Heaven knows they’re miserable now: Morrissey wants Jet2 to end ties with ‘cruel marine parks’

Morrissey wants to meet Jet2 boss
By Linsey McNeill
12/07/2023
Home » Heaven knows they’re miserable now: Morrissey wants Jet2 to end ties with ‘cruel marine parks’

Former Smiths frontman Morrissey has asked to meet Jet2holidays boss Steve Heapy to try to persuade him to end the tour operator’s association with marine parks that include orca and dolphin shows.

Singer-song writer Morrissey is headlining at a Sounds of City gig in Leeds tonight, close to Jet2’s base, and wrote to Steve to say he’d like to meet to discuss the issue.

“Better yet, I hope I can tell my audience that Jet2holidays is no longer associated with cruel marine parks,” he said in the letter.

Urging Steve to stop selling tickets to the Loro Parque zoo in Tenerife where a 17-year-old orca died in March 2021 and a second ocra, aged just two, died weeks later, Morrissey wrote that the mammals belong in the open ocean, not in ‘a cramped, concrete tank’.

He also said that bottlenose dolphins were ‘crammed together at the marine park in a tank that’s’ smaller than the car park’, according to a report in The Guardian.

When Travel Gossip asked Jet2 if Steve had agreed to meet with Morrissey, its spokesperson issued a statement saying: “We are aware of the debate surrounding such venues, and whilst there continues to be high customer demand, we recognise how critical it is that animal welfare standards are adhered to.”

“It is important to note that we are committed to only working with venues that agree to uphold the highest standards.”

Other travel companies, including Thomas Cook, Virgin Holidays and British Airways Holidays have stopped selling tickets to parks that feature entertainment with whales, including Loro Parque, said The Guardian.

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