BANYUWEDANG BAY, Indonesia (Reuters) – Just a year earlier, Rambo was restricted to a shallow, chlorinated swimming pool in an Indonesian hotel on the island of Bali amusing visitors from around the world by leaping through hoops.
Now, the bottlenose dolphin is swimming freely after being brought to what organisers state is the worlds first permanent rehab centre under a job started by Balis federal government and animal rights groups.
” Its a model. It can be duplicated. And were attempting to do that in Europe too, in Italy and in Crete,” said Ric OBarry, an animal activist and creator of the Dolphin Project, the charity that runs the centre.
With the assistance of Indonesian authorities, activists rescued 4 dolphins last year and brought them to the centre in a bay on the tropical island for treatment.
” Its more difficult for dolphins in captivity than any other animal well see at the zoo,” said OBarry, who was featured in the Oscar-winning documentary “The Cove” about the capture and massacre of dolphins in Japan.
More than 3,000 dolphins are in captivity around the globe as part of a show business that creates approximately $5.5 billion yearly, a 2019 report by World Animal Protection says.
Returning dolphins to the wild depends on their health and capability to capture food and interact with other dolphins.
” Often they switch off the sonar when they are kept in captivity, so thats one of the primary jobs of the team here to prepare them for their life in the wild,” said Femke Den Haas, who runs the rehabilitation centre.
Dolphins utilize sonar to browse in the ocean and also to interact with each other.
For OBarry, 80, who in the past qualified dolphins used in the television series “Flipper” prior to his modification of heart, opening the Bali sanctuary is another step on a goal to end captivity..
” There are numerous activists dealing with this problem now. When I started doing this 50 years back, people believed I was crazy,” said OBarry, who was speaking from Denmark.
Additional reporting by Sarah Mills in LONDON; Writing by Angie Teo and Ed Davies; Editing by Gareth Jones.
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” Its a model. It can be duplicated. And were attempting to do that in Europe as well, in Italy and in Crete,” said Ric OBarry, an animal activist and founder of the Dolphin Project, the charity that runs the centre.
