Opposition continues to Arizona dolphin facility
Concern continues to grow over the construction of a new captive dolphin facility in the Arizona desert, Dolphinaris, that is due to open in September.
In a region renowned for its extreme summer heat, the plan to open the facility, which will hold up to 12 dolphins and offer swim-with interactions, has received widespread criticism, including from many people who live in the local town of Scottsdale who are opposed to the marine park.
“I think it’s going to be a nightmare for the dolphins,” Courtney Vail, campaigns and programs manager for WDC, told The Dodo. “You can climate control anything, and any prison cell can be adapted to enable these dolphins to survive, but it doesn’t mean they will thrive.”
It is currently unclear where the dolphins will come from but the owner has said they will all be captive-bred. Sadly, these dolphins will be doomed to a very different life to those at the National Aquarium in Baltimore which announced last week it would be retiring its dolphins to a sea sanctuary.
