Ric O’Barry And Son To Star In Animal Planet’s ‘Blood Dolphins’

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by Daelyn Fortney July 22, 2010
Categories: Animals
Tags: , .
Photo: cc: flickr.com/photos/healthebay

On August 27 Animal Planet will air a three part miniseries featuring Ric O’Barry and his son Lincoln as they work to expose the plight of dolphins worldwide. “Blood Dolphins” begins back at The Cove—the remote location in Taiji, Japan that is witness to an annual mass slaughter of dolphins—where the pair, along with a small crew, discover that the brutal massacre portrayed in the Academy Award-winning film continues. Despite the many obstacles father and son encounter, they forge on, continuing their mission.

After leaving Japan, the team travels to the Solomon Islands—a small nation consisting of nearly 1,000 islands where dolphin dealing is legal and big business. The O’Barry’s dangerous mission is met with high hopes as they learn that a prominent dealer is thinking of leaving the business.

“Dolphins are highly intelligent, self-aware, complex creatures that should swim free without the threat of slaughter or captivity,” says Ric O’Barry. “Dolphins’ primary sense is sonar sound, and living within small confines causes sensory deprivation and distress, while also extremely limiting their range of space. The most important thing I can do…that my son can do…is show the world through projects like ‘Blood Dolphins’ just how threatened dolphins are so we can all do something about it.”

Animal Planet’s “Blood Dolphins” premiers on Friday, August 27 at 11 p.m. ET/PT following the season finale of Whale Wars.

  • Jackie W

    Wow, this is great that this will be aired on animal planet! But I can not believe that ad that is directly below the article about swimming with dolphins in miami… no doubt some of those dolphins came from Taiji :( I am very disappointed in this website

    • http://www.ecorazzi.com Michael d'Estries

      Hi Jackie,

      Unfortunately, there’s very little we can do to predict ads of that nature when it comes to using Google Adsense. Most of the time, Google does a fine job of pairing this site with appropriate advertisers, but every now and again, it presents something like this.

      However, once alerted, we can manually tell Google to never show the ad again — so thank you for bringing it to our attention. It should disappear shortly.

      • Devin Lawrence

        Michael,

        Unfortunately, the several ads to “swim with dolphins” and “dolphin eco tours” are still listed on your site. Apparently, your company doesn’t care enough to have these removed.

        This is very disappointing.

      • http://www.ecorazzi.com Michael d'Estries

        Devin,

        I’ve spoken with Google about removing the ads. It’s the best I can do. Hopefully, we’ll see something soon.

  • http://www.babyganics.com/ Linda Sullivan

    The world should do something about the Japan dolphin massacres. Those people are cruel and gross

    • Sandra

      You can…www.savejapandolphins.com

      Keep on plugging for the guys doin all the work and we can all make a difference. Raising awareness is making changes…hopefully in time to save a whole population of cetaceans. don’t get mad…get active

    • Kimitake Hiraoka

      Linda, why don’t you come over to Japan and throw acid at our people, shine weapons-grade lasers in our eyes, ram our ships and trespass on our property? You could film it, turn it into a TV show and make yourself filthy rich!

      Don’t worry if you injure or kill any of us. We are, after all, just Japanese. “Cruel and gross”, as you so eloquently put it.

      So please, go nuts. Stand up for your beautiful, sentinent, majestic, intelligent creatures and give it to us! We need to be taught to treat our animals with kindness and humanity, like you do in America…

      • fahri

        Come on Kimitake Hiraoka, I don’t think Linda meant all the Japanese are ‘cruel and gross’..
        I get so supset as well when I saw the mass slaughter of dolphins at the ‘The Cove ‘ and can say the very same for those people who kills them JUST FOR MONEY !!

      • Meredith

        Kimitake, I am sure Linda meant the fishermen themselves are cruel and gross. One of the major points Ric tries to get across is that he is not trying to shame the Japanese and that he really does think they are an amazing people, as do I! I know that Japan isn’t the only place that is cruel to animals, America is extremely cruel! Here in the UK we don’t come across this stuff as often but the only time you should take what is said here personally is if you are the one going out there to murder those beautiful dolphins.

      • Cho cho ma

        Since when was this conversation about Sea Shepherd?

        Although since you suggested it I just might go nuts.

  • ash

    The slaughter of dolphins is excruciatingly heartbreaking. Only human monsters carry out this atrocious practice.

  • Helen

    When will this be on in uk???

  • Nikki Bone

    It is really sad that these beautiful, innocent, intelligent dolphins are being slaughtered for no purpose other than their meat and for “sport”?? It is appalling that this is still allowed to happen, the same as whaling, hunting and killing animals for their fur. Please do everything you can to help stop this cruel practice.

  • Mick

    “Dolphins are highly intelligent”

    The fact that they are unable to “save” themselves and need humans to do it for them is ample evidence that dolphins are not exceptionally “intelligent”.
    I, personally, have no problem with those who do not approve of dolphin hunting. I do have a problem with those people, like Ric o’Berry, who interefere in something that does not involve them in a self-righteous attempt to force their opinions on others.

