ACTIVISTS from Warrington Animal Rights held a protest outside Thomas Cook in the town centre to voice their opposition to the promotion of SeaWorld.

Members of the campaign group including founder Jake Jordan united outside of the travel agent on September 9 as part of PETA's national day of action for captive orcas.

Jordan, 21, from Great Sankey, said: "Since the documentary Blackfish was released SeaWorld has lost 84 per cent of profits and has become a socially unacceptable place to visit as the orcas that are trapped in there belong in the wild where they swim up to 140 miles every single day. 

"These orcas were not put on this planet just to perform tricks and be exploited for human beings."

A second day of action is planned for October 7.  

A spokesman for Thomas Cook said: “We are the first organisation to remove animal excursions from sale as the direct result of auditing against independent welfare standards and we are widely recognised as one of the most progressive businesses on animal welfare in our industry, so it’s surprising that PETA have chosen to target us in this way.

"By the end of 2017, around two-thirds of the animal-related excursions we offer to our customers will have been audited.

"We expect to complete all audits by the end of 2018."