Ligue des Familles : un concours pour aller voir les dauphins de Bruges !
La prison aquatique de Bruges. Plus de 20 dauphins sont morts sous ce dôme.
Le Ligueur lance aujourd’hui un concours qui permettra à des familles de 4 personnes d’aller voir d’autres familles psychiquement détruites au delphinarium de Bruges.
Le Ligueur est le journal de la Ligue des Familles, une honorable organisation belge qui « défend des propositions politiques de soutien à la parentalité, encourage des solidarités collectives entre citoyenparents et permet des échanges d’expériences individuelles de parents ». Nul doute qu’elle ne s’applique à cette mission avec zèle et efficacité.
Roxanne et Bruce, mort au bout de 4 jours
La delphine Roxanne et son bébé seront certainement les vedettes de cette belle visite offerte par Le Ligueur.
Quel spectacle émouvant ! Quelle tendre maman ! Quel mignon delphineau !
Mais sait-on que Roxanne fut arachée à sa famille dans le Golfe du Mexique en 1988, qu’elle a vu ses frères mourir l’un après l’autre après la capture et que d’innombrables grossesses lui ont été imposées, années après années, car « quand un dauphin naît, cela veut dire que les dauphins sont heureux » mais surtout qu’ils font grimper le chiffre d’affaires.
Heureuse ?
Roxanne a aussi vu mourir Flo, sa fille bien-aimée décédée à 13 ans en 2010. Elle a vu partir à jamais ses enfants Gorki, Luna et Marco, expédiés vers d’autres prisons aquatiques. Elle a perdu Iggy, Simo, puis ses jumeaux en 2011 et enfin Bruce, mort à l’âge de 3 jours en 2012.
Quant au bébé qui vient de naître, s’il survit, il finira à son tour par être expédié à jamais loin de sa mère. Chez les dauphins libres comme chez nous, les contacts familiaux persistent toute la vie et les mères font le deuil de leur enfant mort…
NOTE 3 juin 2014 : le petit dauphin est mort au bout d’une semaine.
Yotta : une fausse couche a failli la tuer. A-t-elle eu d’autres bébés morts depuis, que l’on nous aurait caché ?
Comment la Ligue des Familles peut-elle encourager un tel spectacle ? Des dauphins blêmes, malades, drogués, souvent inséminés et maintenus toute leur vie sous un dôme dans une piscine chlorée d’où l’on ne voit le soleil qu’à travers des vitres ?
Comment peut-elle encourager une industrie esclavagiste qui désinforme systématiquement les enfants sur la vraie nature des dauphins et leur fait croire qu’ils sont de gentils toutous saluant de la nageoire ?
Une organisation aussi soucieuse de parentalité devrait proposer au contraire les voyages éco-responsables, où des familles humaines pourraient s’émerveiller du bonheur d’autres familles cétacées, nageant libres et joyeuses dans un océan sans limite.
Les opérateurs de whale-watching respectueux, animés par des scientfiques, ne manquent pourtant pas en Europe, tout près de chez nous. Voilà un beau cadeau de concours que la Ligue aurait pu offrir !
Grands dauphins à Cherbourg. Photo Florent GECC
Les dauphins sont des êtres sensibles et supérieurement intelligents. Ils aiment leurs enfants autant que nous et leurs liens familiaux sont d’une intensité extrême.
Merci à la Ligue de respecter cela à l’avenir !
A Bruges, 4 dauphins sur 4 ont été capturés en mer.
Site du concours :
https://www.laligue.be/leligueur/concours/concours-236-gagnez-un-de-nos-6-packs-famille-pour-le-boudewijn-seapark
Dix bonnes raisons de ne pas aller dans un delphinarium :
Les dauphins ne jouentpas au ballon !
http://www.dhnet.be/actu/belgique/les-dauphins-ne-jouent-pas-au-ballon-53af89bf3570c0e74345931d
Beachie à Bruges, malade des bronches à cause du chlore
Beachie in Bruges : just an “old” and sick dolphin ?
An article of the Flemish newspaper Het Nieuwsblad tells us that Beachie, the 31-year-old male dolphin at the Boudewijn Seapark in Bruges, had to undergo a CT-scan in October.
The medical exam took place at the Causus Clinic in Oudenburg. It seems the vet in charge, Piet De Laender, wanted to find out more about the age-related diseases amongst dolphins.
For some time now, the trainers had noticed that Beachie was behaving differently. They contacted Piet De Laender (Assebroek), a veterinarian specialized in exotic pets in who regularly checks on the inmates of the dolphinarium. The dolphin was sleeping half of the time and was no longer able to perform jumps during the shows.
