Four dolphins are seeing no end to their suffering, from the desert to disease to dirty waters. We need to get them to a real sanctuary now.
Even before the construction of Dolphinaris Arizona, a swim-with-the-dolphins tourist attraction in the desert near Scottsdale, animal welfare advocates warned that the desert was no place for dolphins. Not only do summer temperatures there often reach triple digits, but dolphins already stressed out from being in captivity would be more susceptible to valley fever, a deadly fungal disease.
These concerns were ignored. Dolphinaris Arizona opened in October 2016 and tragically, by January 2019, four of its eight dolphins had died. The facility announced it was temporarily closing while it was inspected by outside experts. One month later, Dolphinaris Arizona announced that it will permanently end its dolphin exhibition.
This seems like really good news, but unfortunately the four surviving dolphins have been shipped to another controversial location. They will now live in captivity at Coral World Ocean Park's new St. Thomas Sea Sanctuary in the Virgin Islands. This facility "has faced heavy opposition and controversy mainly due to its location being vulnerable to extreme weather and frequent contamination with runoff," according to the nonprofit Dolphin Project.
These dolphins have been through enough, they do not deserve more suffering, sickness and potential death. This is not a solution to the unethical captivity of the dolphins.
Please sign and share this petition asking Coral World Ocean Park to release them to a safer sanctuary.
