Philippine court lifts order preventing export of dolphins to Singapore

Today Online 17 Oct 12;

SINGAPORE - A Philippine court today lifted the temporary environment protection order preventing its 25 captive dolphins from being exported to Singapore.

A Quezon City court last Friday issued a 72-hour temporary environment protection order to block the export of the dolphins, which were headed to the Resorts World Sentosa's (RWS) Marine Life Park, after animal rights groups there filed a civil suit.

A RWS spokesperson said the Integrated Resort is "pleased that the court has decided to lift the temporary environment protection order".

"Our dolphins are doing well under the care of our team of experienced experts, and we look forward to welcoming them to Singapore," said the spokesperson.

"We regret that the group which initiated this court action had gone on various public platforms with inaccurate statements pertaining to our dolphins, perpetuating the same falsehoods that we had repeatedly made numerous clarifications and corrections to in the past," she added.

The spokesperson reiterated that the resort's acquisition of the 25 Indo-pacific bottlenose dolphins adhere to regulations governed by the United Nations Environment Programme under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

She added that the Marine Life Park is also set up for, and is preparing for accreditation with international accreditation bodies on its standards of animal husbandry, veterinary care and facility.

In a statement, the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) said it "regrets" that the court lifted the temporary environment protection order, "despite the strong evidence presented and a strong ruling previously".

"This fight is far from over, we will file a motion for reconsideration," said Acres.

It added that it will be launching the next phase of its campaign in Singapore shortly to increase the pressure on RWS to "respond positively to public concerns about the plight of the dolphins".

Dolphins cleared for export
Philippine court rejects application by rights groups to bar their move to Singapore
Ng Jing Yng Today Online 18 Oct 12;

SINGAPORE - A Philippine court yesterday denied an application by environmental and animal rights groups to extend a temporary court order, which it had granted last week to prevent the export of 25 dolphins to the Marine Life Park at Singapore's Resorts World Sentosa (RWS).

The court's decision clears the way for RWS to bring the dolphins here, amid protests by animal rights groups. An RWS spokesperson welcomed the decision and criticised the parties which initiated the court action for "perpetuating the same falsehoods that we had repeatedly made numerous clarifications and corrections to in the past". The groups intend to file an appeal later this week.

The mammals, which were caught in waters off the Solomon Islands, are being kept and trained at Subic Bay, Philippines. Last Friday, the court had issued a 72-hour "temporary environmental protection order" on the grounds that the exportation will "result in grave and irreparable damage to the population of the dolphins from the Solomon Islands".

Slated to lapse yesterday, the order was granted after 13 Philippines-based groups - including Earth Island Institute Philippines (EII-Phils) and the Philippine Animal Welfare Society - had banded together to file a civil suit against the Philippines' Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources, the Department of Agriculture, and RWS.

Yesterday, Quezon City court judge Evangeline Castillo-Marigomen rejected the application for an extension of the order, "as the petitioners have not proved any violation of law committed by the concerned government agencies", according to a media release that EII-Phils put up on its website.

EII-Phils Regional Director for Asia-Pacific Trixie Concepcion said that scientific studies were produced in court during the hearing yesterday, arguing that the survival rates of the dolphins would be threatened after their capture. "(But) the judge did not consider this as evidence," she said.

Ms Concepcion said the petitioners also took umbrage at comments by the judge when she likened the dolphins to "pets". Ms Concepcion said: "This is a very, very sad day for conservation, for all animals in general, because this may set a precedent where animals from unsustainable sources can be traded by the Philippines."

In response to media queries, the RWS spokesperson said: "We are pleased that the court has decided to lift the temporary environment protection order. Our dolphins are doing well under the care of our team of experienced experts, and we look forward to welcoming them to Singapore".

She added: "We regret that the group which initiated this court action had gone on various public platforms with inaccurate statements pertaining to our dolphins, perpetuating the same falsehoods that we had repeatedly made numerous clarifications and corrections to in the past."

The spokesperson reiterated that the acquisition of the dolphins adheres to regulations governed by the United Nations Environment Programme under the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora. The Marine Life Park is also preparing for accreditation with international accreditation bodies on its standards of animal husbandry, veterinary care and facility, she added.

In Singapore, the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES) has been campaigning against RWS' move to keep the dolphins in captivity. ACRES Chief Executive Louis Ng was disappointed at the Philippine court's latest decision. He said that the "fight is far from over" and that ACRES will soon launch the next phase of its campaign to "increase the pressure on RWS to respond positively to public concerns about the plight of the dolphins".

