Something happened at the Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium in Choshi, Japan a while ago. It was essentially abandoned as the business failed and sales to go see the attractions at the park plummeted.
The park was forced to close, and the animals were cruelly left behind to fend for themselves in captivity. 46 penguins, and hundreds of other fish and reptiles are reportedly also abandoned there.
For years prior, Honey the dolphin was just a tool to make money, entertaining the people who would visit the park. The intelligent dolphin was captured in 2005, and even more disrespectful to the life of the animal, her capture was branded as an effort to save her from annual Taiji hunts that happen in the place she was rescued.
As one article elegantly puts it, “It is cruel enough that Honey has spent years as nothing more than amusement for the public, probably starved in order to perform tricks, but to abandon her in solitude is pure torture for an animal as intelligent as a dolphin.” So now, drone footage has been captured showing how the amazingly intelligent creature is staying alive and fending for itself in the abandoned location of captivity.
No other dolphins have been around to keep this poor creature company, and this is basically the only life it has ever known.
Her conditions remained cramped, isolated, completely torturous and like the equivalent of solitary confinement, or 23 hour lock down in prison, or “the hole” for people who are incarcerated. It may look like a swimming pool to you, but that dolphin livesthere: that’s prison.
People understand for us, intelligent creatures, that kind of isolation is pure torture and can really harm the mind. What would that do to a similarly intelligent, but not as adept at communication, dolphin? How does the dolphin eat? Do the owners of the park just throw it enough food to survive?
This is a clear-cut case of a selfish person not giving a damn about the well being of life he is responsible for. Speaking on the video, founder of the Dolphin Project Ric O’Barry said:
“The footage we have reviewed demonstrates the need to take action immediately in order to save dolphin Honey from a miserable death. The same is true for all of the abandoned animals at Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium.”
The Dolphin Project used their ideas and resources to produce this video and decided to fly a drone over this location, as the video and organization implies.
An article from One Green Planet reports:
“The Dolphin Project is asking us to join them in calling on the owner of the Inubosaki Marine Park Aquarium to release Honey into their care so they can find her a place for retirement in a sanctuary – or even prepare her for release back to where she belongs in the wild. Please be a voice for Honey! We can’t leave her to languish in that tank with nothing to live for. Help us speak up for those who can’t!”
If anybody is going to contribute to an organization, they would be wise to make sure that organization is as far from “big” as possible. Big charities, NGO’s, and organizations like that often don’t do good things with money, and don’t need your money.
To create a better world, truly citizen based, community connected and respected organizations that are closely tied into the common people probably deserve the most support. From the looks of it, the Dolphin Project is a nice small organization like that.
What are the latest news on this ?
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