I’ve released a number of captive dolphins back into the wild. One of the biggest lies being told by the likes of SeaWorld and others in the dolphin abusement industry is that dolphins in captivity can never be released back into the wild. – Ric O’Barry
Ric O’Barry is a pioneer in the field of readapting captive dolphins for release. An overview of past release projects is found below:
- 1973 USA – Opo
- 1974 Bahamas – Liberty and Florida
- 1987 USA – Joe and Rosie
- 1993 Brazil – Flipper
- 1996 USA – Buck and Luther
- 2001 Guatemala – Ariel and Turbo
- 2002 Nicaragua – Bluefield and Nica
- 2004 Haiti – Six untrained dolphins
- 2011 Indonesia– Built the first permanent dolphin readaptation center in the world, Camp Lumba Lumba
- 2014 South Korea – Jedol, Sampal and Chunsan
- 2017 Karimunjawa, Indonesia – Munjawa
- 2019 Indonesia – Built the first and only permanent dolphin rehabilitation, release and retirement facility for formerly performing dolphins, the Umah Lumba Rehabilitation, Release and Retirement Center