Marine Life Park, scheduled to open by December, will house more than 100,000 marine animals. Dates to bring over the 25 dolphins have not been confirmed but according to the RWS spokesperson, the "dolphin interaction programmes" would begin next year.

Bid to stop export of RWS dolphins fails in Philippines
Alastair Mcindoe Straits Times 18 Oct 12;

MANILA - A Philippine court has denied a petition by animal welfare groups for a new temporary restraining order to stop 25 bottlenose dolphins from going to the Marine Life Park at Resorts World Sentosa (RWS), which is scheduled to open later this year.
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A "temporary environmental protection order" granted last Friday by a court in Quezon City expired yesterday.

The request to renew the order was heard by a different judge, who ruled that there were no irregularities in how the dolphins were brought from the Solomon Islands to the Philippines, nor in their re-export to Singapore.

The Philippine Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources still needs to grant an export licence for the dolphins - brought here between 2008 and last year. The bureau was not available for comment on RWS' application for one.

Once that is granted, animal welfare groups admit that legally, nothing prevents the dolphins from going to Singapore.

"But our main case to have the dolphins sent back to the Solomon Islands still stands," said Ms Trixie Concepcion, regional director of the San Francisco-based animal rights and conservation group Earth Island Institute, one of three petitioners in the case. "These particular dolphins come from the coastal waters of the Solomon Islands. Their population is small and they don't migrate," she added, describing them as a "small tribe".

Noting that Philippine law bans trading in animals if it is detrimental to their survival as a species, she said the group would appeal against the court decision.

The dolphins are being held in a pen at the Ocean Adventure open-water marine park in Subic Bay. They are being acclimatised to a life in captivity while Marine Life Park is being completed.

"By all appearances, these marine mammals are in great shape, and the staff training and caring for them are experienced," said Ocean Adventure chief executive Tim Desmond, trainer of the orca Keiko in the 1993 film Free Willy.

Marine Life Park claims on its website to be the world's largest oceanarium. "Globally, the success of dolphin-breeding programmes within these complexes is an important measure of the successful husbandry of dolphins in human care," it says.

RWS said it was pleased with the decision. "Caring for living animals comes with great responsibility, one that we do not take lightly," said a company spokesman.

Philippines allows export of dolphins to Singapore
(AFP) Google News 18 Oct 12;

MANILA — The Philippine government said Thursday it has approved the export of 25 show dolphins to Singapore after a ban on their transport to a giant casino chain was lifted.

Animal rights activists filed a civil suit against the government last week, preventing the export of the animals to Resorts World Sentosa.

They alleged the capture of the bottlenose dolphins from the Solomon Islands, as well as their transport to Singapore after being trained, violated an international treaty on the trade of endangered animals and plants.

The case was later transferred to another court, which lifted the travel ban on Wednesday.

Theresa Concepcion, Asia head of the animal rights group Earth Island Institute, said it planned to appeal the latest ruling on Friday.

"This is a sad day for dolphins. The lifting of the (court injunction) means we can now trade in any species even if this would affect the survival of these species in the wild," she told AFP.

The dolphins had been captured in the waters of the Solomons, according to Concepcion, and were shipped away to be trained at a marine entertainment park in the Philippines between December 2008 and January 2011.

Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources chief Asis Perez said the government agency granted an export permit for the dolphins last week, but the first court action temporarily suspended it.

"The restraining order has been lifted, so they are free to export them," Perez told AFP.

The latest ruling by regional trial court judge Evangeline Marigomen said: "The... petitioners have not proved any violation of law committed by the concerned government agencies."

Perez said the owners had not told the Philippine government when it planned to transfer the animals to Singapore.

The company's Manila lawyer was unavailable for comment on Thursday.

Resorts World Sentosa put out a statement in Singapore on Wednesday saying it looked forward to the dolphins' arrival.

"Our dolphins are doing well under the care of our team of experienced experts, and we look forward to welcoming them to Singapore," it said.

It disputed the animal rights groups' allegations, insisting it had contravened no international treaties in acquiring the dolphins.

Swiss-based conservation group International Union for the Conservation of Nature said on its website that bottlenose dolphins were "widespread and abundant".

However Earth Island argued in court that the Solomon Islands' ban on dolphin hunting in its waters imposed this year showed that the local population was under threat.