Singapore theme park urged to free dolphins

A replica of a dolphin is displayed at the launch of a music campaign by Singapore animal welfare group ACRES on Friday. A Singapore animal welfare group haslaunched a campaign to urge casino and leisure complex Resorts World Sentosa to free 25 dolphins destined for a new marine park attraction. AFP

SINGAPORE—A Singapore animal welfare group on Friday launched a campaign to urge a casino and leisure complex to free 25 dolphins destined for a new marine park attraction.

Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) bought the mammals for an “interactive dolphin spa program” at its Marine Life Park attraction, where visitors can interact with the animals.

“We hope that RWS will make a socially responsible decision and free the dolphins,” said Louis Ng, executive director of the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES).

He issued the appeal at the launch of a campaign called “Save the World’s Saddest Dolphins” to raise public awareness through songs and videos on the website www.saddestdolphins.com.

RWS, which runs Singapore’s first casino as well as the adjacent Universal Studios theme park, had no immediate reaction, saying it was studying the campaign’s allegations in detail.

ACRES invited the public to participate in the campaign by filming themselves making “save the dolphins” speeches or holding placards that will be sent to RWS via email, as well as uploaded on Facebook and YouTube.

“Using social media and by approaching this issue more creatively, we will be able to engage the public more effectively and reach out to a wider audience,” said Ng.

ACRES said RWS bought 27 Indo-pacific bottlenose dolphins from the Solomon Islands in 2008 and two had died during training in the Philippines.