January 28th 2025

There are serious concerns about the transport of 5 dolphins over 10,000 km from Greece to Florida…

The planned transfer of five dolphins from Athens Zoo to the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida, USA, is indicative of what we understand, or don’t understand, about the commercial exploitation and abuse of animals. If the transfer goes ahead, 5 dolphins will undergo a difficult and painful 10,000 km journey, resulting in them being re-confined and spending the rest of their lives in concrete tanks.

The statement of the owner of Athens Zoo is indicative of this. He stresses that the dolphins are not purchased from this aquarium but were acquired, as he stated, “within the framework of the European Union of Zoological Parks and Aquariums, no animal purchases are made”. This is, of course, an insult to our intelligence, given that the sole purpose of this association is the exchange of animals for commercial exploitation. The 5 dolphins in question are planned to be transferred to one of the most commercial dolphinariums in the USA. They will be ‘upgraded’ from a low-cost spectacle to an expensive exhibit. In addition to the entrance fee, VIP visitors can access exclusive activities for a premium, such as booking expensive photoshoots, among other interactive experiences. Recently, the dolphinarium in Florida announced an urgent need for dolphins and other species. Their new cement-and-glass facility requires dolphins to satisfy their nearly 1 million visitors annually. It is also worth mentioning that between November 11, 2021 and June 12, 2023, American media reported five dolphin deaths at this dolphinarium.

We live in a time when we can recognise many of the mistakes we’ve made in previous decades regarding animal cruelty. The exploitation of wild animals for our entertainment should, at the very least, be a thing of the past.

However, according to Athens Zoo, 4 million people have paid to visit the dolphinarium, primarily young children brought by their parents and their schools. Visitors can see these highly intelligent mammals – as well as other wild animals meant to live freely—but instead, they have been confined to captivity since birth. Zoos argue that it’s normal for these animals to live their whole lives in the captivity they were born into. This deprivation of rights would be outrageous if applied to humans. This flimsy excuse is harmful to children’s perceptions of the world, impacting their understanding of our coexistence with other species.

The irony, of course, is that next to their chlorinated concrete tanks, where the dolphins have been trapped for years in the same water in which they defecate, zoos have posted signs describing in detail the dolphins’ biology. Namely, they describe that bottlenose dolphins can (and should) travel 40-100 miles every day, dive to depths of over 200 metres, and eat a variety of species of fish and marine invertebrates. But in captivity, they feed on thawed dead fish, and swim in pools usually less than 3.5 metres deep. In Europe’s largest dolphinarium, the maximum distance a captive bottlenose dolphin can swim in a straight line is no more than 0.03 miles (i.e. 48 metres), whereas in Athens Zoo’s the maximum distance is about 40 metres. Trapped in the nightmarish environment of a concrete tank, Athens Zoo describes their captive dolphins as “ambassadors of the need to protect the species”, from which visitors are offered the opportunity to “learn about the dangers that dolphins face in the wild”!!!

The proposed transfer is entirely unacceptable from an animal welfare perspective. This transfer would be unnecessary had specific people from the Greek authorities not repeatedly indulged in 6.5 years of targeted bureaucratic obstruction, aiming to delay the licensing of the Aegean Marine Life Sanctuary (AMLS). The AMLS, after 9 years of development on the Greek island of Lipsi, is ready to operate as a marine life rehabilitation centre for wild mammals and turtles when licenses are finally granted. Following this, the AMLS has already been designed for its next phase, prepared to serve as a model Sanctuary for formerly captive dolphins.

It’s telling that despite five consecutive permit requests since 2018, our continuous pressure to progress, and political assurances for the timely completion of the licensing process, it took 6 years to receive the first written response. This was the responsibility of a committee appointed for rehabilitation centre permit requests by the Ministry of Environment.

In this Committee’s brief response on the AMLS issue, instead of focusing on the technical details of the licensing or making relevant suggestions, it only comments on and opposes relevant media reports on the AMLS without even keeping up appearances.

It is worth noting that a few years ago, within just a few weeks, the same committee quickly approved and licensed the Rehabilitation Centre for Mediterranean Monk Seals at Athens Zoo. The licensed rehabilitation facility consists of two containers with inadequate infrastructure. This facility is located within a zoo that confines 2,000 animals from 290 species originating from various parts of the world; this proximity may pose health risks to this highly endangered mammal. In addition to this, the committee’s chairperson has longstanding ties to the Athens Zoo. The Ministry of Environment appointed them to evaluate the Rehabilitation Centre for Mediterranean Monk Seals despite this conflict of interest. This individual now serves as the veterinarian in charge of this controversial centre —a facility licensed by the committee she chairs. This calls into question who this committee really represents.

When asked about the 5 dolphins to be transferred to Florida, the owner of Athens Zoo stated: “In Lipsi there is no licensed marine mammal sanctuary, nor relevant facilities and qualified personnel, but only a declared intention to create one. Even if there were, however, the choice of Lipsi would not be appropriate because of the temperature of the waters in the area.”

In response to the above:

• Obviously, the temperature is suitable for these bottlenose dolphins, as confirmed by expert scientists and 10 years of monitoring of the physico-chemical characteristics of the area.
• The facilities are largely complete, and the remaining aspects that need to be finished are delayed due to the ongoing wait for details on permitting requirements, which have never been disclosed by the committee mentioned above.
• The scientific support for the project and its operating protocols is guided by an international scientific committee established for this purpose. The committee consists of four international organisations and six highly renowned veterinarians and scientists, each with extensive experience and expertise in the care and welfare of marine species.
• The owner of Athens Zoo described AMLS as a ‘simple declared intention without facilities’. The already constructed facility, which will house the AMLS, has already been visited by numerous prominent international figures, including Greek and European politicians, members of the European Parliament, the former Queen of Spain, foreign ambassadors, and international media. All have supported this important Greek environmental project. This project aims to serve as a model solution across Europe for the effective care of marine species in their natural environment, including the rehabilitation of formerly captive dolphins.

How is it possible to explain that in Greece, despite a fast-track procedure, with public land granted by another department of the Ministry of Environment specifically for this purpose, we have faced 6.5 years of targeted bureaucratic obstruction? This has blocked progress on a necessary and model environmental project being implemented in the centre of the Aegean, without any public funds.

At a time when so many things have changed for the better regarding animal protection, including relevant legislation, the attitude of state and citizens, and our understanding of wild animals – it is finally time, long overdue, to put an end to the captivity and cruel exploitation of dolphins and other animals for the sake of “entertainment” and profit. What is certain is that we all share a part of the responsibility for having tolerated and accepted the abuse of these animals as “normal” for so many years. An example of this is the modern evolution of animal circuses, which in our days were dubbed “theme parks with educational activities!”. 

These activities are all happening in a country where the official education system, incredible as it may sound, does not have in its curriculum a single hour of teaching about the biodiversity that surrounds us. This impacts our ability to coexist with these species, a prerequisite for our mutual survival. With all this in mind, it is time to protect our dolphins. By creating sanctuaries for formerly captive dolphins, we can house them in an environment as close as possible to their natural habitat. With this, we can finally break the cycle of commercial exploitation and cruelty, stopping the exchange of dolphins between dolphinaria around the world.