O’Barry used to hunt dolphins, but now he does everything he can to release them back into the wild
Rick O’Barry, a former dolphin hunter, says that the fact that most people are not aware of it is just as much of an important issue as the hunt itself. Out of one hundred people he interviewed, not one of them knew that the waters in Taiji turn blood red during the dolphin hunting season. Taiji – a small town in Japan remains one of the most popular hunting spots among dolphin hunters. They kill some of the dolphins for meat while selling the prettier ones for aquariums all around the world. It is a multi-million dollar business where each dolphin is worth over one hundred and fifty thousand US dollars.
O’Barry knows everything about the captivity industry as he used to be a part of it. He was a diver in a capturing boat before he became a dolphin trainer on the “Flipper” TV series. He says that he became very disenchanted with the captivity industry which led to him quitting his job. Now, he is the founder of the “Dolphin Project” which cooperates with other animal rescue organizations to end dolphin violence around the world. For almost fifty years already, Rick O’Barry had been freeing thousands of dolphins.
He also tries to reveal the truth about the entertainment shows that include dolphins. “People are dealing with an optical illusion right now. Most of the time they just fail to see the abuse. For people’s amusement, the hunters capture the dolphins from the wild, stealing them from their mothers and sometimes they even get hurt and injured while getting trained for shows. People have the right to know the truth”.
Compared to any other animal, for dolphins, living in captivity is much more difficult. O’Barry hopes that he can make a difference by trying to fight against the cruel system.