    • Cho cho ma

      Sorry Mick but I do not think the dolphins are born with the knowledge of what a dolphin hunt is.

      • Mick

        @Cho cho ma

        I don’t think they are born with that knowledge, either. However, if dolphins were as intelligent as some people claim, they would learn and pass that information on to other dolphins. The fact that they apparently are unable to do so is a strong indicator that they are not exceptionally intelligent.

      • Boo Radley

        This is the perfect example of how idiotic the pro whaling, pro killing of dolphins” really are.

        Mick thinks that to be intelligent you have to be able to write a paper on quantum physics and to have discovered the Mandelbrot set.

        Apart from that assumption, did you ever stop to consider , Mick, that perhaps all the dolphins that could pass on information to others might be dead? Or in some pool doing tricks for the crowd in Mexico?

        Oh but of course Mick, if they were intelligent they would have invented the internet right?

        This is how the pro whalers think.

        What a bunch of morons.

      • David

        “…did you ever stop to consider , Mick, that perhaps all the dolphins that could pass on information to others might be dead?”

        So only some dolphins are intelligent and the rest are to stupid to learn?

    • Ash K

      “I do have a problem with those people, like Ric o’Berry, who interefere in something that does not involve them” …

      how does it not involve him?
      it no more DOESN’T involve him than it DOES involve the hunters.
      ideally, neither would have anything to do with the dolphins, but i’d say O’Barry is better involved with them than the hunters — i’m certain the dolphins would side with O’Barry!

      • Mick

        @Ash K

        “how does it not involve him?”

        He doesn’t live in Taiji or Japan. A dolphin hunt that takes place in a small town in another country thousands of miles from where he lives has no effect on his daily life whatsoever and does not involve him at all.

      • Boo Radley

        By that rational Mick, we no longer sponsor children in third world countries?

        This is the logic of the pro whalers.

  • georgina0912

    Some people just cannot help but keep repeating over-and-over what the only things they think are only known facts for some animals.

  • Boo Radley

    ash, July 22, 2010 at 10:06 pm

    The slaughter of dolphins is excruciatingly heartbreaking. Only human monsters carry out this atrocious practice.

    Only human monsters try to promote it.

  • Mick

    Ric o’Barry and an associate were convicted of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act and fined $59,500 in 1996.

    “”This case involved the reckless and intentional release of two captive dolphins by over-zealous activists who had not prepared the animals to survive in the wild,” said NOAA prosecuting attorney Joel La Bissonniere.”

    “O’Barry and Good released the two dolphins, named “Luther” and “Buck,” approximately six miles off the coast of Key West, Fla., on May 23, 1996. The day after the dolphins were released, Luther appeared in a congested Key West marina with deep lacerations, approaching people, and begging for food. Buck, found two weeks after his release over 40 miles away, had similar deep lacerations and was emaciated.”

    http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/ole/news/news_061099.htm

    It appears that his desire to “help” the dolphins is more impotant to him than the dolphins actual welfare.

  • Boo Radley

    Begging for food? Where do you think they learnt how to beg for food!

    No prizes for guessing. This of course does not mean that they were starving. A dolphin who can swim 40 miles sounds as if he is doing alright.

    Sounds like a few stupid humans ran over these dolphins in their boat. i dont think they teach boat avoidance to captive dolphins do they?

    • David

      40 miles in 2 weeks. That is 0.1 miles per hour; I bet the current is faster than that. Doesn’t sound like he was doing very well at all, oh the term emaciated sure doesn’t sound very well either.

      Even many conservationists are smart enough to know you can’t just release an animal use to captivity into the wild. They require rehabilitation and some may never be able to fend for themselves.

      Animal ‘rescuers’ who release animals to the wild without any preparation are usually dooming the animal to death by predators or starvation. But they get the immediate media attention and the donations flow in. Not as high profile as those that actually have the animal’s welfare in mind and not their own egos.

    • Mick

      @Boo Radley

      “A dolphin who can swim 40 miles sounds as if he is doing alright.”

      NOAA felt otherwise.

      “NOAA Fisheries determined that the dolphins were in need of medical attention. With the help of members of the southeast marine mammal stranding network, the U.S. Navy, U.S. Coast Guard and Florida Marine Patrol, NOAA Fisheries successfully rescued the animals and provided veterinary care.”

      “”Releasing captive dolphins to the wild has been romanticized in recent years, and has been promoted as a noble pursuit. However, the injuries these dolphins suffered and their obvious dependence on humans highlights the need for any release project to be conducted responsibly and scientifically,” said NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources Director Hilda Diaz-Soltero”This decision sends a strong message that the ABUSE and ABANDONMENT of dolphins will not be tolerated.”"

      Please note that NOAA considered o’Barry’s actions to be “abuse and abandonment”.

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