Born Free Foundation - Keep Wildlife in the Wild

Currently assigned to a concrete pool, no larger than a tennis court in Hisaronu, the two bottlenose dolphins, Tom and Misha await their fate.  With the latest news that the Turkish Ministry of Health has issued a Directive stating that no humans are allowed access to the Hisaronu Dolphin pool due to the poor quality of the water, it means the proposed ‘swim with’ venture looks set to fail.

Earlier this year, Born Free was saddened to hear that Turkey had established its 12th known dolphinarium, in the popular mountain resort of Hisaronu.  Two bottlenose dolphins were transported in the back of a refrigerated vegetable truck, for the four-hour journey, from the Kas Dolphinium to the newly constructed pool in Hisaronu.  ‘Dolphin Park’ was established, and like the majority of captive dolphin facilities, its aim was to provide swim-with experiences to tourists and ‘Dolphin Assisted Therapy’ sessions for the disabled.  Although there were reported plans to subject the animals to five swim-with sessions of 10 persons each session per day, one of the main concerns remained the size and location of the pool.

There was a huge public outcry by local Turkish and ex-pat residents, a Facebook campaign to free the dolphins (now over 18,000 members), a boycott by numerous mainstream tour operators (including Thomas Cook and TUI UK), and campaigning by Born Free, along with other NGOs* and The Sun newspaper, all aimed at closing the facility and, if feasible, returning the dolphins to the wild from where they were caught in 2006.

A dedicated team of campaigners in Turkey is liaising with the Dolphin Park and its investors in an effort to see the dolphins rehabilitated and they are also pursuing this course of action at Government level.  Born Free Foundation is lending support where it can and should a rehabilitation and release programme be possible, is on hand to help.

Support from the travel industry to encourage the Turkish Government to ensure the rehabilitation of the dolphins would be welcomed.  The facility is totally inadequate for dolphins, a situation reflected by the existing boycott from tour companies and NGOs alike..

Find out how you can help, contact Daniel Turner at daniel@bornfree.org.uk

*Non Governmental Organisations

Related news items -
Owner remains confident of success as dolphins arrive in Hisarönü, Ölüdeniz: http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/n.php?n=owner-remains-confident-of-success-as-dolphins-arrive-in-hisaronu-oludeniz-2010-06-10

Scandal of dolphins in tiny pool: http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/3020424/Scandal-of-dolphins-captive-in-tiny-pool.html

Silent march against the Hisarönü dolphin attraction: http://www.fethiyetimes.com/news/44-news/6234-silent-march-against-hisaroenue-dolphin-attraction-is-hailed-a-success.html

Facebook campaign: www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=358308272654&v=wall&viewas=0