Spring 2020
The more I update this website, the more I am left with a deep feeling of bitterness in my gut and a broken heart…
New death at Marineland-France
On February 19th, Marineland announced the death of a female dolphin.
Lotty was captured in Florida March 1993. She stayed many years in England where she gave birth to Fénix on December 23rd 2001. They both arrived in France in 2005. Her child sadly dies on October 2009 (a great example of how animals thrive in captivity!)
She has another child at the end of 2019 but the baby only lives a few days.
Marineland indicates that Lotty, aged approximately 40, was suffering from a severe infection and adds it is common for dolphins to live to 40 years old. As if no crime was committed in captivity because the life span was equivalent to the one in the wild.
Yet, NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration) states dolphins like Lotty usually live up to 40-45 years old for males, and up to 50 years old for females.
Makes you wonder where professionals like Marineland get their info from…
Since its opening in 1970, 46 cetaceans died in their bleached water filled concrete tanks.
Thank you Yvon Godefroid
On February 23rd, a great man acting for the wellbeing of all animals has left us: Yvon Godefroid.
From Belgium, he spent half of his life acting for the animals. He organises and participates to many events joined by Ric O’Barry or John Hargrove (For instance in 2015 at Marineland-France) He creates the website Dauphin Libre (translates to Free Dolphin) in 1997, which makes it the very first French speaking/reading website about captivity. Something which many copied later…
His articles were well documented, honest and sharp, making his website a reference in the world of cetaceans.
Thank you Yvon for launching the movement for French speaking people, thank you for all the energy you aimed at revealing the truth about marine parks, and a special thank you for your kind words of encouragement when I was creating Keep Whales Wild
❤️
SOURCES :
https://www.dauphinlibre.be/
Taiji, the season is over
To avoid mostly paraphrasing Dolphin Project, I invite you to click below and read the article directly on their website 🙂
