Jakarta: Animal welfare activists are calling for a ban on transporting dolphins by plane after filming footage that showed them being boxed into crates in a harness to take part in a travelling circus in Indonesia.
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Jakarta Animal Aid Network co-founder Femke Den Haas said dolphins in these circuses usually move around the country once a month and can spend up to 40 hours travelling with only margarine or butter to keep them moist.
"They don't use any water, it's dry transport which makes it easy because it's lighter and cheaper for the company," she said.
However the Indonesian government and the company - Taman Impian Jaya Ancol - said the method of transportation met international standards.
"The International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources guidelines said dolphins should not be put into [a] container full of water but rather put into something like a cradle or swing that is hung in a container with water," said Forestry and Environment Department spokesman Djati Witjaksono Hadi.
The Jakarta Animal Aid Network says Indonesia is the last country in the world to still have travelling dolphin circuses, although there were still travelling beluga whale circuses in Russia.
It posted a video of dolphins being loaded onto a plane in Jakarta where they were transported to Balikpapan, a city in Kalimantan, to perform in a Taman Impian Jaya Ancol travelling circus.
Taman Impian Jaya Ancol said it was a conservation body and the safety and well-being of their dolphins was important to it. Spokeswoman Rika Lestari said a vet always travelled with the animals.
"Ancol is not the only conservation body that travels with dolphins, there are others too," she said.
"We just don't want to be criticised for things others do because we always meet international standards," said spokesperson Rika Lestari. "We don't exploit the animals."
However animal activists say that the stress of performance and travel, the lack of social relationships and natural behaviours, unsuitable pool water and the noise of crowds means dolphins in travelling circuses die younger than they would in the wild.
"People are quite rightly outraged by the fate of dolphins in aquarium," Animals Asia's animal welfare director Dave Neale said.
"Even the biggest pools are totally unsuitable for these animals, but what they suffer in travelling circuses is unparalleled. The crates the dolphins are boxed into are barely the size of their body. What a bewildering and horrific experience for an animal which naturally roams hundreds of miles with family and extended family group."
with Karuni Rompies
