Eric Davis, Editor-in-Chief of awesomeocean and host of the Unofficial SeaWorld Podcast, was recently pictured swimming with dolphins at Dolphin Island, a resort marine park in Singapore. While his work in social media is funded and promoted by SeaWorld, Eric appears to support other questionable marine parks as well. Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore, opened their dolphin attraction in September 2013. During the swim-with-dolphins program, small groups can wade on the ledge of the pools and get up close and personal with Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, Discovery Cove style. However, even before its opening, Dolphin Island found itself in the spotlight of controversy. Between 2008-2009, 27 dolphins were captured in the Solomon Islands during a cruel and inhumane dolphin hunt, for import to Singapores newest marine park. The dolphins were then housed at Ocean Adventure Park in Subic Bay, Philippines as the resort constructed their facilities. Ocean Adventure itself, is directly connected to the infamous Taiji drive fishery, claiming on their website that all of their dolphins ...are rescued animals. Some came from the drive fishery in Japan where they were literally hours away from being slaughtered. Two of the 27 dolphins died while being held in the Philippines. Activists tried to put a ban on the transport of the dolphins, claiming that it was a violation of international trade law involving endangered species. While the ban was still pending, 11 of the dolphins were flown out of the country. One of the dolphins died during transport sparking even more controversy. The ban on transport was never full instated and all of the dolphins were transported to their new home. Shortly after its opening, aerial photos of the resort revealed small, algae coated pools. Earlier this year, after only a year of its opening, another of the 24 dolphins passed away. While its poor track record with animals is tragic, this resort is accredited by the Association of Zoos & Aquariums. With all of this information, it seems very strange that a SeaWorld supporter who allegedly cares for the welfare of cetaceans would provide funding for a facility who not only purchases dolphins from cruel drive fisheries, but also has a poor track record when it comes to keeping their animals alive. Something tells me that Mr. Davis didnt do any research on this facility before he payed them his money. If he did do research, he would have uncovered this horrific history.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 03:45:25 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015