“Beachie is already 30”, says insidiously De Laender, “and he suffers from age-related diseases”, implying that the death of this “old” dolphin could be a predictable and normal thing. He adds : “But he is not the oldest resident of the dolphinarium”. “Puck is already 47. I wanted to carry out these tests to detect the diseases that could be associated with Beachie’s age.”
Beachie scan
Piet de Laender has asked the University of Ghent to do a scan. But Beachie, who has become obese because of captivity, was too heavy to move. “That’s why I had to find an alternative solution”, explains the vet. “Finally I found a closer solution, at the Causus Clinic in Oudenburg. The doctor Koen Vandendriessche has warmly welcomed us. The CT-scan went very well.”
According to the vet, Beachie is also the 1st dolphin that has ever experienced this type of exam. He’s now waiting for the images before making a judgment about the health of his patient. As far as we can see on above video, CT Scan mainly focused on lunges and respiratory system.
De Laender doesn’t mention this point. “We have been able to lift him out of the water using a sort of elevator”. “The dolphin has been wrapped during the transport to avoid injuries and the trainers have kept his skin constantly moist. For a long-distance transport, dolphins are often kept one or two days out of the water.”
Waching with attention images of the video, it seems Beachie is completley stonned. He seems under tanquillizer. Not a move, not a thrill. But he is awake.
“The success of this operation and this transport will be a model in the future to conduct health exams for all the dolphins”, concludes the vet, delighted. As for Beachie, he regained his pool and joined again the 5 other dolphins of the Boudewijn Seapark.
This is, anyway, the well-oiled official discourse of Captivity Industry. It is clearly about transmitting to the public quite a few solid untruths. Starting with the classical staging of good vets and wonderful trainers, who are so concerned about the health of their protégé, Beachie. Just another old dolphin near to death.
Beachie was born in the Gulf of Mexico around 1982. He beached and was “saved” by SeaWorld in April 1984, but he was never put back to sea. After staying in Orlando, he was deported to the Harderwijk dolphinarium in 1997 and then shipped towards Belgium on the 18th of September 2009, at the Boudewijn Seapark. His “mission” was to replace the previous reproductive male, Tex, who died tragically at the Marineland (Antibes – France), because of the EEP Programs.
Beachie’s health was excellent until he arrived in Bruges. And Beachie was also a great stallion. In SeaWorld and in Harderwijk, he had given birth to Marbel, Sal’ka, T’lisala, Amtan, Palawas, Spetter and Kite, his last viable child, in 2005. Once he was moved to Bruges, he became the dad of only one stillborn child, removed from Yotta’s uterus in 2010, of stillborn twins from “old” Roxanne in 2011, and of one other child of Roxanne, a little boy who died 4 days after his birth in 2012.
Roxanne baby. 4 days.
These deaths occurred in one of the 5 contiguous pools of Bruges, where you can hear, see and feel everything. And it is not funny to watch the agony of kids or teenagers, like poor Flo for example on the 6th of January 2012, who died alone one night of a strange tooth infection, an infection that seems to affect also Morgan and a lot of captive cetaceans…
Since his transfer from Harderwijk to Bruges, Beachie was feeling lonely and sad. It was a shock for him. He suddenly found himself in a small, limited and dark environment. He was living in a sea pen under the sun and the wind in the Netherlands with several other males, and the poor Beachie had to learn new tricks, new ways to obey and to survive alone, isolated, along with aggressive dominant females and fearful juveniles, under the sinister dome of the Boudewijn Seapark.
The air he was breathing was not the same either: the sea wind blowing on Harderwijk was replaced by a chlorine-loaded atmosphere, that takes you by the throat as soon as you enter the dark dome of the dolphinarium. Bad for your lungs when you are not used to it.
Beachie world
The trainers all think he is a little crazy. He is difficult and only does what he wants. He is even called “the Mongolian”, because of his strange look, right in the orbits. Until recently, Beachie was receiving before each show up to 10 pills of Ciprofloxacin. Ten pills before the show, then 5 pills after and 5 more pills again for the second show. That is 20 doses of antibiotics a day.
Ciprofloxacin (INN) is a fluoroquinolone antibiotic (second generation). Its spectrum of activity covers most of the pathogenic bacteria responsible for respiratory, urinary, gastrointestinal and stomach infections. In this case, the lungs seem to be the cause of the problem: Beachie’s breathing had been erratic and difficult for several months.
Beachie: old ? At 31 years old ?
