Singapore casino flamed on social media for dolphin encounter ‘animal prostitution’ promo

mUmBRELLA 26 May 15;

Resorts World Sentosa, the casino and entertainment resort owned by Malaysian gaming giant Genting, has come in for some harsh criticism on social media for an ad promoting captive dolphins as an attraction at its marine life park.

The Facebook ad promotes dolphin encounters from S$68 (US$50) and a competition to name a dolphin calf born in the casino’s aquarium.

Facebook users did not take kindly to the promotion, with many attacking the increasingly taboo practice of keeping dolphins in captivity for commercial gain.

Shuyun Tay wrote in the comment thread: “You can spend all the money in the world to buy ads for your disgusting exploitation program – the world has already started waking up to the atrocious cruelty that is dolphin captivity. Hopefully not too far in the near future, dolphin and whale captivity will be regarded as passe and taboo as circus rings of the past.”

One Facebook user commented: “This is nothing more than animal prostitution.”

Another posted: “RWS why don’t you put your senior management team in a cage and let strangers touch you all day long. Tell me if you like the feeling yeah.”

One user called on Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to ban the ad from the site, while others posted links to articles that condemn the practice and the documentary The Cove, which uncovers the practice of dolphin slaughter in Japan. A segment from the comment thread reads:

RWS’ ad comes just a month after an animal rights group, the Animal Concerns Research & Education Society, launched a campaign to encourage Singaporeans to watch dolphins in the wild locally off the coast rather than in the casino aquarium.

ACRES has been looking for an agency to help it develop campaigns to promote dolphin-watching tours.

The charity is also looking to raise awareness of an opinion survey by Millward Brown released in January 2015, which found that seven per cent of Singaporeans agreed that “keeping wild-caught dolphins in captivity should be allowed.” Four of Resorts World Sentosa’s 27 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins, captured from the Solomon Islands, have died since Dolphin Island opened.

RWS has defended the practice of holding and displaying the animals, citing their educational value. A video on the resort’s website promotes Dolphin Island as a child-friendly learning experience.