SeaWorld San Diego hosts final One Ocean orca show on Sunday

SeaWorld San Diego will put on a final orca performance on Sunday, after criticism of the shows as they stand.

A new presentation is set to be introduced, bosses say, which will feature the natural behaviour of killer whales and focus on conservation.

The One Ocean show, which has been running since the 1960s under a variety of names, has been condemned by animal rights activists.

They say killer whales should not be kept in captivity.

Trainer Dawn Brancheau was killed during a SeaWorld show

Their argument was brought to global attention with the 2013 documentary Blackfish, which told the story of Tillikum, an orca involved in the deaths of three people.

Tillikum died earlier this week at the estimated age of 36.

After the film was released, attendances at SeaWorld fell, as did the company's share price.

The director of the documentary, Gabriela Cowperthwaite, told CBS the new educational show was designed to make people feel better, rather than the animals.

"The trainers aren't safe, and the whales aren't happy," she said.

"They're still just doing manic circles around concrete swimming pools."

SeaWorld say trainers will still give cues to the orcas.

"You will still see a whale leaping out of the water," Al Garver, a former orca trainer and vice president of zoological operations at the park, told the San Diego Union-Tribune.

"We want to be able to demonstrate behaviours people would see in the wild with the killer whales and their abilities as a top predator in the sea.

"The vast majority of behaviours people have seen in our shows will be very suitable for demonstrating that."

Last year, SeaWorld promised to stop breeding killer whales in captivity.

It followed a vote by the California Coastal Commission to ban the company from continuing to breed the marine mammals in the state.

SeaWorld said Monday will see a new educational orca program at its San Diego park, with seating set up around the killer whale underwater viewing area for visitors to watch a presentation on the animals.

Orca Encounter, a bigger educational programme, will launch in San Diego later in 2017.

"SeaWorld Orlando and SeaWorld San Antonio will follow by 2019," the company added.

Activists have said park bosses should order the release of the 20 orcas it currently keeps at the three sites.

But SeaWorld say orcas born or raised in captivity would likely to die in the wild.

SeaWorld Entertainment Inc announced last month that it was cutting 320 jobs across its 12-park company.

Bosses also announced its first SeaWorld park without orcas would be developed in Abu Dhabi.

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