Saving Dolphins in Singapore and the Philippines

By Ric O’Barry

Campaign Director

Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project

This is a story about grassroots efforts to help some dolphins in two countries, the Philippines and Singapore, and the work that Dolphin Project is doing to help coordinate and support these efforts.

The story actually begins in the Solomon Islands and the international dolphin traffickers Chris Porter and Francis Chow, who sent more than two dozen wild dolphins to the Philippines to be trained for Resorts World Sentosa in Singapore.

Originally, 27 dolphins were shipped from the Solomon Islands to wind up at Tim Desmond’s Ocean Adventure facility in the Philippines in late 2009 and early 2010.   At last count, there were only 25 dolphins still alive from the original shipment – captivity is not kind to wild dolphins.  Resorts World in Singapore is paying large sums to store and train these dolphins in the Philippines.

Louis Ng of the Animals Concerns and Research & Education Society (ACRES) in Singapore began protests the import of these blood dolphins from the Philippines for Resorts World.

Louis and his cohorts have built a major campaign to stop the dolphin import.  He recently held a major press conference and also prepared a great YouTube song:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g8zY2M-ZvNk&feature=autoshare

This is where I come in – Louis worked with me  to draft a letter to Resorts World, which journalist Sandra Davie had published this past Sunday in the Singapore newspaper Straits Times.  You can see Sandra’s story here:

http://wildsingaporenews.blogspot.com/2011/05/free-dolphins.html

You can read my letter here:

http://theonlinecitizen.com/2011/05/the-dolphin-project-makes-proposal-to-rws-over-dolphins/

Basically, we are asking Resorts World to help return these dolphins to the ocean in the Solomon Islands where they belong.

All of these brave local people and their small, but feisty local organizations, working together, can be a powerful force for dolphins.

If you would like to help ACRES with their campaign, go here:

http://www.saddestdolphins.com/