In the wild, dolphins do not need any vet, pills or food additives. Their life is more dangerous: sharks, pollution, drifting nets…
However, according to NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), the average age for wild dolphins is between 40 and 45 for males and more than 50 for females. It’s an average, because, in Sarasota’s bay, Nicklo has celebrated his 63rd birthday in 2013, and BlackDipDoubleDip his 60th.
The fact that Puck is 47 is only exceptional because captive dolphins rarely reach that age. In Bruges, most of them died before 20.
We’ll remember that, the same way, the death of Iris (aged 34) at the Duisburg Zoo had been explained by Dr Manuel Hartmann as a result of her “old age”. Iris had been living for almost 12 years in the wild before being plunged into the hell of the Antwerp Zoo for more than 18 years, alongside with her son Ivo.
The Antwerp dolphinarium was closed in 1999, under the pressure of various associations, including Dolphin Project, and the two survivors were sent to Germany. The decline and the death of Iris in 2003 were atrocious but ignored and wrongly attributed by the dolphinarium and by a certain press to leukemia due to age.
Iris in Antwerp. Already sick. 31 y.o
What they forgot to mention is that several factors drastically reduce the quality of life and the life even of the captives. They know it. But the show must go on. The federal commission for the welfare of the dolphins in Bruges, which has been now working for 3 years, will probably not say anything else when its findings will be made public and approved by the State.
Beachie’s death will not change anything. He will be replaced, like he himself replaced Tex. Others will die again, others will be deported. Children will be taken away from their mothers, separated from them forever. A terrible pain, as dolphins are tied together with an intensity that we cannot even conceive. They suffer from boredom, and of course from the lack of space and occupations, but their body also suffers from the inadequate environment in which they are forced to live: frozen food, food additives, hydrating gels, meds, drugs, vitamins… Chemically salted water enriched with all sorts of substances and filtered by pumps day and night. At last, they suffer also from a nagging hunger that makes them obey and repeat 1000 times the same silly tricks in front of a misinformed public.
Beachie will perform Christmas show 2013 when sick
As the head of the “Planète Vie” association, Dr Yvan Beck, veterinarian and co-author, with Y.Godefroid and Gauthier Chapelle, of the book « Freedom for dolphins ! » (to be re-edited) :
“Beachie is only 30. And whatever the leaders of Bruges say, he is a young adult, as wild dolphins in natural conditions reach 50 years. So how can you explain that dolphins protected from their predators and from the pollution systematically die (with rare exceptions) before the age of 30 ? And, if Beachie is a “very” old dolphin… this is only true for captive dolphins…”
Beachie sky
Who cares?
The Boudewijn Seapark is a business indispensable to employment in the region. It benefits also from political supports. The whole case is tricky. Bruges is a Flemish town, and Christian, while Ms Laurette Onkelinx, the Minister in charge, is French speaking and socialist. So the leaders of the park seem to still have a bright future ahead of them, at least as long as this ultra-capitalist logic will prevail.
6th of November 2013: one anonymous person who just talked with someone at the dolphinarium has declared that Beachie was still sick but still had to take part to the shows, under very strong medication. If everything goes according to plan, he should also be joining the big Christmas show. And, according to another trainer in Bruges: “Anyway we still have enough dolphins”.
La vie de Beachie, reproducteur
Il faut fermer le delphinarium de Bruges
One of the things that Beachie had the greatest difficult to « learn » in Bruges when he arrived of Harderwijk (and before that of SeaWorld, and before that of the sea) it is to stand « at the foot » his trainer, stationary, while the other performed and were receiving fish for their work. A technique of training specific to the Boudewijn Seapark which lack of space and must manage 6 dolphins in front in a single basin during the show. See the Dolphin on the right, open mouth, begging: hunger is a constant in all the dolphinariums.
(YG/Annelies Mullens)
French article translated by Christelle Bornauw
La vie de Beachie, reproducteur
The life of Beachie, Bruges’ dolphin breeder
November 2013 : Beachie’s dying ?
1. The life of free young males
A pod of dolphins is having fun while racing with a boat in the Gulf of Florida.
These dolphins are Tursiops truncatus with large fins, or Atlantic Bottlenose, perfectly adapted to coastal life, shallow waters and warm climate. And this is also the reason why our European dolphinaria likes them so much : they are incredibly resilient and able to survive in absurdly small pools disinfected with chlorine.
Here, we see a Trio. An alliance at the first degree, a gang of 3 happy friends who are swimming kilometers and kilometers every day to seduce pretty females of the neighborood. They will stick together for a while, sometimes for their whole life.
Watch the video. First, one dolphin is taking the initiative and jumps out of the water in a very powerful and harmonious way. Quickly, his friends will join him and challenge him : « I bet we can catch up with that boat there ! ». Their jumps are full of joy, innocence, friendship and laughter.
