(JP)ABOUT-FACE:Ex-trainer fights for dolphins' freedom

[Guest guest]

http://www.asahi.com/english/weekend/K2003092000212.html

 

ABOUT-FACE:Ex-trainer fights for dolphins' freedom

 

By MIYUKI KONDO:Asahi Shimbun News Service

 

Since the star of `Flipper' died in his arms, Richard

O'Barry has been campaigning to have the sea creatures

returned to the wild. `I can tell you from my

experience of having captured over 100 dolphins, it's

a very violent procedure.' RICHARD O'BARRY Animal

activist

 

Richard O'Barry will never forget the day he decided

to make the dramatic transition from top dolphin

catcher and trainer to dedicated advocate for the

intelligent sea creatures' freedom.

 

Back in the 1960s, O'Barry, who started his career

catching dolphins for Miami Seaquarium in Florida,

became a trainer of five dolphins for the U.S.

television series ``Flipper,'' in which two boys lived

with their park ranger father and pet dolphin in

Florida's Coral Key Park.

 

``I was 20 years old. I was young and foolish,'' said

O'Barry, now 63, in a recent interview in Tokyo. ``I

was the highest-paid animal trainer in the world. It

was really a glamorous job. You don't think much about

the consequences, about the dead dolphins and the

environment.''

 

Yet when the show ended after seven years, the Flipper

dolphins started dying. It was when Cathy, the dolphin

who most frequently played Flipper, died in his arms

that he decided to turn his back on the industry in

which he had worked for 10 years.

 

``It's very hard to talk about that,'' said O'Barry of

the death of Cathy. ``She was in isolation in a small

steel tank (with) no shade.

 

``I could have stayed with the industry, making a lot

of money if I wanted to. But I just didn't feel good

about that.''

 

Then, on the first Earth Day in 1970, O'Barry founded

the Dolphin Project, a nonprofit organization

dedicated to studying captive dolphins, freeing them

and educating people all over the world about the

plight of dolphins in captivity. The organization,

which is mainly financed by charity concerts and

supported by volunteers, has often faced financial

problems, yet the grass-roots effort has gradually

gained attention since publication of O'Barry's

autobiography, ``Behind the Dolphin Smile,'' in 1988.

 

O'Barry has established his name as a dolphin crusader

through his efforts in returning more than 10 captive

dolphins to the ocean as well as protesting ``the

billion-dollar dolphin captivity industry.'' He has

been working for the World Society for the Protection

of Animals as a marine mammal specialist since 2001.

 

His message, which appears on the Dolphin Project's

Web site, <www.dolphinproject.org>, is simple yet

powerful: ``Captivity is wrong, and candidate dolphins

should be released back into the wild.''

 

When a dolphin is in trouble anywhere in the world,

O'Barry receives an e-mail, a fax or a phone call.

 

In 2002 in Guatemala, for instance, two of four

dolphins captured to take part in a dolphin-assisted

therapy treatment were found in filthy water in a

portable tank. The two were left behind after the

unlicensed providers of the treatment ran off with the

other dolphins.

 

The two dehydrated dolphins, which hadn't eaten for 10

days, were successfully released into the ocean after

receiving two months of devoted care from O'Barry and

his wife, Helene. The O'Barrys lived in a remote part

of Guatemala during the rehabilitation process and,

with the assistance of local people, provided the

dolphins with a staggering 18 kilograms of live fish a

day.

 

For O'Barry, another important mission is to educate

the public about the tragedy of dolphin captivity.

 

``The public who go to aquariums never ask the right

questions. They ask, `What is the dolphin's name?'

`How much does he eat?' But they never ask, `How did

they get here?''' says O'Barry.

 

``I can tell you from my experience of having captured

over 100 dolphins, it's a very violent procedure,''

says O'Barry, adding that many dolphins die in the

process. ``But the public doesn't know anything about

it.''

 

O'Barry's enthusiasm and powerful message have caught

the attention of several Japanese activists who oppose

the slaughter of dolphins through fishing and their

captivity at aquariums and other facilities in Japan.

Earlier this month in Tokyo, O'Barry held a discussion

and slide show illustrating his recent dolphin rescue

activities.

 

At the session, 54-year-old fisherman Izumi Ishii, a

former dolphin hunter who now campaigns for dolphin

protection, appeared as a guest speaker and told the

audience of the reality of the little-known dolphin

hunts in Japan.

 

Every year, 20,000 dolphins are culled in Japan for

human consumption, while some are captured alive and

sent to aquariums or other facilities, according to

Eiji Fujiwara, president of Elsa Nature Conservancy, a

nonprofit animal advocacy organization based in

Ibaraki Prefecture. Fujiwara says the recent interest

in dolphins, which are believed to have a healing

effect, has led to an increase in the number of

dolphin aquariums and dolphin-assisted therapies.

Through the talk by O'Barry, Fujiwara says he hopes

more Japanese will become aware of the issues

surrounding dolphins and will start thinking of the

best way for humans to coexist with the creatures.

 

``The point is, people who go to dolphinariums never

know about what price the dolphins pay for these

captures,'' says O'Barry. ``You have 50 dolphinariums

(in Japan), but they don't tell the public about the

drive fishery.''

 

O'Barry's remarks are moving and sometimes sound

radical. They clearly stem from his strong feelings of

regret over his treatment of dolphins in the past and

his deep respect for the sea creatures, which he

describes as social, intelligent animals, exhibiting

self-awareness and a highly developed emotional sense.

 

``To capture a dolphin in a net, separating him from

his family and putting him into a very bad place,

that's a very radical thing to do,'' says O'Barry.

``From the dolphin's point of view, who is radical?

Me? I am trying to save the dolphin, and here you are

destroying his life. Have you asked the dolphin,

`Which one is radical?'''(IHT/Asahi: September

20,2003)