Earth Island Institute Philippines Press Release: One Death Too Many

We at Earth Island Institute Philippines join marine mammal advocates in Singapore in again pressing for the release of wild-caught dolphins at the Marine Life Park of Resorts World Sentosa (RWS). These dolphins, now down to 23 from the original 27, were captured from the Solomon Islands and trained at different facilities including Ocean Adventure in Subic, Philippines.

It has been a month since the death of Sharmila, a bottlenose dolphin owned by RWS and their fourth dead dolphin, and there appears to be no urgency from the authorities in Singapore to put an end to captivity and avert future deaths.

Dolphins do not live long in captivity. This is what we have been saying all this time. Proof of this fact is the brief history of captive dolphins in RWS.

Before Sharmila, Wen-wen died en route to Singapore from the Philippines. A year before that, two dolphins died in Langkawi, Malaysia, where they were temporarily kept after being captured from the Solomon Islands for RWS. Even before these deaths, we have been constantly campaigning, educating and urging for their release from captivity.

With these deaths, we urge RWS to heed the wisdom of what Earth Island Institute Philippines and other advocates are pointing out: set them free and you can avoid further deaths.

One death is too many. Four is way too much. Captivity has to stop!