Three dolphins kept captive in Bahrain resort swim free to the wild

TDT | Manama                                    

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com    

Three dolphins rescued by authorities from a resort in Bahrain safely, swam to the wild, sometimes jumping over choppy waves, giving an incredibly emotional experience to officials who worked to secure their freedom.

The dolphins, two females and a young male, caught illegally and sold for entertainment purposes, were rescued by Bahrain Coast Guard officials from the resort following a court order.

The mammals were in a tiny pool of the resort, confined for the amusement of tourists who would pay to swim and play with them.

As per a judicial ruling, also the first such instance in Kingdom, authorities carted the dolphins to the open sea and released them back to their natural habitat after nursing them back to health.

The Execution Prosecution head Mohammed Al Musallam said the dolphins gained their freedom thanks to joint efforts between the concerned state agencies and the International Fund for Animal Welfare (IFAO).

Incidents leading to the extraordinary rescue started with the Coast Guard officials monitoring the handover of a dolphin to the resort. However, during another onsite visit, officials found that the facility had three dolphins instead of one.

This incident led Coast Guard officials to approach the Supreme Council for Environment (SCE) in Bahrain, which confirmed detecting no dolphins at the facility six months back during their visit. The Council also confirmed granting no permits to the facility to import dolphins in the past six months.

The findings led the Public Prosecution to arrest the suspects and seize the vehicles used for transporting the animals inland and the boat used for capturing them.

“The fishing boat was anchored on the beach behind the resort and had no function[1]al identification device,” Coast Guard officials said. Announcing the order, Al Musallam said the Kingdom pays the utmost attention to the environment and wildlife, backed by advanced environmental and wildlife legislation and laws.