PETA attempts a science-fiction solution to a real-world issue

From Next Media Animation comes this story about PETA filing a lawsuit on behalf of the orcas at Sea World.

Seaworld has long been a family favorite for its spectacular shows. Trained killer whales have been a special draw.

But for members of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, what Seaworld is doing is enslaving killer whales.

PETA lawyers are suing Seaworld. They argue the 13th Amendment does not apply solely to humans.

Instead, they recommend that Seaworld replace real killer whales with robots.

But if human laws apply to whales, shouldn't Tilikum be in jail for killing a trainer?

This is straight out of Larry Niven's Known Space. From the uplifted animal page on TVTropes:

Larry Niven's Known Space stories (e.g. World of Ptavvs) have intelligent dolphins that have learned to speak English. They interact with humans as equals; we manufacture artificial limbs and hands for them to use to enable tool-using.

• Actually, the dolphins were always intelligent. It just took humanity a long time to learn to communicate with them. The first thing they do once we do figure it out is, of course, filing a class-action lawsuit against humanity as a species for our whaling practices, something that they were evidently rather angry about (but unable to file complaint) since the get-go.

We truly are living in science-fiction times.