(Beth Clifton collage)
Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project hopes resort failure can lead to starting a sanctuary
NASSAU, Bahamas––Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project on May 7, 2024 launched an international publicity offensive aimed at persuading the Bahamian government to allow the rescue of five starving dolphins at the defunct Blackbeard’s Cay resort on Balmoral Island, Nassau, Bahamas, where eight other dolphins have allegedly starved to death.
But no, contrary to some of Ric O’Barry’s more hyperbolic statements to Nassau Tribune business editor Neil Hartnell, the situation is not “kind of like the rescue in Gaza. There are trucks parked at the border,” O’Barry said, “but they cannot get in without permission. We have all this free stuff and medication to give out to them [the dolphins], but the government has not given us permission to come in.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Bankruptcy is not a shooting war
In Gaza the issue is that amid an ongoing shooting war that started with an October 7, 2023 Hamas militia attack featuring the rape/torture/murders of hundreds of Israeli women, the deaths of more than 1,200 Israelis altogether, the kidnappings of hundreds more, and the deaths of tens of thousands of farmed animals on kibbutz farms where barns were set ablaze, the Israeli Defense Force wants to ensure that Hamas, now mostly cornered in tunnels beneath refugee concentrations in Rafah, does not covertly resupply itself by hijacking relief convoys.
In the Bahamas the only problem is bureaucracy and cross-filed lawsuits as to who holds first claim on the Blackbeard’s Cay assets, among which the surviving dolphins may be the most valuable part. The rest of the place, maintenance long neglected, may not be worth much, but trained dolphins on the global market might fetch $100,000 apiece––or more.
To Free A Dolphin (2000) is Ric O’Barry’s version of the 1993 Sugarloaf Dolphin Sanctuary start-up and failure in the Florida Keys.
Dolphins for ransom
The Blackbeard’s Cay situation could be considered a dolphins-for-ransom case, though. The warring creditors want millions of dollars each contends is owed to them.
Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project wants to rehabilitate the dolphins for release, which to the creditors would amount to an enforced write-off of their substantial investments.
“O’Barry and Sam Duncombe, principal of the Bahamian environmental group reEarth, told this newspaper they have already identified a ‘potentially perfect’ sanctuary site near Rock Sound on Eleuthera’s east coast that would need further assessment and significant work,” wrote Nassau Tribune business editor Neil Hartnell on May 8, 2024.
“However, they said it could be readied to accommodate the five dolphins once they are stabilized at their current location,” Hartnell added.
One of the last two dolphins at the Melka Excelsior Hotel heads to sanctuary in Bali, Indonesia.
(Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project)
“Will not cost the government or Bahamian taxpayers anything”
“Pledging that such a facility ‘will not cost the government or Bahamian taxpayer anything,’ Hartnell said, O’Barry “added that Dolphin Project and its partners would handle construction and raise the necessary financing,” as they did in establishing a previous sanctuary in Bali, Indonesia.
(See Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project celebrates a triple dolphin release in Bali.)
Hartnell was unable to reach Bahamian minister of agriculture and marine resources Jomo Campbell and environment Vaughn Miller for comment, he wrote.
“However, a Dolphin Project online post about the Blackbeard’s Cay situation has already attracted negative headlines in London’s Daily Mail newspaper as well as other media,” Hartnell noted.
Lincoln O’Barry & dolphin.
(Beth Clifton collage)
Ric O’Barry “was able to get in there”
“Speaking to Tribune Business,” Hartnell continued, “Ric O’Barry said he visited the abandoned Blackbeard’s Cay project and dolphin pen on March 31, 2024, with the Dolphin Project also flying a marine mammal vet to Nassau. The sole person remaining at the development is Luis Arturo Hernandez, the dolphins’ caretaker and trainer.”
Said Ric O’Barry, “I was able to get in there and talk to Luis. He lives there like a homeless person. I bought him lunch, and sat and talked with him. He’s been abandoned, just like the dolphins. He put me in touch with the person in Mexico City who is paying him,” veterinarian Jose Luis Solorzano Velazco.
“Closed during the COVID pandemic,” explained Ric O’Barry’s son Lincoln O’Barry, “the Blackbeard’s Cay tourist attraction never re-opened and the dolphins were left in limbo.”
Ric O’Barry at Blackbeard’s Cay.
