When wild dolphins are captured from
the open sea, they leave a life of nearly endless open space and
opportunity for one of confinement and monotony. Wild dolphins can swim
hundreds of miles a day, dive several hundred feet deep, and often live in
family units, with whom they maintain social bonds throughout their lives.
Their complex social system and wide-roaming nature makes them uniquely
unsuited to life in human captivity, where they are deprived of normal social
interaction and the instinctual need to roam.
Recently, the La Concha
Hotel in La Paz, Mexico constructed a new, commercial “swim with the
dolphin” tank, in order to attract and amuse customers. Several dolphin
biologists who have observed the facility first-hand consider it the worst
they have ever seen – at low tide the water is barely 3 feet deep, a
situation that could easily lead to lethal heat stress in the summer.
There is sewage outflow nearby and loud boats pass by on a regular basis.
Within the last few weeks, eight dolphins were captured off the Baja
Peninsula and transferred to this substandard facility. If they remain in
the La Paz tank, their fate is, at best, a dismal one.
WHAT YOU CAN DO: Write to the owner of the facility and ask him to set the
dolphins free and to not capture any more dolphins solely for human
entertainment.
1) FINS: Dolphin Learning Center,
SA DE CV; Dr. Javier
Enriquez Serralde, Director General
Apartado Postal 46
La Paz, BCS
CP 23000 MEXICO
2) Please also cc your letters to
the owner of the hotel, who is leasing the space to Dr. Enriquez:
Mr. Ricardo Perez, Owner,
Hotel La Concha Beach Resort
Rm. 5
Carretera a Pichilingue La Paz
B.C.S., C.P. 23010, Mexico
fax: 619-294-7366
3)It
would also be helpful to cc your letters to the Secretary of the
Environment and Natural Resources:
SEMARNAT- Secretaria del Medio Ambientey Recursos Naturales
Lic. Victor Lichtinger Secretario particular:
Mario BaBañuelos and Secretaria: Lourdes Castillo
Periferico Sur 4209
Col. Jardines en la Montaña
Tlalpan 14210 Mexico DF
Mexico
vlichtinger@semarnat.gob.mx
Fax: International code 011,
then (52) 5628 0643
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