November 30th, 2001

(*Ric O'Barry joined WSPA member society One Voice as its Marine Mammal Specialist in 2004. )

	Manati Park's dolphins are kept in small isolation pens like this one when they're not performing. © Helene O'Barry

During a Thursday, November 22nd press conference in Barcelona, Spain, WSPA Wildlife Consultant Richard O'Barry* issued a plea to the international travel and tourism industry to cease its support of Manati Park, home to one of the world's most exploitive captive dolphin programs. As the only theme park in the Dominican Republic, Manati Park had been heavily promoted by cruise lines and hotels, which were looking to provide access to "entertainment" venues for their customers. But after learning of the plight of the dolphins, several of these corporations (many of whom are headquartered in Spain) have begun to pull their support of the facility. Your letters are needed to persuade more government and business leaders to discontinue their affiliation with Manati Park.

The sign for Manati Park © Helene O'Barry

In over 40 years working with dolphins, O'Barry has never witnessed dolphins as overworked as those at Manati Park. "Being forced to interact with so many people - and by 'interact' I mean petting and prodding the dolphins, riding their pectoral fins, etc., for hours on end, seven days a week - inevitably exposes the trapped and defenseless marine animals to extreme levels of suffering and stress. And this stress often leads to medical problems and even death."

While it is unclear how many animals have actually died at Manati Park since the first dolphins were brought there in 1996, a former Manati employee did admit to WSPA that four dolphins died suddenly and on the same day at the park last year. The next day, the park quietly brought in four new dolphins to replace the ones they had lost. Unfortunately, Manati Park does not disclose this type information, so getting a clear picture of how and when dolphins move in and out of the facility is difficult. But we do know, according to CITES (Convention on the International Trade in Endangered Species) documents, that eight dolphins were captured from the wild and brought to Manati Park during 1996 and 1999. Only five dolphins remain at Manati today.

	One of the tanks at Manati Park © Helene O'Barry

Public awareness campaigns have caused companies such as Pepsi-Cola, VISA International and Nestle to demand that their logos be removed from all of the park's promotional materials. Likewise, ten European tour operators and two Spanish hotel chains have stopped offering tours to Manati Park to protest the poor living conditions of the dolphins. Despite these successes, the dolphins are still suffering.