Almost 10,000 people worldwide have signed an online petition calling on the Dubai government to axe plans for a SeaWorld aquatic theme park on animal rights concerns. The US-based company SeaWorld Entertainment announced in May last year it had reached an agreement to "assess the viability of a multi-park development in the Middle East", without identifying who the deal was with or where the potential parks would be located. The company has not commented on the potential deal since, but animals rights activists have protested against the idea in the hope of preventing it from coming to fruition. The most recent petition, on thepetitionsite.com, claims the park, which promotes whale shows as its main feature, is “absolutely barbaric” in the way it treats the orcas in captivity. It says in their natural habitat whales usually swim an average 100 miles (160km) per day, live in Arctic conditions and deep at sea.