HELP SAVE INDONESIAN DOLPHINS IN CAPTIVITY

HELP SAVE INDONESIAN DOLPHINS IN CAPTIVITY

An Urgent Message from Ric O’Barry:

I need your help.  Some officials in the Indonesian government are planning to bypass our efforts to help captive dolphins and destroy a rehab program for as many as 50 dolphins now held illegally in Indonesian aquariums.  These few government agents plans to dump captive dolphins directly in the ocean, which may well kill or harm them, without any rehabilitation.

I need you to send a message to the President of Indonesia via the Indonesian Embassy in Washington DC.

DolphinProject.com and our friends the Jakarta Animal Aid Network (JAAN) signed a Memorandum of Understanding in October 2010 with the Indonesian Forestry Department to rehabilitate and release dolphins from a new center and sea pen built in Java’s Karimunjawa National Park, Indonesia.  The intent was to free dolphins that have been illegally captured and exploited by the aquarium industry.  Once the dolphins are coached to feed themselves on live fish, they can be released into the waters of the Park, from which they were likely poached.

But our efforts are being betrayed due to the influence of the dolphin capture industry in Indonesia.  Some government officials are now ignoring our MOU and plan to allow these aquariums to literally dump the dolphins back into the ocean without rehabbing them.  Furthermore, they plan to release only 3 out of dozens of dolphins kept illegally, just for the show of it.

As Pramudya Harzani, Director of JAAN states: “The new plan by these government officials would expose these animals to shock, starvation, and disorientation without proper safeguards and training.  The dolphins wont have the ability to survive without an adaption period within our sea pen where they can build up strength of their muscles and train to capture live fish again after spending over a year-and-a-half inside a tiny pool. JAAN with the support of Ric O’Barry and Dolphin Project has prepared all facilities, equipment and expertise, and now it’s up to the Indonesian Forestry Department to take the next right step – captive dolphins should be given to JAAN and Dolphin Project for rehab and release.  We need the help of the President of Indonesia to stop some government officials from destroying our work to help these dolphins.”

WHAT YOU CAN DO:

Call, FAX or E-mail the Indonesian Embassy in Washington DC:

The Hon. Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, President

Embassy of the Republic of Indonesia

Tel (202) 775 5200

Fax (202) 775 5365

Contact E-mail Form:http://www.embassyofindonesia.org/contactform/contact-form.php

Urge the President of Indonesia to honor the MOU and provide captive dolphins ONLY to Jakarta Animal Aid Network and Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project, which are the ONLY organizations in Indonesia with the expertise, equipment and facilities to care for, rehabilitate, and release captive dolphins back into the wild.