I swam with a dolphin. But I shouldn't have done that, according to Ric O'Barry, the ex-trainer of Flipper, the world-famous TV dolphin. Behind the smile of dolphins in amusement parks a lot of misery is said to be hidden.
I was sitting in a boat that was pulled by two dolphins, while the audience applauded. I must have been about eight years old, it happened in Dolfinarium in the Dutch city of Harderwijk and it was a magical experience. The fact that I was allowed in the boat and other children were not, was because I had caught a ball that a dolphin had thrown into the audience. Everything I knew about dolphins at the time, I knew from the sixties TV series Flipper, which was still on Dutch TV in the seventies. It was about two brothers, Bud and Sandy, who had a dolphin as a pet, called Flipper. They lived in a coastal town in Florida, USA, where their father was the supervisor of a marine reserve. Many adventures begin with Bud and Sandy, who, while they are bored and hanging around on the jetty at their house, suddenly see Flipper emerge from the water. This is usually not to greet them, but to alarm them. The brothers jump into their motorboat and sail after Flipper, who then takes them to a drowning person, a treasure on the seabed or a place where there is a plague of sharks. Flipper himself sometimes gets into trouble. Then he gets tangled in a fishing net or is captured by crooks who want to sell him to a circus. Eventually he is saved by Bud and Sandy, with or without the help of their father.
It is half a century later. I have now swum with a dolphin myself. Her name was Penelope. She swam up on her back and went under me. The moment we were belly to belly, I grabbed her by the fins – and she pulled me forward at great speed.
That was another special experience, but the magic was missing this time. My meeting with Penelope was planned. I was on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts and I had bought a ticket for 150 US dollars at Dolphin Discovery, one of the many establishments of the Mexican company The Dolphin Company, which offers people the opportunity to 'swim and play' with dolphins. For that money one dolphin was offered. If we paid 50 dollars more, we got two dolphins, an employee told us while she took us by bus to our destination. In any case, we first had to sign a contract stating that we would not hold Dolphin Discovery liable if we suffered any injuries during our adventure. This was noted with some concern. Apparently swimming and playing with the animals was not without danger? Nevertheless, everyone signed the contract. One visitor sighed that it would be difficult to get our money back now.
The dolphins appeared to be in a bay, in pools that were in direct contact with the sea. We were instructed on hand and arm gestures that we had to make to make it clear to the dolphins what was expected of them, after which we were split up into groups that went to the pools. There, under the supervision of trainers, the dolphins performed the tricks they had learned. In addition to belly-to-belly swimming, these included pushing visitors through the water via the soles of their feet and giving a 'handshake' and 'kiss' while standing upright. Incidentally, the latter went wrong for me the first time. When I bent my head forward to receive a kiss from Penelope, she spat in my face. According to Jesus, her trainer, this was a joke she was playing on me. He ordered her to make it up to me. I turned my cheek to her again and then felt the soft touch of her snout. This was also immediately rewarded by Jesus. He took a squid from the bag he was carrying and threw it into Penelope's mouth. This went on and on. Each successful trick was followed by an edible reward for Penelope.
When we were done, I asked Jesus if the dolphins at Dolphin Discovery also foraged on their own. I pointed to the fish that I saw swimming around in Penelope's tank. "No, they're too small," he said. "The only thing she does with them is play a bit." When I asked how old Penelope was, he replied that she was twelve years old and that she was born in Dolphin Discovery. I wanted to ask Jesus more questions, but there was no time for that. We were led away from the tank and taken to an adjacent shop. There we could see the photos that had been taken of us while we were enjoying ourselves with Penelope. We could also buy them: two photos for 50 dollars. You could also buy them all. Then it was 100 dollars. A dolphin swimmer standing next to me cried out: "50 dollars? Are you kidding me?”
I remembered once reading an interview with Flipper's trainer, Ric O'Barry. He had come to regret his work with dolphins. The role of Flipper had been played by five different dolphins. The dolphin who had played this role the most, Kathy, had ended up in an amusement park after the series ended. When her health suddenly deteriorated, O'Barry was called to come and see what was ailing her. It was already too late. Kathy died in his arms. Suicide, O’Barry concluded. Dolphins could take their own lives by deliberately stopping to breathe. It affected O'Barry deeply. He founded the Dolphin Project organization in 1970 and decided to dedicate his life to the liberation of captive dolphins. This took him to Harderwijk, among other places, to demonstrate. He also addressed the Dutch House of Representatives at the invitation of Partij voor de Dieren (Party for the Animals). On that occasion, he called on the Netherlands to become dolphin-free. That was in 2016. O'Barry was already of age then. He is 85 now, but still going strong. When I send him an email, he immediately answered by phone. I told him that I had submitted questions to Dolphin Discovery about the welfare of the dolphins they keep, and whether I could ask him for a response to the answers they had promised to send me. O'Barry made it clear that he had little interest in doing so. "It’s an industry of hypocrisy and lies. The trainers are trained to lie and deny. So what’s the point?” He then referred to his website, which lists numerous arguments against the dolphin entertainment industry, including starvation as a means of making dolphins perform tricks. Dolphins always seem to be smiling. But that is misleading, says O'Barry. It is their physiognomy. He wrote a book about it: Behind the Dolphin Smile.
Dolphin Discovery assures me that there is a lot of misinformation about dolphins being kept by humans. For example, O'Barry 's claim that dolphins can commit suicide is untrue. "There is nothing in nature that is stronger than the survival instinct." Starvation is also out of the question. "The balanced diet we provide the dolphins increases their life expectancy. Research shows that dolphins normally live between 25 and 35 years. We have dolphins that are 45 years and older and are still in good health." The animals at Dolphin Discovery are also said not to live in isolation from each other, but in groups. Only pregnant dolphins are said to be kept apart from the rest. When I ask whether it is true that dolphins can behave aggressively towards people when they are frustrated, and that visitors must sign a disclaimer for this reason, Dolphin Discovery replies: "A risk declaration is standard practice for any activity involving animal interactions. In our habitat dolphins are not forced to participate and are continuously monitored to ensure they show no signs of stress or discomfort. Their well-being is our priority."
O'Barry reacts irritated when I ask him for a response. "For me to debunk this nonsense is too much work. I'm too busy now with the fifteen dolphins and two orcas that are stuck in Marineland Antibes. I also have to be back in Paris in a few days for another meeting with the Minister of the Environment." According to O'Barry The Dolphin Company is on the verge of collapse. "This Mexican Dolphin cartel which owns Miami Seaquarium and about 25 other dolphin abusement parks is going out of business, from what I know.”
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