FionaB
18-08-2004, 15:30
I haven't seen this already posted, so I am going to this now. I have already posted somewhere else but I would like to get everyone involved.
For anyone who doesn't get Dive magazine - August issue
One of the sickest and most bizarre animal attractions has opened in Sharm El Sheik. Two arctic beluga whales have been shipped to the desert heat of the Red Sea to perform for tourists. The belugas named - Feel and Hook are being kept in a tiny swimming pool with water temperatures in excess of 20 degrees. Their natural habitat of the Arctic is around 1 degree. The belugas are juveniles and less than 2m in size, mature ones can reach nearly 5m in length, the pool is only 5m in diameter.
In a nearby pool there are 3 bottlenose dolphins, tourists can swim with them for $10. Dolphinella was opened five months ago near the Ritz Carlton hotel at Ras Umm Sid, there are 2 shows daily 6 days a week, these shows are attracting upto 500 people per show, mostly Russians and Italians.
Cathy Williamson from the Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society said "We are really concerned about the welfare of these animals". The beluga pool, in particular is tiny and severely inadequate for the confinement of these animals.
Ruth Corner, owner of Wild and Free who runs trips for people to swim with wild dolphins recently visited the site and told Dive "The belugas are never allowed into the larger pool because they are being trained for swimming with people and because the bottlenose dolphins won't accept them in their territory".
Jane Morgan, photographer for Dive said she was in tears when she left Dolphinella. The belugas are obviously distressed.
When challenged about the rights and wrongs of keeping belugas and dolphins in captivity the spokesperson for Dolphinella said "I am sorry, I don't know what this conservation is"
I only hope that UK divers do not use this so called tourist attraction and someone will put pressure on this company and they will see the error of their ways.
I have emailed someone in Egypt to see if he can help and he said he would try.
After my initial email to Ali and his subsequent response I have not yet had an update from him, but did email him again last week. I may be away working so it might take a little while.
In this months Dive magazine is an article about Dolphinella and there are a couple of email addresses listed, hopefully these are correct as I haven't sent my off yet.
If you would like to show your support for the Beluga whales in Sharm and let the Egyptian officals what we as UK divers think of this type of "attraction" , please could you email them and let them know.
We might not be able to stop this but I believe we should show how much we care about our wildlife and divers did make Sharm what it is today (good or bad). Maybe we should vote will our wallets and boycott Sharm as a diving destination.
According to the article we should tell the Egyptian tourisum minister Ahmed El Maghraby what we think on <a href="mailto:egypt@freenetname.co.uk">egypt@freenetname.co.uk</a> (although I don't know why this would be a UK email address.
You could also contact the dolphinarium manager, Wagdy Saad on <a href="mailto:wagdysmoh@hotmail.com">wagdysmoh@hotmail.com</a>
For anyone who doesn't get Dive magazine - August issue
One of the sickest and most bizarre animal attractions has opened in Sharm El Sheik. Two arctic beluga whales have been shipped to the desert heat of the Red Sea to perform for tourists. The belugas named - Feel and Hook are being kept in a tiny swimming pool with water temperatures in excess of 20 degrees. Their natural habitat of the Arctic is around 1 degree. The belugas are juveniles and less than 2m in size, mature ones can reach nearly 5m in length, the pool is only 5m in diameter.
In a nearby pool there are 3 bottlenose dolphins, tourists can swim with them for $10. Dolphinella was opened five months ago near the Ritz Carlton hotel at Ras Umm Sid, there are 2 shows daily 6 days a week, these shows are attracting upto 500 people per show, mostly Russians and Italians.
Cathy Williamson from the Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society said "We are really concerned about the welfare of these animals". The beluga pool, in particular is tiny and severely inadequate for the confinement of these animals.
Ruth Corner, owner of Wild and Free who runs trips for people to swim with wild dolphins recently visited the site and told Dive "The belugas are never allowed into the larger pool because they are being trained for swimming with people and because the bottlenose dolphins won't accept them in their territory".
Jane Morgan, photographer for Dive said she was in tears when she left Dolphinella. The belugas are obviously distressed.
When challenged about the rights and wrongs of keeping belugas and dolphins in captivity the spokesperson for Dolphinella said "I am sorry, I don't know what this conservation is"
I only hope that UK divers do not use this so called tourist attraction and someone will put pressure on this company and they will see the error of their ways.
I have emailed someone in Egypt to see if he can help and he said he would try.
After my initial email to Ali and his subsequent response I have not yet had an update from him, but did email him again last week. I may be away working so it might take a little while.
In this months Dive magazine is an article about Dolphinella and there are a couple of email addresses listed, hopefully these are correct as I haven't sent my off yet.
If you would like to show your support for the Beluga whales in Sharm and let the Egyptian officals what we as UK divers think of this type of "attraction" , please could you email them and let them know.
We might not be able to stop this but I believe we should show how much we care about our wildlife and divers did make Sharm what it is today (good or bad). Maybe we should vote will our wallets and boycott Sharm as a diving destination.
According to the article we should tell the Egyptian tourisum minister Ahmed El Maghraby what we think on <a href="mailto:egypt@freenetname.co.uk">egypt@freenetname.co.uk</a> (although I don't know why this would be a UK email address.
You could also contact the dolphinarium manager, Wagdy Saad on <a href="mailto:wagdysmoh@hotmail.com">wagdysmoh@hotmail.com</a>