Hundreds protest peacefully in silent march against Hisarönü “Swim with the Dolphins Facility”

Last Friday afternoon more than 600 Turks and foreigners have made public their concerns about Misha and Tom, two male bottle nosed dolphins, at present living in a pool in Hisarönü Dolphin Park. In an orderly, silent march hundreds of people, many wearing ‘Born Free – Live Free’ and ‘free the dolphins’ tee shirts, passed through the centre of Hisarönü, Ölüdeniz.

The speech made by lawyer Žule Beder before the locked gates of the Hisarönü Dolphin Park, last Friday afternoon in Hisarönü, Ölüdeniz was the first time local businesses, residents, NGOs and people from all over Turkey and further afield, had a chance to make truly public their solidarity and concern over the dolphin park built in a public area of the resort. They showed that far from being “a few bored old English women” as described by one local bar owner, they are a large group of dedicated and motivated men and women of all nationalities and backgrounds.

It is generally believed that because of the growing numbers of businesses and individuals concerned about the dolphins’ welfare, the owners are still waiting for an operating license and have not been able to legally open for business. Tour Operator Thomas Cook has already confirmed that they are against the facility opening and others are expected to follow. Early on many tour groups gave their word that they would not be advertising or selling tickets.

In front of more than 600 protestors, many of which wore ‘Free the dolphins’ tee shirts and hundreds more bystanders, she reflected the views of those present and the more than 15,000 people who have joined the ‘Free the Ölüdeniz Dolphins’ on Facebook. Security was also tight, with Jandarma and Zabita covering the area, taking photos and videos but despite some concern by organisers the protest passed peacefully, with no incidents reported.

Reflecting on the day’s events, a member of a group who came from Kayakoy for the protest said, “It has always been really well organised protest for the beginning when we found out about the dolphinarium. We are pleased that we have had this opportunity to come here today to show how we feel. The dolphinarium is a tragedy for this area.”

The procession started at the ‘Robin Hood’ roundabout, walked up the High Street before turning left towards the dolphin park. On reaching the site of the protest, everyone joined hands, sometimes two or three deep around the park and after 5 minutes silence, Beder stood in front of the locked entrance gates and made her speech (in Turkish,) pointing out that humans must take responsibility for the dolphins’ welfare. “As human beings we are guilty for the existence of dolphin parks, which are prisons for dolphins.” It was then read in English by one of the organisers.

Press coverage has escalated since the British tabloid newspaper the Sun caught the attention of Turkey and the world with its first article some three weeks ago. Since then the Sun has printed a follow-up and both European and Turkish newspapers, together with animal lovers the world over have speculated on the future of the two male bottle-nosed dolphins.

In addition to the public protest the world-renowned organisation, Born Free has visited the pool. Famous Coronation Street soap star and Born Free patron, Helen Worth came to Turkey with two other representatives to meet with the owners. She told the press, “We want to persuade them to cancel the project and instead work under the guidance of Born free, to put the dolphins into a rehabilitation programme in the hope that, the dolphins’ health permitting, they can later be released.”

The parks owner, Aleksandr Kuznetsov subsequently expressed a wish to work with Born Free to this end but pointed out that if his two dolphins are to be re-habilitated then this should apply to all other dolphins in Turkey as well. “I would like to see Misha and Tom in the sea but this has to apply to all the dolphins in Turkey.”

The Sun’s representative said, “We are delighted by the response and hope that we, together with the protest groups and Born Free there will be a happy outcome for these two dolphins.” A spokesperson for the protestors said, “I think today’s peaceful protest was a great success. It was silent but even so I think we got our message across to the authorities loud and clear: Misha and Tom do not belong in a concrete pool up in Hisarönü… they need to be free in the sea. The response we had today is a reflection of how people feel – Turkish and British. This should not be forgotten.”

Since the facility was originally exposed in the English language Hürriyet Daily News, a group of Turkish and British residents have worked tirelessly to prevent the business from opening, and with thousands of emails to the Turkish authorities in Mušla and Ankara, together with online petitions and a Facebook group, many more thousands of signatures have now been collected.

