Ric O'Barry: 'These Dolphins Are Doomed to a Tragic, Tormented Existence'

Take Part.com: Ric O'Barry: 'These Dolphins Are Doomed to a Tragic, Tormented Existence'
The world’s preeminent marine mammal specialist, Ric O’Barry, is calling for the immediate release of 25 wild dolphins captured two years ago in the waters off the Solomon Islands and sent to live in captivity in the Philippines.

"These dolphins were taken from their families in the wild using barbaric drive fishing techniques, and have been kept in inadequate holding facilities ever since," said O'Barry. "Two have already died, and the rest are doomed to a tragic, tormented existence."

The bottlenose dolphins, known collectively as the 'Sentosa 25,’ are destined for Resorts World Sentosa (RSW), an oceanarium currently under construction and scheduled to open in Sentosa, Singapore, later this year.

O’Barry, who shot to international fame in 2009 as the star of the Academy award-winning documentary The Cove, has been at the front lines of a major international campaign to pressure RWS to release the dolphins.

In a June 23 message posted on his website, SaveJapanDolphins, O’Barry urged activists to telephone individual high-ranking RWS shareholders.

A Change.org petition asking for the immediate release of the dolphins has more than 92,000 signatures.

"Tens of thousand of people, who have taken action on Change.org to free the 25 dolphins being held captive for Resords World Sentosa, are part of the growing movement against tourism that capitalizes on the mistreatment and exploitation of these intelligent marine mammals," says Stephanie Feldstein, Animals Editor for Change.org, which will make a big media push once the petition reaches 100,000 signatures. "By freeing these dolphins, Resorts World Sentosa has the opportunity to become a leader in compassionate tourism."

Even the trafficker who sold the dolphins to RWS, Chris Porter, has reversed his position, saying “RWS is using the animals primarily to make money while telling the public that its aim is to educate the public on marine conservation.”

O’Barry told The Straits Times in May that the hunt that captured the Sentosa 25 “is not that much different than what happens in Taiji.”

As depicted in The Cove, fishermen in Taiji, Japan, lure between 1,500 and 2,000 dolphins into the shallows of the cove and separate out the ones deemed worthy of selling to an aquarium.

The rest are harpooned and slaughtered, their meat sold in supermarkets.

Purchased by RWS in December 2008 and January 2009, nine of the original 27 dolphins were housed in tiny, rusty sea pens in Langkawi, Malaysia. The other 18 were holed up in Ocean Park Adventure in Subic Bay, Philippines.

Tragedy struck in October 2010. Two of the Langkawi females, one aged five and the other aged 10, died from an acute bacterial infection of melioidosis. Experts say the virus can be transmitted through contact with contaminated soil and surface waters. Several months later, the remaining seven were shipped to their current pen in the Philippines.

In the limitless waters of the open ocean, a free, wild dolphin can live up to 50 years. Highly social creatures, it is not uncommon for dolphin pods to swim up to 100 miles per day hunting for food.

A captive dolphin, on the other hand, often circles its tank without purpose.

Even in the largest facilities, caged dolphins have access to less than 1/10,000 of 1% (0.000001) of the space available to them in their natural environment.

According to Animal Concerns and Research Society (ACRES), a Singapore-based charity organization that launched the Save the World’s Saddest Dolphins campaign, non-wild dolphins faces a life of “boredom, stress, claustrophobia, and frustration.”

In conversations with various media outlets, representatives from RWS have maintained that the company is following international guidelines regarding the care of captured marine mammals.

In addition to traditional dolphin shows, RWS’ plans call for an exhibit that allows humans to swim with dolphins as a form of physical therapy.

Lori Marino, a longtime marine mammal researcher at Emory University, told ACRES, “dolphin-assisted therapy is not a valid treatment for any disorder.”

In a June 25 letter to RWS, O’Barry wrote, “there is absolutely no evidence that swim-with-dolphins programs work.”

In spite of RWS’ steadfast refusal to release the animals, there remains a glimmer of hope.

Two years ago, a planned RWS whale shark exhibit was cancelled in part because of public outcry.

O’Barry has offered to personally rehabilitate and release the Sentosa 25 back into the wild.

The question now becomes, when, if ever, will RWS give him that opportunity?