Carina, not sure if my e-mail land in your inbox, i got
Remote host said: 550 B001 Quota exceeded
But part of story was told here, you can see pictures
http://www.dauphinlibre.be/dauphins_russes_2009.htm------
Hm, anyway, i'll post my mail here, nothing secret in it (sorry for deviating thread from Misha and Tom)
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Hello!
For me 'urgent-please-help-save-these-2-dolphins' petition seems closed ?
"This petition is closed. Thank you for your interest. "
Myself descended (in some sense) from this one "dolphinarium":
http://dolphinarium.ru/main.php they have guestbook, but its moderated, of course.Despite having 50-m long pool - i hardly can call this place healthy. I personally remember people (staff) complaining about strong chlorine smell in air close to water surface, its water filtration system was clearly not adequate (in 2004, when i first come in as strange kind of volunteer, they never accept even idea about this, but back in time "they" were, in some areas, "we"! ). During last-year "Dolphinarium Wars" in Moscow this place surely ... slipped down, show performed as pure circus act, without even single word about supposed education. Two unused dolphins held in isolation during show-time; according to visitor's notes in their online guestbook those two dolphins allowed at last swim in whole pool (minus various cages at the right end, of course) at evening time, when people come to swim with them. But something clearly changed Bayan's skin, leaving big
and visible even after 6 months after initial observation (by me, and other visitor noted such changes much earlier) white patches. Even if patches itself are harmless, they indicate something, just as "non-usable" (sorry!) state of captive-born dolphin named Neon.
IMGP6456.jpg
IMGP6454.jpg - from 10.04.2010 (dolphin named Bayan)
shot0008.png - screenshot from video, taken 16.09.2009
http://www.dauphinlibre.be/dauphins_russes_2009.htm - also show this story, from slightly different angle. (i was not aware about another anti-captivity warrior until Juliana showed up last year. because while i was "busy" at forums, she was busy actually protesting).
But dolphinarium scandal was HUGE.
http://togeth.er.ru/5000000000/comand/blogs.shtml?7532 - 900 comments simple because we overflow some internal limit, and this is not counting another places ....Unfortunately, all this was about control/ownership - who will milk money from dolphins. But this scandal clearly turn some people at dolphinarium even less friendly than usual.
For now, officially, scandal is over, but summer season is up and running, i really want to hope water is not as bad currently (shows were suspended in end-June for some work, probably in this area), but strange resistance from city veterinary officials on inspection is worrying sign for me ... Especially because last time we checked (early July this year) dolphinarium was operating without necessary permission papers from fed. departments, just like rest of them all over Russia! (very sad surprise)
I was sending land mails to this city-wise department:
http://gov.spb.ru/gov/admin/otrasl/veterTheir first answer about probable death of one dolphin (Volka, died in 2005, but 'never died' according to official answer from vets!) was quite long, but then, gradually, they shortened their answers to "we see no reason for another inspection". Even after i send to them very sad, but true example about officially-known documented non-conformance of one Russian dolphinarium with even sketchy rules, required by current Russian laws! (it seems procuracy checked only paper-compliance side of things, not even real situation and found errors anyway!). According to answer from our oversight government officials - they simply don't even know HOW MANY so-called protected Black Sea dolphins currently held in captivity in Russia! How on Earth you can "control" anything if you even don't know how many you have NOW, let alone dynamics?!
Problem is ... this is Russia. Not every single person here know English or any other foreign language. So, direct communication not always possible ...
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some typos corrected ....
