In addition to nine others sent from Orlando, the dolphins sent to Abu Dhabi include Alice, who was “rescued” in 2007, imprisoned at SeaWorld San Antonio, and forcibly bred in the company’s dolphin-breeding program, in which staff pull female dolphins out of the water—sometimes after drugging them so that they can’t fight back—and shove tubes filled with semen into their uteruses. Alice gave birth to two calves via this forced insemination.
Captive Dolphins - Image from
Ric
O'Barry's DolpinProject.com
PETA has just learned that SeaWorld secretly shipped 24 dolphins—two
of whom were “rescued” and then put on public display—to Abu Dhabi
to be exploited in its new park there. Meanwhile, the public remains
unaware that “rescued” animals could be used as breeding machines,
forced to perform tricks, and shipped to the other side of the
Earth, instead believing that SeaWorld releases all the animals.
In addition to nine others sent from Orlando, the dolphins sent to
Abu Dhabi include Alice, who was “rescued” in 2007, imprisoned at
SeaWorld San Antonio, and forcibly bred in the company’s
dolphin-breeding program, in which staff pull female dolphins out of
the water—sometimes after drugging them so that they can’t fight
back—and shove tubes filled with semen into their uteruses. Alice
gave birth to two calves via this forced insemination.
“If these dolphins are healthy enough to be shipped around the
world, they’re healthy enough to be released to coastal
sanctuaries,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “Only
a sham ‘rescue’ would use a wild dolphin who needed help as a
breeding machine and force her to perform tricks in a concrete pool
a world away, and PETA is urging the public to stay away from
SeaWorld’s abusement parks.”
In nature, dolphins swim up to 60 miles per day in family pods, but
at SeaWorld facilities in the U.S., over 100 of them are confined to
just seven cramped, barren tanks. Dolphins are kept in artificial
social groups, so aggression among them is common. Their
psychological and physiological needs aren’t being met in these
conditions, causing tremendous stress, which can result in painful
ulcers and infections. PETA is pushing SeaWorld to release all the
dolphins in its parks to seaside sanctuaries, where they could dive
to greater depths, swim longer distances, and engage in other types
of natural behavior.
PETA learned about the dolphin transfer through
Ceta-Base, an organization that tracks captive
cetaceans. Ceta-Base reports that the animals were sent to SeaWorld
Abu Dhabi from all three SeaWorld parks as well as SeaWorld’s
Discovery Cove.