A loophole in Malta’s 10-year-old animal-welfare legislation explains why the only dolphinarium at the popular Mediterranean scuba-diving destination is still allowed to charge visitors to see captive dolphins perform for them.
It is the very fact that Mediterraneo Marine Park is registered as a zoo that has allowed it to continue its activities in the face of continued protests from animal welfare campaigners – and perhaps explains why the authorities are tight-lipped when approached for comment by those campaigners and Divernet.
The bottlenose dolphins at Mediterraneo, the trading name for Marineland Ltd on Malta’s north-east coast, have been there for more than 20 years to perform and interact with the public.
Two years ago the deaths of the park’s three female dolphins were brought to light by collaborating organisations Marine Connection, Animal Liberation Malta and Dolphin Project.
Mediterraneo blamed the fatalities on a scuba-diving contractor having left a lead-filled weight-pouch in the dolphins’ pool, resulting within a month in their deaths by poisoning, as reported on Divernet.
The park’s five male dolphins had survived, following some three months of treatment. The eldest, Sol, had been caught off Cuba in 2000, and the others were born in the park – Sol’s two sons Rohan (5) and Luqa (4), and Ninu (14) and Cha (13).
‘Moved to Spain’
The campaigners at the time said that the dolphinarium had failed to inform the public of the deaths and had not given the explanation about the lead weights until a year later, after staff had told an enquiring visitor that the females had been moved to Spain – a claim exposed as untrue.
This summer, concerned that the remaining five male dolphins might be suffering from living in pools said to have “seriously deteriorated” after being overrun with algae, UK-based organisation Marine Connection contacted Malta’s animal welfare commissioner Alison Bezzina.
Marine Connection was formed by Liz Sandeman and Margaux Dodds more than 30 years ago, following their success in campaigning for the closure of the UK’s last remaining dolphinariums. They called on Bezzina to instigate regular independent testing of the water in the pools by Malta’s Veterinary Regulation Department (VRD) as a matter of urgency.
“We also feel that as Mediterraneo currently is operating under a zoo licence, this should be reviewed and under the circumstances, revoked,” Dodds told Bezzina.
“These dolphins are being used in shows and public interaction sessions; this fact in itself contravenes the purpose of a zoo, they are not being used for any conservation efforts and, as such, the licence validity is open to question.”
Definition of a circus
At first sight such circus-style shows might appear to place the park in breach of both its current licence as a zoo and Maltese law. Under the 2014 Animal Welfare Act, facilities in which animals are used for “performances, exhibitions, shows or for the training thereof in circuses” can have their licence revoked, premises closed and animals relocated.
This legislation defines a circus as “any exhibition put on by exhibitors for profit, and viewed by the public for entertainment which offers amusement and display, and where animals are made to perform tricks or manoeuvres, which do not reflect their natural behaviour or does not offer any educational value”.
However, an exemption (31E) states that the terms “shall not apply to zoos licensed under this Act, on the grounds that the exemption does not jeopardise the objectives of the provisions of this Act”.
In June Bezzina told Marine Connection that she was liaising with VRD to clarify the details of its inspections at Mediterraneo, but the organisation says that, despite continued pleas for feedback, the commissioner has provided no further details since that time.
Divernet has also contacted Bezzina for clarification of the situation, but she replied only that licensing and regulation of entities such as Mediterraneo was the responsibility of the VRD, referring the enquiry to the directorate’s veterinary officer Dr Duncan Chetcuti Ganado. He has not responded to queries.
‘Analysis if it is needed’
Mediterraneo Marine Park, however, has been more forthcoming. “Our tanks are analysed daily on physical and chemical parameters,” manager Pietro Pecchioni told Divernet.
“Once a month a microbiological analysis from an external (third) laboratory is performed. All the parameters are in line with the standards and guidelines. The government is in touch with us for any further inspection and analysis if it is needed.”
Asked about compliance with animal-welfare law, Pecchioni said: “I’ll invite you to read with attention the same law. Our institution is an accredited zoo.”
The park has previously stated that a team of divers are used to clean the pools and manage algal growth and, while the growth might appear unsightly, it is said not to be harmful to the dolphins.
“Water tests have apparently been carried out, but this is the park regulating itself, as it is done by staff there,” says Sandeman. “Why will they not publish results of these tests, or allow independent inspection of the facility and their dolphins?”
“Our mission is to champion marine-life conservation and impart valuable knowledge to the public about the critical significance of preserving our oceans and the magnificent creatures that inhabit them,” claims Mediterraneo Marine Park.
In turn, Marine Connection states on its website: “The fact that Mediterraneo Marine Park continues to operate suggests the authorities are turning a blind eye to these animal-welfare issues, which we cannot tolerate.”
Also on Divernet: MALTA PARK BLAMES DIVER FOR DOLPHIN DEATHS, CAPTIVE DOLPHIN ‘THROWN OUT WITH BATHWATER’, DOLPHINS FOR AVATAR: WHAT WAS JC THINKING?, BOTTLENOSE DOLPHINS – ONE TRIBUTE, TWO IDS, WILDLIFE CHARITY NAMES ‘EXPLOITATIVE’ TRAVEL COMPANIES