« The relationship between these “male alliance partners” — bromances, if you will — could last decades or even a lifetime: the friends will spend almost 100 percent of their time together and will often surface side by side in synchronicity. Most of the dolphins leaping and rolling and showing off in front of the boat were playful males, about 9 to 10 years old, just about the age of sexual maturity. Their play, which sometimes includes sex with each other, helps them determine who they’ll choose to be their useful, dependable ally for the next few decades. “It’s a big decision on their part,” Gibson said. “They want to make sure they choose wisely.” UNF’s researchers have identified 14 alliances among male dolphins in the St. Johns. Twelve are pairs, one is a trio, the other is a quartet: Osceola, Choctaw, Timucuan and Geronimo, who are almost always together. A few more alliances could be forming among the youngsters who played around the UNF boat (…) .
Different types of alliances are created amongst the males as they compete to attract the females. These alliances are not confined to one given territory, as it is the case with other social mammals, but, at the contrary, they move over large areas that overlap ».
University of Florida research
2 or 3 dolphins will form a first alliance, very strong over the long term.
These pairs or trios will in turn form a second alliance with other similar groups of 2 or 3 males within a larger group of 4 to 14 individuals, who have no family bounds between them.
This second level group will cooperate to defend its own females or to attack other groups and steal their women. Such alliances can last more than 15 years.
Finally, this « super-group » will be able to form a coalition of several groups of the same type, always to face their rivals organised like them. So we will have an alliance « A » combined with an alliance « B » to attack an alliance « C » on certain occasions, but that will be able to ally also to C to attack an alliance « D » at another moment. And then, it really becomes very complicated. (Richard Connor)
Florida dolphins also have a « fission-fusion » social structure, characterised by temporary associations, lasting a few minutes to several hours. These models of flexible grouping, in which dolphins are constantly associating differently, imply that they must be able to find each other, when they are separated by long distances. However, these distances must be within reach of communications – they must still be able to communicate.The decision of a dolphin to join or leave a group is linked to various social considerations, such as the class of the individuals in the group (mothers with their babies, single adult females, adult males and young ones). Every dolphin evolves in different social environments.
The decision is also influenced by the ecological characteristics of their habitat. For example, mothers with children prefer to reside regularly in deep waters. They develop relationships with other females in the same situation and associate with them. The same mothers, when they come to swim in shallow waters, will meet young males with whom they will have little contact.
2. The life of a captive young male
Beachie as a merchandise at Bruges dolphinarium
In Bruges, Beachie is sleeping on the bottom of the pool. He’s not healthy. He feels alone.
Born free in 1982, « saved » from a stranding in April 1984, he was sent to SeaWorld Orlando on the 27th of April 1984. He left this place on the 8th of June 1997 to be deported to the Harderwijk Dolphinarium, in the Netherlands.
On the 18th of September 2009, he was finally sent to Bruges. Beachie had been a good stallion before the Boudewijn Seapark. In SeaWorld and Harderwijk, he gave birth to Marble (1997), Sal’ka (1998), T’lisala (2001), Amtan (2001), Palawas (2004), Spetter (2005) and Kite (2005). But once in Belgium, he only gave a stillborn child to the young Yotta in 2010, twins (also stillborn) to the older Roxanne in 2011, and another baby who died after 4 days to Roxanne again. His largely degraded life environment probably explains these events.
Roxanne and her baby, who died after 4 days
So, in 2009, Beachie was brought to the Boudewijn Seapark in Bruges, in the context of an international breeding program (EEP – European Endangered Species Program). Please note that these programs are supposed to ensure the safeguard of an endangered species « ex situ », like for example the golden lion tamarins, the love panthers, the Sumatran elephants, or the okapis, not to mention local but less spectacular endangered species.
According to the IUCN, Tursiops truncatus is not a highly endangered species. Tursiops are never rehabilitated by the dolphinaria. So dolphinaria do betray the spirit of these European programs. Inadequate education and unnecessary researches couldn’t legally justify the breeding of captive dolphins, since they do not contribute at all to the conservation of the species.
Only females and young dolphins had lived in Bruges since Tex died. That made the arrival of a male necessary for this breeding program for what we can call « circus animals ». Note that neither Beachie nor the residents of the Flemish aquatic circus had chosen to meet. The group would have to, once again, be reshaped by the hand of man.
