This September a shocking discovery in Hurghada became public. Since the 17th of August 2010 four bottlenose dolphins have been kept in a pool in a private villa in Hurghada. The size of the pool is ridiculously inadequate (9mx9m and 4m deep) for dolphins whose body length is about 3m and it is completely illegal in a country which actually has national standards regulating these facilities! Additionally the water conditions are appalling and first signs of eye damage have already occurred in some of the dolphins. The animals are from Japan, most likely caught at sea in the infamously cruel drive hunts (www.thecovemovie.com), and are proposed for transfer to the Sharm El Sheik dolphinarium (Dolphina Park) as soon as the required quarantine (105 days) is over. We also discovered that 4 more dolphins are expected to be imported from Japan and assigned to a brand new dolphinarium in Makadi Bay %u2013 Hurghada.
There are serious conservation and welfare concerns associated with the capture of dolphins in drive hunts and other live capture operations and their export overseas for display in dolphinaria. These dolphins should never have come to Egypt. Due to a serious lack of regulations, these animals are now doomed to live a life of imprisonment.
Furthermore, the Red Sea Governorate, after being informed about the four dolphins, officially defined its position against holding dolphins in captivity within the borders of its jurisdiction.
Your immediate action is needed. Please sign the petition to tell the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation and the Ministry of State for Environmental Affairs that you firmly object to dolphin captivity.
Dear decision makers,
We, the undersigned, are hereby proclaiming our disapproval of keeping dolphins in captivity within the borders of Egypt. The existence of dolphinaria is detrimental to the welfare of dolphins and causes harm and death to them through capture, transportation, and confinement in captivity. This is true for both wild-captured and captive-born animals.
Our request is based on scientific and factual evidence that keeping dolphins in captivity only benefits humans who profit from them, but has no conservation, educational or scientific value whatsoever.
Governments need to be firmer in their response to these important threats to these animals and prevent dolphinaria from establishing, while also helping to educate the public, many of whom flock to dolphinaria to watch the dolphins cavorting, blissfully unaware of the suffering and death toll that such shows entail.
We hereby respectfully petition you to:
- PREVENT the opening of a new dolphinarium in Makadi Bay (south of Hurghada) which is supposed to open its gates soon.
- DO NOT grant any further permits for the establishment of dolphinaria in the Red Sea Governorate
- PASS required legislation to prohibit commercial captive display of dolphins and other marine mammals in Egypt, as another Party to ACCOBAMS, Croatia, has done.
We will lobby vigorously, for the passing of new laws to make Egypt and especially the Red Sea Governorate free from this heartbreaking, inhumane business.
