld San Diego conducts business because the 190-acre theme park sits on city-owned property in Mission Bay Park.

The city earns revenue in a number of ways from ticket to alcohol sales - an estimated $14 million a year.

It's also one of the city's largest employers with a staff of 2,500 to 4,500 depending on the season.

"This new habitat enriches the experiences for our visitors to our region expanding on their appreciation for killer whales and all marine life and our environment as a whole ," Gloria said. "I think we can all agree that's an important message and one that's worth investing in.
-NBC San Diego's R. Stickney contributed to this report. Editor's note: An earlier version of this story stated that the new environment will cost upwards of $10 million. SeaWorld says the project will cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

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SeaWorld to Expand Killer Whale Environments

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Sea World plans to spend hundreds of millions to build an expanded killer whale environment and programs to protect the creatures in the wild, the company announced Friday. to build an expanded killer whale environment and programs to protect killer whales in the wild, the company announced Friday

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Mystic Aquarium is Connecticut’s most unique aquarium experience. Learn more about events, programs, experiences, and more or plan your trip to Mystic Aquarium today.