The living dolphins are cared for by a single staff member while suffering dehydration and malnutrition, activists say.
A resort in the Bahamas that shut down during the Covid-19 pandemic is responsible for the deaths of eight dolphins and the neglect of another five, a dolphin conservation organisation has claimed.
Ric O’Barry’s Dolphin Project, a dolphin welfare non-profit, claims the resort Blackbeard Cay, also known as Balmoral Island – located in the Bahamas – is responsible for eight dolphin deaths since 2018. A total of 13 dolphins were at Balmoral Island, where they were brought in 2013 for tourists to swim with, according to the organisation.
The report said eight of these dolphins died since 2018, with five dying in 2023 alone.
“The five survivors are in a world of trouble from everything I have seen,” Mr O’Barry said in a statement. “From critical food (and water) deprivation to lack of critically needed shade, and electricity, from potential hazards within the dolphins’ enclosures to lack of proper medical care, it would be more appropriate to state that survivors are living a nightmare.”