Beachie
One week before Beachie arrived, expert trainers of the Boudewijn Seapark went to Harderwijk to see how Beachie was working, what tricks he could be asked and how he had been prepared to take part to the medical tests. In the morning of the 19th of September 2009, the dolphin was moved to Bruges in the company of 5 employees of Harderwijk and his new masters. Beachie was carried in a hammock, suspended in a box. He arrived in Bruges in the afternoon, to be immediately put in a tank behind the dolphinarium. For the entire first week after his moving, a trainer from Harderwijk stayed in Bruges to help with Beachie’s integration within the group and to advise the team of Bruges.
The residents. Flo died in 2010, at 13 y.0
Photo Adriaan van Rijswijk
For the first 4 days, Beachie stayed in the tank at the bottom, separated from the group by a simple net. This enabled him to hear and see his new cellmates. Then the male was introduced to the 5 residents. At first, he came into contact with Roxanne, one of the three adult females, while the others stayed separated from him in the pool used for the show.
Photo Hurricane Warrior
Today, Beachie is getting along with the senior females (the « high-ranking » females), Roxanne, Yotta and Puck. Young Indy and Ocean – 10 years already ! – are afraid of him. The dominance in a tank is complete, as there is no means of escape, and no possibility to create alliances.Compared to what Beachie has known in his open-air lagoon in Harderwijk, the tank in Bruges is not very big. It is 3-6 meters deep and 40 meters long. On the right and on the left of the tank, there are 2 isolation pens. And behind the scene, there is another pool, larger, but 4 meters deep. This pool was originally intended to sea lions. They go back there during the winter. During the summer, they stay at the « Sea lions Theater ».
Beachie isolated in the back basin.
Photo Adriaan van Rijswijk
Beachie also had to learn to obey a different way.
In Harderwijk, all the dolphins were getting the attention of the trainers at the same time. In Bruges, they must remain calm in front of the trainer until they receive, one at a time, instructions. For Beachie, at the start, it was hard to wait his turn. He was often jumping out of the water, very excited, and had trouble staying calm. He’s been tamed.For the show, he has been asked first to show all the tricks he had learnt in Harderwijk. Then, he has learnt to throw balls at children and to do somersaults. This training had already begun in Harderwijk, but it couldn’t be completed there. One wonders what he has learnt in SeaWorld, during all that time after his « rescue »…
Beachie’s training
Photo Adriaan van Rijswijk
For Beachie, many things have changed. He has long lived in the Dolfijndomijn, in Harderwijk, among a group of other males. They had not chosen to be together either, but at least they were all males. At the Boudewijn Seapark, our stallion is now sharing a really small space with 3 young dolphins – including a skinny male – and 2 females older than him. In addition, Beachie no longer has the possibility to go out in the open air, or to feel the sun on his skin, in a sea where fish can survive. The dolphinarium in Bruges is completely covered by a dome. Its waters are entirely artificial.
Beachie is not healthy. Like so many captive dolphins, he sleeps on the bottom of his basin during hours. He is so alone ! No alliances, no friends, no travels. Nothing to do, nowhere to go. Just shows and sleep, sleep and shows.
That’s not a male dolphin life.
Is it even necessary to conclude ? Is the simple detail of these two life styles not enough to condemn a business that should no longer exist in Europe or anywhere in the world : exhibition of captive dolphins ?
Beachie alone
Photo Adriaan van Rijswijk
To know more :
Thanks to Christelle Bornauw Waiengnier for the translation.
– Information about Beachie’s was taken from an interview of the chief trainer of Bruges, Sander van der Heul, published on a now securised (after my first visit !) professional website ruled by Harderwijk Dolphinarium.
– Please note the swimming Trio shown on the top of this page are part of the family of the 2 golden geese of the Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Winter and Hope. These new inmates are claimed to have been saved from stranding. It’s the new way to get captive dolphins in the USA. All stranded dolphins are supposed to be deaf.
Let’s remind that for more than 2 decades, Gulf of Mexico was the focus of a live-capture fishery for Bottlenose dolphins which supplied dolphins to the U.S. Navy and European dolphinaria. « During the period between 1972-89, 490 bottlenose dolphins, an average of 29 dolphins annually, were removed from a few locations in the Gulf of Mexico, including the Florida Keys. Mississippi Sound sustained the highest level of removals and 202 dolphins were removed from this stock during this period, representing 41% of the total and an annual average of 12 dolphins. It may be biologically significant that 73% of the dolphins removed during 1982-88 were females. The impact of those removals on the stocks is unknown ». (NOAA)
No more dolphinaria in Europe
Bruges : in the water with our dolphins ! (Videos)
Bruges dolfinarium must be closed
Money
Taiji, dauphins, captures : 6 septembre 2013
Aujourd’hui, 5 jours après le début des chasses au rabattage à Taiji, une centaine de dauphins déjà ont été ramenés vers la Baie, sans violence et sans effusion de sang. Les pêcheurs obéissent ainsi à un ordre de la WAZA.