(Dolphin Project photo)
Bad conditions
Ric O’Barry personally observed conditions, Lincoln O’Barry said, including:
• Lack of electricity or running water on the property — a small generator on-site hasn’t been working for the past six months.
• The facility does not have the ability to keep the dolphins’ fish frozen or even cool, nor is there any sanitary fish preparation area.
• Many bottles of various medications designated for the dolphins are empty. Several others had expired as far back as 2020.
• The dolphins are all seriously underweight, suffering from malnutrition and dehydration. As dolphins get their hydration from fish, if they are not being fed enough, they are also not getting enough water. In captivity, fluids are often supplemented via ice chips, but as there is no power, there is no ice.
• The infrastructure is in complete disrepair. The fences in the dolphins’ sea pen has large holes, torn in several spots,” but apparently not enough to allow the dolphins to escape.
• The property is littered with garbage.
• There is only one full-time caretaker to feed the dolphins. There is no attending veterinarian and no security.
• There is no enrichment for the dolphins, nor is there any shade in their enclosure. The water in which they are being kept is extremely shallow,” about six and a half feet deep at the deepest point.
Ric O’Barry. (Dolphin Project photo)
“Cut dolphins’ food by 50%”
“Any one of these grievous observations, of which most were confirmed by Hernandez, could be considered animal abuse,” Lincoln O’Barry said. “Any one of them could have been responsible for the high number of dolphin deaths.”
Opined Ric O’Barry, “The five survivors are in a world of trouble from everything I have seen.
During Ric O’Barry’s visit, Lincoln O’Barry emailed, the caretaker Hernandez “contacted the consulting veterinarian in Mexico, Jose Luis Solorzano Velazco, who told O’Barry, amongst other things that he ‘reduced the dolphins’ food by 50% because the weather is warmer now.’”
“Based on our observations, it would appear that the dolphins may be receiving even less,” Lincoln O’Barry charged, adding that, “Dolphin Project cannot confirm if Solorzano is licensed to practice veterinary medicine in the Bahamas.”
Velazco was Keiko veterinarian
Claiming 35 years of experience as a wildlife veterinarian, Jose Luis Solorzano Velazco was attending veterinarian at the Reino Aventura oceanarium in Mexico City while the orca Keiko was there, 1985-1996, and while the 1993 hit film Free Willy! was made there.
Jose Luis Solorzano Velazco later wrote a book, La Verdadera Historia de Keiko, which in Spanish means “The true history of Keiko,” detailing his perspective on the controversial rehabilitation-for-release project, in which neither O’Barry was involved, that returned Keiko to the ocean in mid-2002.
Keiko upon release swam to Skalvik Fjord, Norway, where he died on December 12, 2003.
Starving dolphins at Blackbeard’s Cay.
(Dolphin Project photo)
Dolphins arrived in 2013
The Blackbeard’s Cay dolphins arrived in 2013, Lincoln O’Barry summarized, “imported from Honduras for a planned swim-with-dolphins tourist attraction.”
Blackbeard’s Cay at the time was known for offering a swim-with-stingrays attraction, apparently in the shallow pool now occupied by the surviving dolphins.
“Environmental activist Sam Duncombe and her Bahamian environmental organization reEarth sued the government one year later,” for allowing the dolphin imports, contrary to Bahamian and international law, “and won.
“Part of the judgment called for moving the dolphins to a suitable location, one that wasn’t exposed to potential hurricanes and curious tourists,” Lincoln O’Barry narrated, “yet nothing was done.”
(Dolphin Project.com photo)
Dolphin body count
“From the original eight dolphins, there were five offspring born, for a total of 13 dolphins. From 2018 until the present, eight dolphins died, five of whom perished in 2023 alone. At least three of the deaths were caused by starvation,” Lincoln O’Barry alleged.
Dolphin Project demands of the Bahamian government and/or Blackbeard’s Cay creditors include, “Medically evaluating and treating the dolphins where appropriate, as well as stabilizing their nutrition and hydration by an independent, third party veterinarian,” and “immediately hiring more qualified staff, trained in marine mammal husbandry, site maintenance, and security.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Seeking shade, buffer zone, & enrichment
“Creating shade for the five dolphins is imperative,” Lincoln O’Barry emphasized. “Summer in the Bahamas is brutal, especially in shallow water.”
The Dolphin Project is also asking that for “a buffer zone to restrict boat traffic within 50 meters of the Blackbeard’s Cay sea pens,” and for “adding enrichment items to the dolphin pens, i.e. volleyballs, etc.
