Back to the Blue
Latest News on Misha and Tom
Misha and Tom have been released - find out how and watch the video here >
1. Please send us your donations to help care for Tom and Misha.
We believe it will take at least six months to prepare them for life in the wild and teach them the skills they need to survive, how to catch their own fish and much more.
To do this, we need your help to raise £150,000 to fund items including:
- An improved sea-pen to replace our temporary enclosure - £30,000
- An expert team to care for the dolphins - £20,000 (for six months)
- Fresh fish for food - £8,100 (One 20kg box = £45. The dolphins currently eat half a box a day. But they'll soon need one box a day, which is 180 boxes over six months!)
- Provision of vet care
- Transport to and from Misha and Tom's sea pen
- Help for the dolphin care team function and more...!
- Misha and Tom in their filthy, crumbling pool
- Their conditions were appalling, and life-threatening
Born Free's Autumn Appeal 2010
In a shabby, 11 x 22-metre pool, two dolphins drift aimlessly around, or bob listlessly up and down. Their flithy, highly-chlorinated water is full of harmful bacteria. The bottom of their pool is dark with decomposing fish and dolphin waste.
Tom and Misha were kept in the small, crumbling pool in the resort town of Hisaronu on the southern coast of Turkey. Fed on frozen fish, they were clearly traumatised and showed signs of deep distress. Yet, oblivious to their suffering, misguided British and Russian tourists paid £50 to swim with the two bottlenose dolphins.
Of course the public didn’t realise the extent of Tom and Misha’s torment. Like all dolphins, they looked permanently happy, due to their toothy ‘smiles’. Their decrepit pool - smaller than a tennis court - was owned by a Russian businessman. Condemned as a health hazard by Turkish health authorities, ‘Dolphin Park’ is surrounded by noisy nightclubs and bars, which blare out music until the small hours.
Five years ago, Tom and Misha aged six were caught from the wild in the Aegean Sea. You can imagine what a dreadful ordeal that must have been for them. For the next five years they were kept at a small dolphinarium in Kas on the Mediterranean coast. Then in June 2010 Tom and Misha arrived at Hisaronu, slung in the back of a fruit and vegetable van. They’d had an arduous four-hour drive across the mountains - how painful and frightening this must have been.
The new Hisaronu ‘holiday attraction’ had no licence to operate, but tourists innocently queued up to swim with the dolphins.
- Our expert team arrive to check on the dolphins
- Born Free's vet John Knight carefully examines Tom
When Tom and Misha’s plight came to Born Free’s attention, I was appalled. This was shocking, sickening, animal exploitation. I feared for their lives. Their health was severely jeopardised by their disgusting conditions. Surely they couldn’t last long.
Losing no time, Born Free sent a team of experts to Turkey. After lengthy discussions, and thanks to the negotiating skills of our Patron, investigative journalist Donal MacIntyre, Born Free’s veterinary consultant John Knight was allowed to examine Tom and Misha. Although concerned about their health, John felt they would be fit enough to cope with a journey to a sea pen, from where a rehabilitation project could be attempted.
This was our dream. To rescue Tom and Misha from their miserable existence and transform their lives. To take them back where they belonged. Back to the wild - Back to the Blue. But time was running out. Tom and Misha’s health couldn’t be guaranteed for very long. Poor water quality is a common cause of ill health and death in dolphins. We had to find a solution without delay.
We had the support of the Turkish government, expert advice from our colleagues at British Divers Marine Life Rescue and our Turkish project partners SAD (Underwater Research Society) plus the help of local group, the Dolphin Angels, who first bought Tom and Misha’s plight to our attention back in June. Together we developed an audacious and daring plan. You can read all about it and the latest news, in the enclosed report.
Tom and Misha need you. Born Free now needs to raise money to give them a new life. We actually need to raise a LOT of money… £150,000 in total. Yes it's a big target, but every £10 will help us. Please send what you can, however large or small. Your gift can make all the difference. Do you think these beautiful dolphins deserve a new life? Do you think Tom and Misha should be returned to the sea? Please read the enclosed report and give what you can. Please send us your donation of any size, AND adopt the dolphins for the duration of their rehabilitation to the wild.
Help online by following the links above or download a form to send your contribution.
Thank you. Very best wishes,
Will Travers
Cheif Executive, Born Free Foundation
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