Une quarantaine de dauphins Tursiops – le meilleur choix pour les delphinariums – ont été capturés dès le premier jour. Aujourd’hui, 6 septembre, 60 nouveaux membres d’un pod viennent d’être amenés dans la baie, dont un enfant en bas âge.
6 des premiers captifs ont déjà regagné les bassins minuscules du Dolphin Resort Hotel. Après les plates-formes flottantes de la Dolphin Base (désensibilisation grossière et premier test de survie) va commencer pour eux le dressage à la dure, dont ne sortiront vivants que les meilleurs. C’est là le 2ième cercle de l’Enfer.
Le 3ieme sera le delphinarium final, au Japon, en Chine, au Vietnam, en Egypte, en Ukraine ou dans les Emirats du Golfe. Dans le monde, à l’exception de l’Europe et des USA, désormais contraint de se livrer à l’élevage en batterie, l’immense majorité des dauphins captifs ont été capturés. A Bruges, 3 dauphins sur 6 ont été enlevés au Golfe du Mexique. Taiji, c’est PARTOUT !
Si la Waza peut dicter leur conduite aux chasseurs de dauphins, elle pourrait également arrêter ces prises. Mais comme le souligne Ric O’Barry, les gardiens auto-proclamés du bien-être animal en zoo et delphinarium jouent là un jeu bien étrange :
«La vie et la mort de ces dauphins est dictée par un certain Dr Gerald Dick, directeur exécutif de l’Association mondiale des zoos et des aquariums (WAZA). Dr Dick a le pouvoir d’abolir les captures violentes et pourait probablement mettre fin au massacre .
Comment ? La WAZA est une association professionnelle mondiale qui comprend des centaines de zoos et d’aquariums du monde entier. L’association régionale japonaise de la WAZA est l’Association japonaise des zoos et aquariums (JAZA).
Le Taiji Whale Museum est évidemment membre de la JAZA. Le Dr Dick et la WAZA ont entre-temps publié un énoncé de leur politique sur leur site web, qui est un excellent exemple de dissimulation et de déni, dans un langage très poli. La vérité est en effet dure à dire : les aquariums membres de la JAZA et nombre d’autres delphinariums affiliés à la WAZA subventionnent l’abattage des dauphins à Taiji en achetant des dauphins sauvages vivants capturés par les tueurs de dauphins à un prix exorbitant. «L’inaction» de WAZA semble entrer clairement en conflit avec leur supposée mission de conservation et de durabilité.
Un dauphin tué pour le marché de la viande à Taiji sera vendu de 500 à 600 $ pièce. Mais un dauphin déjà dressé peut être vendu 154. 000 $ ou plus sur le marché mondial. Le Dr Dick et la WAZA ont fièrement établi un compromis bizarre et vide de sens, selon lequel les chasseurs pouvaient capturer des dauphins et libérer le reste de la tribu après avoir prélevé les animaux de leur choix.
C’est ce qu’ils ont fait lundi dernier. Mais ce système ne fonctionne que pour les grands dauphins et seulement pour le mois de Septembre. Toute autre espèce ramenée dans la baie ce mois-ci est brutalement tué dans un déluge de sang. Et après septembre? Ces mêmes grands dauphins seront-ils abattus comme les autres espèces ? Quel genre d’affaires visqueuses et trompeuses est-ce là ? Les bénéfices de l’industrie de la captivité sont-ils si importants qu’ils rendent la WAZA sourde aux cris des dauphins mourants à Taiji ? »
Un dauphin naît à Harderwijk
6 juillet 2013 : un dauphin naît à Harderwijk.
Le nom du père n’est pas connu. La mère, surnommée Maaike, a été « acquise » en 1985, à Gulfport, Texas.
Cela signifie donc qu’elle a été capturée par Mobi Solangi dans le Golfe du Mexique, comme la plupart des dauphins du Boudewijn Seapark de Bruges ou d’autres bassins en Europe.
Mobi Solangi avec un dauphin « sauvé » de l’échouage
qui terminera au cirque
Son âge estimé est de 30 ans. Maaike est une bonne reproductrice : elle a déjà donné naissance à Yola, Nalu et Luna et elle est la grand-mère de Makai, fille de Nalu. Makai est donc un dauphin de la 3ième génération, mais dont le père est également inconnu.
Tout porte à croire que le Dolfinarium de Hardewijck pratique activement l’insémination artificielle, avec l’aide de SeaWorld.
