A dolphin leaps out of a tiny pool and dashes into a ring of flames in a terrifying video. The crowd erupts in applause, and a whistle is blown. Two dolphins swim on their backs with basketballs clutched between their pectoral fins in the following scene.
Following that, a guy throws rings across the pool for the dolphins to catch. The guy beats the water with a metal stick when they get the trick incorrect.
Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project published a video of dolphins performing in one of Indonesia’s itinerant dolphin circuses. These dolphins, like those at SeaWorld and other dolphinariums around the world, are compelled to perform feats like jumping through hoops or doing flips in exchange for dead fish.
While all captive dolphin facilities have welfare issues, the circuses in Indonesia seem decidedly crueler – because they’re traveling.
When the circuses move, the dolphins are loaded into blue crates and driven in pickup trucks, often for hundreds of miles. Some dolphins are even loaded onto airplanes when the traveling circus goes to another Indonesian island.
The dolphins must perform in temporary, movable plastic pools filled with chlorine and artificial salt water once they get on location.
The founder of Jakarta Animal Aid Network, Femke Den Haas, told The Dodo, “It’s incredibly harsh.” “I couldn’t believe it when I first heard about the touring dolphin performances.”
Den Haas received a call in 2009 from someone claiming to be working for a touring dolphin circus in Bekasi, a place west of Jakarta. The event was set up in a nearby field.
“The person who called me was reporting about the dying dolphin at the traveling show,” Den Haas said. “At first, I didn’t believe her, because I said, ‘There’s no way that there are dolphins there on a football field.’ But we went to check it out, and I was really, really shocked. When we arrived, the one dolphin was already dead.”
While the cause of death wasn’t clear, stress – and poor living conditions – probably had a lot to do with it.
But, before Ancol allegedly sells the dolphins, where do they originate from?
Local fisherman collect wild dolphins off the Indonesian islands, according to Lincoln O’Barry of Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project. “They make an order, and the fishermen go out and grab the dolphins,” O’Barry said to The Dodo. “And when he returns, he basically says, ‘I’ve got a dolphin in my net by accident.’ ‘I now require Ancol’s assistance in rescuing it.’ This is how the majority of dolphins end themselves in captivity.”
Den Haas, who is also the Indonesia campaign manager for Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project, believes it should be fished. “‘Why are you granting these permits?’ fisheries is now interrogating the forestry department. The forestry department is under a lot of strain, but they don’t seem to mind.”
The International Union of Conservation and Nature (IUCN) wrote to the forestry department in 2013, requesting that the dolphin circuses be stopped immediately. “I don’t think anything could be more powerful than an IUCN letter,” Den Haas added. “However, they simply disregard it.”
The forestry department’s inaction, according to Den Haas, has everything to do with money – and corruption. “It’s tremendous money,” she explained, “800 million rupiah [$60,000 USD] every month per circus.”
Dolphins, however, pay a high price for this financial gain.
After being yanked out of the ocean and torn away from their families, the dolphins are reportedly carted around Indonesia to perform show after show in the tiny, makeshift pools.
O’Barry was just on the ground in Indonesia, and said he’s seen the circus companies set up. “They’ll dig a hole, put a plastic liner in it, pour a bag of salt, and they’ll get the fire department to come fill it up with water, and then they’ll put a circus tent over it,” he said.
According to O’Barry, the circuses mostly travel to tiny rural villages where “there’s nothing else going on.” They set up camp in fields, parking garages, and parking lots when they visit large towns.
The dolphins are unloaded from carrying crates and put into the sea once the “pool” is complete. When the show starts, the dolphins must do different feats such as collecting hoops, solving puzzles, and jumping through fire rings.
“We’ve come so close,” O’Barry said. “We’ve had the helicopter on hold, the army trucks lined up, everything ready to go. Then all of a sudden we get a phone call that for some reason we’re not going there. The fix was in, somebody paid somebody off.”
O’Barry still believes that Camp Lumba Luma has limited the further capture of wild dolphins. “Because by law, any dolphin that gets captured has to go to our facility,” he said.
However, he concedes that illegal capture could still be going on. “There’s always a chance that they’re catching them in some hidden fisherman’s village, because they’re not keeping great records of these places,” O’Barry said.
Den Haas feels that public outrage is the most effective way to put an end to dolphin performances. “Tell your country’s ambassador to Indonesia that you’re concerned about what’s happening to the dolphins in Indonesia and that you want the travel shows prohibited,” Den Haas said. “I’m certain that the president will get all of these reports.
The more we put pressure on him and the more we reach out to him, the more he’ll feel compelled to take action. Sending letters or organizing a protest at Indonesian embassies across the world would be extremely beneficial.”
Consider joining this petition to help dolphins in Indonesian circuses. You may also donate to The Dolphin Project to aid in the battle against the dolphin circus.
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