The Philippine Online Chronicles

An animal welfare group has urged the government to release the 25 dolphins at Ocean Park in Subic that are being trained as part of the attractions in a marine park in Singapore.

In a petition addressed to the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR), Animal Concerns Research and Education Society of Singapore (ACRES) executive director Louis Ng urged the government to “deny the export” of the dolphins to Resorts World Singapore, and return them back to their habitat in the Solomon Islands.

Ng said that the 27 bottlenose dolphins were caught in the Pacific ocean in 2008 for Resorts World’s new marine show in Singapore. Two of the dolphins died while in Langkawi, Malaysia, and the rest were brought to Subic supposedly for training while construction of the marine park is ongoing.

According to ACRES, various studies have shown that the harvest of dolphins from the Solomon Islands could further endanger the local population.

“Yet, given all this information, the 25 dolphins that are now in the Philippines are still being trained as show animals and kept under tight security at the Ocean Adventure Park in Subic Bay, Philippines,” the group said in its petition.

In its report published this year, ACRES cited studies which indicate that dolphins in captivity suffer extreme mental and physical stress.

“Dolphins travel and swim a distance of 113 kilometers in 10 days, imagine if you were in the dolphin’s situation and your world had shrunk to a square sea pen,” Ng said in a report.

The dolphins don’t do well in sea tanks. In some cases when they are caged, they even commit suicide. They don’t breath and go underwater until they die,” Ng said.

ACRES, together with other environmental groups, launched last November 12 its month-long roadshow dubbed as “Save the World’s Saddest Dolphins” by putting up an exhibit on Bonifacio High Street in Bonifacio Global City. The exhibit will be brought to universities in the coming weekends.