Le transfert de semence congelé ne fait l’objet d’aucune publicité et se révèle bien plus discrète et efficace que la déportation d’individus vivants, nettement plus difficile à passer sous silence. Rappelons qu’il n’existe aucun registre européen relatif aux dauphins captifs, similaire au MMIR américain, dont l’accès soit ouvert au public. On peut donc faire n’importe quoi.
Ferme à dauphins de Hardewijk (Pays bas)
Cette naissance nous prouve une fois encore que les nés captifs sont issus dans leur très grande majorité d’une mère ou d’un père « fondateur », directement issu de l’océan. Les enfants nés de 2 nés-captifs sont nettement plus rares, ou carrément inexistants, comme à Bruges.
Océan est né à Bruges de 2 fondateurs, Tex et Roxanne
Ceci pose le problème du renouvellement des stocks. Lorsque les individus capturés seront tous morts ou trop âgés pour se reproduire, comment fera-t-on pour alimenter l’Industrie en bêtes de cirque ?
Comme le Georgia Aquarium avec ses bélugas, en commanditant leur capture auprès des Russes ?
http://www.cetacousin.bplaced.net/captive/park/harderwijk/bottlenose.html
NO DOLPHINARIA IN EUROPE : DEMO REPORT
Ric O’Barry Report
Save Japan Dolphins Report
WDC Report
La Dolphin Connection Report
European demonstration against dolphinaria occured in Brussels on June 28th 2013
The event is historic. About 350 friends of the dolphins gathered this Friday 28th of June in Brussels, in front of the federal public service of Public Health, to demand the total ban of dolphinaria all across Europe.
Lead by the artist Maria Heidemann (on stilts), they demanded in several languages a radical change in the EC Directive 1999/22 (Council of Europe), for it to ban permanently dolphinaria – just like India did, but also Chile, Brazil, Slovenia, Cyprus and Croatia.
Annelies….
… Ric and Yvon
Hester Bartels (Orka Coalitie) 
La Dolphin Connection (France)
While demonstrators continued to chant their slogans in front of the building, Ric O’Barry, former trainer of Flipper and lead actor of the documentary « The Cove,« , Annelies Mullens, co-organizer of the demonstration (who came with her youngest son), and Yvon Godefroid, activist responsible for the event, met Dr Eric Dr Van Tilburgh, Head of the Animal Welfare division of the federal public service.
Ric is joking inside the Ministry. Yvon tries not to laugh.
Willem, the youngest son of Annelies, is quite proud to be there !
The dialogue was cordial, though firm and uncompromising, and lasted about an hour. The focus was put almost straight away on several illegal practices of the Boudewijn Seapark. These practices are mentioned in 2 reports of the highest scientific rigor, namely the « Born Free » report on Belgian zoos and the WDCS Europe Dolphinaria Report. You can also find a summary of those in French with pictures on this page.
Valia from Greece !
Dr Van Tilburgh was also strongly reminded that the Boudewijn Seapark operates currently without any license.
The license hasn’t been renewed. Why does the government not react to this situation? Will this license eventually be renewed? Is there no risk in terms of insurance? Many people living near the park have been complaining about the noise during the Sunday shows. We can then easily imagine the dolphins’ suffering, especially knowing their hearing is extremely sensitive.
Bruges
Amongst the park’s attractions that are causing problems on a strictly legal point of view, let’s talk about the direct contact with the animals, which is forbidden in every Belgian zoo. However, Boudewijn Seapark allows you, for quite a substantial amount of money, to « meet » dolphins. During these activities, people are allowed to go into the water and touch the dolphins. That might be entertaining, but it is also quite risky : brucellosis and herpes can occur, and there is also a risk of aggression. It happened recently in the United States, where a little girl got savagely bitten by a dolphin…
Even more dangerous and illegal are the (paying) photo sessions with sea lions of Patagonia, whose enormous mouth could tear off a child’s face in one bite. Vultures and other birds of prey landing on kids’ nape were also mentioned, birds that are here attached by a leash and subject to unacceptable conditions of life. Conditions that some zoos, for example in the United Kingdom, do not tolerate anymore…
Vultur’s baby let in the sun without water
We then reminded Mr Van Tilburgh the park’s numerous breaches on its European obligations.