“Dolphin Project has a portable generator standing by in Nassau to get the freezers up and running,” Lincoln O’Barry added.
Confirmed Ric O’Barry to Nassau Tribune business editor Neil Hartnell, “I bought a generator that runs the freezer and the lights, but we have to get permission” to set it up.
Sam Duncombe & friend Joey the dog.
(Facebook photo)
“Communications from government went silent”
Sam Duncombe of reEarth on April 10, 2024 met with Bahamian minister of agriculture and marine resources Jomo Campbell, Lincoln O’Barry recounted, “where she shared her concerns regarding the dolphins. She communicated that Dolphin Project would fund getting their health up to speed.
“Five days later,” Lincoln O’Barry continued, Campbell “called her, assuring her that he would grant Dolphin Project access to provide immediate and critical assistance.”
However, “When Duncombe attempted to follow up, all communications from the government went silent.”
(Beth Clifton collage)
Blue Illusions
“Tribune Business can reveal the background to the dolphins’ fate is complex,” explained Hartnell, “as they were owned by a business [Blackbeard’s Cay] that was ordered to shut down by the Supreme Court, but remained open in defiance and amid a lack of enforcement action. The tale also involves two U.S. bankruptcy court proceedings, a former Bahamian cabinet minister and litigation in the Bahamas.
“The dolphin encounter and marine park, designed as an attraction primarily targeted at cruise passengers, was owned by a company called Blue Illusions,” Hartnell said.
“That entity’s ownership was split 50/50 between two foreign investors, Samir Andrawos and his business partner, Victoria Iglesias.”
Blackbeard’s Cay today is a wreck.
(Dolphin Project photo)
Defied Bahamian Supreme Court
Andrawos and Iglesias for six years successfully defied then-Bahamian Supreme Court justice Stephen Isaacs, after Isaacs invalidated the Blackbeard’s Cay dolphin import licenses and ordered that the Blackbeard’s Cay site be restored to its previous use, Hartnell reported.
COVID-19, however, “forced all activities to cease. The financial impact from the pandemic-enforced closure ultimately proved an insurmountable obstacle for Blue Illusions to climb,” Hartnell wrote.
Andrawos and Iglesias “are presently embroiled in personal bankruptcy proceedings before separate U.S. bankruptcy courts in Maryland and southern Florida, respectively,” Hartnell explained. “Each has had a bankruptcy trustee appointed over their financial affairs, following legal actions initiated by Blue Illusions’ main creditor, SuttonGate Holdings.
Blackbeard’s Cay. (From Google Earth.)
“Blackbeard’s Cay best source of debt recovery”
“Court filings obtained by Tribune Business reveal that Andrawos’ creditors view Blackbeard’s Cay as their best source of debt recovery,” Hartnell detailed.
Compounding the situation is that “Andrawos’ 50% equity ownership interest in Blue Illusions has been claimed by Damian Gomez, former Bahamian minister of state for legal affairs,” who is trying in court “to recover $1.25 million in outstanding legal fees allegedly owed to him by the Blackbeard’s Cay developer,” Hartnell added.
Lawrence Katz, bankruptcy trustee for Andrawos, responded by asking the Maryland Bankruptcy Court to prevent Gomez from selling his claim to 50% of Blue Illusions.
Two of Ric O’Barry’s successful dolphin releases.
Best known now for drowned refugees
Concluded Hartnell, “It thus remains unclear exactly who has ownership of the abandoned Blackbeard’s Cay project, and responsibility for the dolphins,” but “Joel Tabas, handling the Chapter Seven bankruptcy for Iglesias, said she had pledged that the dolphins were being fed and cared for.”
Concluded Lincoln O’Barry, “A unique opportunity exists in the Bahamas to create the first dolphin sanctuary/retirement facility in the Americas. With a world view evolving against the keeping of dolphins for entertainment, the Bahamas can be a leader in creating a facility where dolphins can live out the rest of their lives in peace and dignity without being exploited to death.”
Beth & Merritt Clifton
Since the Blackbeard’s Cay resort closed, the site has been best known for a July 2022 incident in which a Miami-bound boatload of Haitian refugees capsized just offshore.
Seventeen Haitians drowned; 25 were rescued; eight remained unaccounted for.
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The post No, starving dolphin crisis in Bahamas is not “like Gaza.” But it is a crisis. appeared first on Animals 24-7.
