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ESSENTIAL DESTINATIONS

MONTH: October 2007

28 dolphins captured off the Solomon Islands are flown to new swim-with facility in Dubai

 

DUBAI, U.A.E.-- Twenty-eight dolphins captured in July 2007 off the Solomon Islands "are definitely coming to Dubai and will all go to one place, the Atlantis Palm Dubai," a Dubai representative of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species told Emmanuelle Landais of Gulf News two days before the flight.

But even though the transaction was extensively covered for The Independent news services and Associated Press by Solomon Islands correspondent George Herming, a Kerzner International spokesperson insisted to Landais that, "We cannot disclose information about where we acquire our dolphins or details of the transport at this time as a matter of security."

Former Vancouver Aquarium trainer Christopher Porter and Solomon Islands Marine Mammal Education Centre director Robert Satu reportedly negotiated the deal for about $30,000 per dolphin--but Satu also "would not reveal the identity of the importer or the price paid," Herming wrote, and guards on October 11 chased away a camera crew who tried to videotape the dolphins' departure.

"The Solomon Islands banned the export of live dolphins after the outcry over a consignment of 28 bottlenose dolphins sent to an aquatic park in Mexico in 2003," Herming recalled. "At least nine died, according to the San Francisco-based Earth Island Institute. But Satu claimed the ban was illegal and won a court ruling allowing the exports. In August 2007, fisheries minister Nollen Leni said this would encourage the capture and sale of up to 100 bottlenose dolphins a year."

Earth Island Institute Pacific director Lawrence Makili unsuccessfully sued to try to stop the sales.

One day before the dolphins were flown to Dubai, Herming reported, "The carcasses of three bottlenose dolphins including a calf were found dumped" near the exporters' holding pen. Satu denied any knowledge of the incident.