Marine Connection recently received news that five dolphins, three females and two males ranging in age from 5 to 10 years, have been relocated from the Dolphin Academy at Curaçao Sea Aquarium to the Fakieh Aquarium, Jeddah.
Opened in 2013, Fakieh Aquarium already exhibits dolphins that take part in shows for the public, however later this year plans also to offer paying customers interactive dolphin swim experiences, much as they did, and other dolphins still do, at the Curacao facility, where ‘dolphin experience’ packages range from $50 to over $500.
The dolphins were transported by cargo plane by air transport company DFS, and it has been reported that the reason for the move was to reduce the number of dolphins at the Sea Aquarium Park due to financial and operational aspects resulting from the Covid-19 pandemic. An additional factor was the fact that by 2017, the Sea Aquarium’s lagoons had already exceeded their maximum capacity for captive dolphins.
Margaux Dodds, captivity director for Marine Connection commented; “for the dolphins concerned this move is simply geography – a different location but the same repetitive, stressful life. For them, nothing will change, they will still be used to make a profit for the new owners, who will display them to the public via their experience packages and shows”.
