Ever since the incisive and controversial documentary Blackfish premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2013, marine mammal park operator SeaWorld has been engaged in a careful public relations campaign that goes beyond the company’s longstanding tradition of rescuing, rehabilitating and releasing wildlife. SeaWorld is not about to give up its business model of keeping marine mammals such as killer whales captive for the entertainment of humans, but the company has been expanding its social responsibility by funding nature conservation efforts such as the Ecology Project International in Costa Rica.

 

According to a recent press release on the SeaWorld® & Busch Gardens® Conservation Fund:

 

Fifty-seven wildlife conservation projects around the world are receiving much needed funding from the SeaWorld® & Busch Gardens® Conservation Fund this year. Just over $1 million is being distributed among these projects bringing the amount awarded since the Fund was created in 2003, to more than $11 million.

 

A majority of the grants awarded this year, and every year, are for projects with defined timelines and long-term objectives and goals, but occasionally the Fund receives requests for crisis grants when conservation organizations are faced with unforeseeable challenges.

 

Among the projects benefited by the SeaWorld® & Busch Gardens® Conservation Fund, there is a chimpanzee sanctuary in Sierra Leone, a wild African dog conservation effort in Zimbwawe, and a group from South Africa that specializes in rescuing African penguins affected by oil spills. There’s also this project from Costa Rica:

 

Ecology Project International (EPI):

The Caribbean coast of Costa Rica is the world’s fourth most important nesting beach for critically endangered leatherback sea turtles. Without protection from illegal harvesting and other threats, 80 percent of leatherback sea turtle nests are lost. The Ecology Project International organization will protect leatherback populations by working to reduce the illegal harvest of nests and improving nesting habitats. They also will work with Costa Rican teachers and students to increase their ecological knowledge so they can better understand their role in the long term survival of leatherbacks and conservation in general.

 

EPI describes itself as a non-profit organization dedicated to developing place-based, ecological education partnerships between local experts and high school students to address critical conservation issues. They engage youth from local communities and the United States in conservation as they learn about and help protect threatened species and habitats. Aside from EPI’s work in Costa Rica, this organization also helps to improve ecosystems in the Galapagos, Belize, Mexico, and Yellowstone National Park.