Despite the large number of people obviously against the dolphin pool not everyone was convinced. The numbers that turned out to protest surprised one bystander, who did not wish to be named. “I can’t really understand all the fuss,” he said. “After all it’s just a couple of dolphins. I have more important things to worry about.” Others did not join the procession, having shops and bars to run but stood along the pavements and clapped to show their support. All the bars and restaurants turned the volume of the music and TV (football commentary) as a gesture of support and respect for the protestors.

Two dive centres, Lycia World’s Dive Centre and Elite diving took the unprecedented step of closing their offices in order to attend. Local TEMA representative, Okyay Tirli also came along and spent time explaining the cause to anyone and everyone who wanted to listen. Later he said, “I didn’t meet anyone who wanted the dolphins kept in Hisarönü. Their place is in the sea. Keeping them in this prison is not good for the dolphins or for tourism in Hisarönü.”

Here is the full transcript of Beder’s speech:

“As human beings we are all guilty for the existence of dolphin parks, which are prisons for dolphins.

We are the reason for the development of this industry by seeing the dolphin parks as entertainment centres. But In fact these parks are prisons where dolphins lead an unhappy existence and are trained by food deprivation. Every penny spent at one of these parks encourages other dolphins to be removed from the sea and imprisoned in a small pool. By giving money to these businesses it enables them to open more dolphin parks and take and increasing number of dolphins from the wild.

By visiting these parks we are the reason why these companies earn money. If you think that swimming 10 minutes with a dolphin costs only 70 Pounds, you are mistaken. We are the real reason for the deaths of hundreds, thousands of dolphins who are taken from the sea and die in these pools.

Everything is in our hands: We must stop the torment of the dolphins. If we all stop visiting the dolphin parks and do not pay any money to these companies, they cannot continue to run the dolphin park at a loss and they will have to close.

We must realize that the dolphins are trained by abusing the hunger of the dolphins. It maybe entertainment for humans but it is torture for the dolphins. Dolphins swim at sea with a speed of 25-30 miles per hour. They follow ships and play games with them. In which pool can they swim at this speed? Dolphins can jump meters into the air, dive 250meters deep. Which pool can provide them these opportunities?

Dolphins spend 80% of their lives under water hunting fish or discovering the beauties of the underwater world. Which pool can provide them the beauty of the underwater world, animation and variety?

Taking the dolphins from the sea is the same with putting a bird in a small cage by breaking its’ wings. We all know that captured dolphins miss the sea so badly, that’s why they fall into depression, they harm themselves and the environment, they become ill because of the chemicals in the pools, they go blind, the strong solar exposure all day long makes wounds on their bodies and they commit suicide because they cannot stand the life in captivity. We know these facts but do the people around us?

Do we love dolphins? I think nobody says “No” to this question. Even the owners of the dolphin parks, trainers or care workers also say that they love dolphins very much. They keep the dolphins hungry to use them in the shows and they say they love them. Although they know the dolphins are dying in captivity every day slowly, they have the cheek to say, “Dolphins are very happy here”

Okay, do we really love dolphins?

To turn a blind eye to them dying and suffering, to pay money in order to swim with them is helping there business to thrive.

Please don’t believe people who say dolphins are happy in those small pools. A human would not be happy in a prison cell so why would a dolphin be happy in a small pool. If you think that dolphins are living in happiness in those concrete tanks please experience this. Lock yourself in a room of your house, don’t go out, don’t go to other rooms, wait in hunger for food and let people look at you in distress. I bet you will change your mind.

Everything in your hands:

Choosing to swim with a dolphin in a small pool, while knowing that hundreds, thousands of dolphins are swimming in limitless seas, is because of you!

If you swim with a dolphin perhaps you will have some photos to show your friends, that’s all. But, later in what extent do you suffer when you learn that the dolphin you swam together died because of your contribution? It’s a matter for your conscience.

We are against to dolphin parks, which tear dolphins from their natural environments and keep them in captivity in small pools. We demand not to give operating licence to those parks. If you really love dolphins then please let them free.

We know that there are thousands of true friends who support us from the bottom of their hearts but they are not here with us at the moment. We thank you everyone participants and non-participants.”

July 2, 2010 - Land of Lights