Layoffs Hit SeaWorld

The company that owns the SeaWorld and Busch Gardens theme parks plans to lay off 350 workers around the nation.
     
Officials with SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment said Thursday that the job losses will represent less than 2 percent of the company's total peak work force.

Local officials confirmed that 80 of the affected workers are employed at the facility in Mission Bay. They said they could not comment on which positions will be affected but stressed that the care of the animals at the park would not be affected in any way.
     
The company's theme parks employs about 20,000 workers in Florida, California, Pennsylvania, Texas and Virginia.
     
President Jim Atchison said the layoffs are part of the restructuring from the separation a year ago of the theme park company from its former parent company, Anheuser-Busch InBev.
     
The laid-off workers will be notified over the next two days and will receive severance packages.