Activist struggling for dolphins of Kaş

ISTANBUL– Hürriyet Daily News

Reactions from non-governmental organizations have been increasing about captive dolphins in Turkey. They are still being kept in small and rusty cages in Kaş. AFP photo

Activist Ric O’Barry, who has dedicated his life to the freedom of dolphins and won the Academy Award in 2010 for his film “The Cove,” has started the Dolphin Project along with Turkish Freedom for Dolphins Platform for four dolphins to get their freedom.

O’Barry’s Dolphin Project is a campaign under the International Marine Mammal Project at the non-profit Earth Island Institute. The project aims to stop dolphin slaughter and exploitation around the world.Reactions from non-governmental organizations and citizens have been increasing every day about captive dolphins in Turkey. Dolphins are still being kept in small and rusty cages and many Turkish and foreign NGOs have filed criminal complaints about the issue.

The petition, prepared by O’Barry, who is an expert on sea mammals, and the Freedom for Dolphins Platform, was signed by 1,500 people across the globe on the first day.

The petition, which can be signed through the website Care 2 Petition Site, calls for the Prime Ministry, Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock and relevant municipalities to close all facilities in Turkey where sea mammals are being kept.

O’Barry has also written on the blog www.dolphinproject.org and said the following:

“Turkey has an opportunity to help dolphins and enhance its reputation in the world as a country sensitive to the protection of marine mammals. The captive facilities should be closed down permanently, with the dolphins rehabilitated and released back into the wild where they belong.

“The Turkish Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Livestock, the Turkish Prime Ministry and all other parties involved in these illegal activities should heed the call of thousands of people, within Turkey and across the globe, who are requesting that the authorities begin to act responsibly. The first step is to alleviate the suffering of the Kaş and Bodrum captives; then to shut down the operations of the captive facilities; and finally to enact appropriate legislation which will protect wild dolphins from future capture.”

Members of the platform said the next step that would be taken for dolphins would be to complain about Turkey to the European Council. They said the complaint would cause Turkey to be punished in accordance with the BERN Contract.