SPECIAL EVENTS HIGHLIGHT DOLPHIN CAPTIVITY ISSUES IN GREECE

poster made by The Dolphin's Voice
Reposted here and here

DOLPHINS SHOULD BE FREE

SPECIAL EVENTS HIGHLIGHT DOLPHIN CAPTIVITY ISSUES IN GREECE

• Sunday June 22^nd, 5 PM: The Poseidonion Grand Hotel, Spetses

Special screening of the Oscar-winning documentary THE COVE, followed at 6:30 PM by a special Q & A session with Ric O’Barry, star of The Cove, and other speakers. The event is FREE, sponsored by the Wildlife Cooperative in cooperation with the Dolphin Project-Greece. The Cove depicts the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan, and documents the connection to the international captive dolphin trade. 

• Tuesday, June 24^th, 10 AM to 12PM: Rally  with Ric O’Barry in front of Ministry of Environment, March to Ministry of Agriculture -- Address: 119 Mesogeion Avenue, Athens, Greece

The event is free, hosted by Dolphin Project - Greece and Initiative Against Cetacean Captivity (ΠΚΑΚ) and supported by the Panhellenic Animal Welfare and Environmental Federation (ΠΦΠΟ) and the Hellenic Wildlife Hospital (EKΠAZ). 

In January 2014, the Greek Parliament voted in favor of upholding the ban on animal performances.  The Greek Ministry of Agriculture does nothing to enforce the law which prohibits the animal performances, while the Greek Ministry of Environment continues to allow the keeping of dolphins in captivity.

We are asking the Greek Government to enforce the law and stop the dolphin shows, and most importantly to ban cetacean captivity in Greece. We will also be presenting to the Minister a petition with over 7000 signatures, asking for the ban of captivity in Greece.

In short, the protesters are asking for:  
1) enforcement of the law, 
2) a total ban of dolphin captivity in Greece. 

Dolphins are intelligent, wide-ranging mammals swimming between 60-100 km a day in the wild. These sentient beings suffer in captivity from confinement and separation from their family pod,  dumped into a small concrete tank (only a few meters in length and depth) with strangers and forced to do "shows" through food deprivation. Recent scientific research confirms that keeping dolphins in captivity is physically and mentally detrimental to these animals. Dolphins born in captivity don't stop being wild animals after a few generations, therefore they suffer equally. In addition, dolphins born in captivity are not releasable and their only use is to preserve the captive population where they live out the rest of their days in shallow chlorinated pools performing tricks for food.

Further information here and here