SeaWorld Cutting 320 Jobs

(RTTNews) - SeaWorld Entertainment Inc. (SEAS), the US theme park operator that continues to struggle with weak revenues and profit, Tuesday said it would lay off 320 employees as part of a restructuring and cost-cutting strategy.

The layoffs make up about 3 percent of SeaWorld's permanent workforce. This is the second major layoff in two years after about 300 people were eliminated in December 2014.

SeaWorld said people losing their jobs will receive "enhanced severance benefits" and outplacement assistance.

In March, SeaWorld announced that it will put an end to captive breeding of killer whales or Orcas. It will not collect marine mammals from the wild anymore and it will not release the mammals to the wild or to confined sea cages.

The company said the Orcas owned by them can not survive in wild conditions as they will not be able to compete for food and there are chances of exposing to unfamiliar diseases. The mammals currently they have are either born in the parks or have spent almost their entire lives in human care, SeaWorld noted.

SeaWorld's business has come under fire since the critical 2013 documentary 'Blackfish,' which was about Tilikum. The orca had dragged a trainer named Dawn Brancheau under the water to her death in his tank at the Orlando park. He also killed trainer at the now-defunct Sealand of the Pacific in British Columbia and a man trespassing on SeaWorld Orlando's property.

The documentary claims killer whales exhibit increased aggression during captivity. Among other problems, the whales are said to have shorter life spans. The film severely affected the aquatic amusement park's attendance and revenues.