These breaches include the lack of relevant information about the social life of free dolphins ; the anthropomorphic nature of the shows ; the predictable failure of breeding programs in captivity ; the very low viability of captive cetaceans ; the numerous foolish attempts to have a self-sufficient herd of « pet dolphins » (so fresh blood coming from the ocean wouldn’t be needed) ; the unability to put back into the wild young dolphins born in captivity, even though one of the zoo’s missions is to repopulate the endangered habitats ; and the obsolete and repetitive nature of researches that do not care at all about the species (studying the pregnancy of captive dolphins for example, or studying the so-called healing power of the dolphins)…
In short, as highlighted in the 2011 report of the WDCS, keeping dolphins in captivity already violates the EC Directive 1999/22 and the national laws that are linked to it.
° Captivity is supposed to encourage the conservation of endangered species. However, the survival rate of cetaceans in captivity is lower, and so is the birth rate.
° It is supposed to promote education about cetaceans, but very little information is given during those shows about the complex social life of dolphins.
° It is supposed to prevent cruelty towards animals and support their welfare, but stress and abnormal behaviors have been observed amongst the captive dolphins of 15 countries of the EU – countries that have proven to be unable to enforce the existing legislation.
Ric O’Barry also reminded Mr Van Tilburgh that, if reptiles in zoos could at least enjoy a branch to climb, or a shelter, basically something that remind them of their natural environment, the situation is totally different for the dolphins. They are forced to live in an empty concrete pool. Can we imagine a chimpanzee or a gorilla in an empty cell ?
Bruges dolphin Beachie, captured in the wild
To conclude, we have asked the government to make an ethically courageous decision, and to prohibit from now on all breeding programs in captivity, all import of new dolphins, all opening of new dolphinaria, and that, gradually, an end can be put to all the activities of the Boudewijn Seapark.
More globally, Ric O’Barry insisted that Belgium, seat of most of the European institutions, had the chance now to lead by example in front of the 15 countries that still have aquatic circuses in the EU.
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Mr Van Tilburgh has committed to convey our requests to the Minister in charge, Ms Laurette Onkelinx, reminding us also that a special commission would soon communicate its conclusions about the standards of the Boudewijn Seapark dolphinarium. Our answer to that was that, no matter what the conclusions are, the voice of the Belgian citizens would prevail. No prison can be improved to the point of making it better for the cetaceans to be captive than to be free.
It is obvious that, in the wake of this first European event, other actions will take place in Belgium, but also in other European cities. And, concerning the petition « All dolphinaria must be closed in Europe« , even if its value is symbolic, it has to keep being shared and signed !
It is a tough fight, because we are dealing with a huge leisure industry, that has important financial resources, and that is able to influence anyone. But it is a fair fight, not only for dolphins, but also for the future of our children, for the future of humanity. Our dignity as human beings is at stake in this fight. And we will win it !
My grand-son Sacha Godefroid and his Daddy
probably the youngest demonstrator…
We wish to thank (knowing that it’s impossible to thank everyone) :
First, Ric O’Barry of course, and Annelies Mullens
The Dolphin Connection
Hester Bartels (Orka Coalitie)
Mylou for her pictures of Bruges and her unwavering support
Denis and the others for the security aspects
The local police for their efficiency & their kindness
All of you, who helped from their own countries, sending messages and tweet-stream, or came from far just, full of love for dolphins !
See you next year !!
References :
Cliquer pour accéder à Eu_Dolphinaria_Report.pdf
Cliquer pour accéder à BELGIUM_Zoo_Report_ENGLISH.pdf
http://www.dauphinlibre.be/legbelg.htm
http://www.health.belgium.be/eportal/AnimalsandPlants/keepingandbreedinganimals/zoos/index.htm?fodnlang=nl#.Uc_yEr5V3IU
Cliquer pour accéder à AR%2010-08-1998_0_823592_nl.pdf
Cliquer pour accéder à 63330.pdf
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1GYtIH3t_XcWDmDx5uDHxXynxQUDupzWcRDpZ1AxpsU4/edit
http://www.stadsomroep.com/Detail.asp?NUM=35937&fb_comment_id=fbc_203782826412155_486443_203849333072171#f1cbc996e6d3393
New generation around Ric
Images and videos
« June 28th Brussels : the Movie » !
http://deburgerjournalist.nl/march-against-dolphin-captivity/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=nqzZ0T5Kl6Q,
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x11efk2_closing-dolphinariums-partie-10_webcam#.UdALwsXiBag
http://touch.dailymotion.com/video/x11eezn_closing-dolphinariums-partie-9_webcam
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/freedolphinseurope
http://www.informarexresistere.fr/2013/06/29/video-500-attivisti-in-piazza-per-chiudere-34-delfinari-europei-bruxelles/theater
http://www.informarexresistere.fr/2013/06/29/video-500-attivisti-in-piazza-per-chiudere-34-delfinari-europei-bruxelles/
Etc…
Free Dolphins Belgium 