Dolphins saved from tank

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13/07/2001 10:26 - (SA)

 

 

 

Dolphins saved from tank

 

 

 

 

 

 

LOOKING UP: A marine biologist looks into the mouth of a dolphin, covered in lanolin to keep it damp, before it is transported to a beach on the Caribbean coast. (Jaime Puebla, AP Photo)

 

 

 

Guatemala City - Two dolphins abandoned for the last year in an improvised tank high in the Guatemalan mountains were airlifted to a special holding pen at an Atlantic-coast beach on Thursday. Environmentalists and the Guatemalan army co-operated to truck Ariel and Turbo, a pair of 8-year-old bottle-nosed dolphins, from a tank near the city of Antigua to a military base in Guatemala City. Packed into containers with water and ice, Ariel, a female, and Turbo, a male, were then flown in a military cargo plane to the coastal city of Puerto Barrios, 250km to the northeast. Finally, a military helicopter lowered them to a special 200-sq-metre pen in the Atlantic ocean off La Graciosa beach. A year in captivity "They're in a pen, but they're finally in the ocean," said Magaly Rey, a member of the MadreSelva Collective environmental group that first brought the dolphins' plight to the attention of the public. "They have a good chance of surviving in the wild," said Rey, noting that the pair spent most of their lives in the ocean and were apparently caught only about a year ago. Ariel and Turbo were among a group of four dolphins brought to Guatemala in 2000 by an Argentine-owned animal show called "Water Land," which has been criticised in the past for mistreating animals. They installed the animals in an improvised tank near Antigua, about 25km west of the capital. But authorities found out that the owners, Ricardo Roca and his son Ruben, had permits for only two of the dolphins. The Rocas skipped town, selling the other two dolphins to an aquarium on Venezuela's Isla Margarita in February and leaving Ariel and Turbo in a stagnating pool with no water filtration devices or food. Dirty water, no food Rey's group contacted dolphin trainer Rick O'Barry, who inspected the 8m tank - an earthen pit lined with a plastic tarp - and said the animals needed to be released back into the ocean. The water was filthy, they were malnourished and the 2 000m altitude was bad for them. The World Society for the Protection of Animals stepped in and, after negotiating with the Guatemalan government, helped pay the cost to ferry the dolphins to safety. Environmentalists accompanied the marine mammals throughout the entire trip to care for them. Once released into the pen, both were marked - Ariel with a heart on the dorsal fin, and Turbo with a star - so that they can be identified once they are fully released. Depending on how they acclimate to the ocean, experts say they could be released into the open ocean within two to three months. They are not likely to lack for friends. Five other dolphins were sighted off La Graciosa beach as workers erected the metal-link holding pen to hold Ariel and Turbo. - Sapa-AP