Tan Weizhen Today Online 27 Nov 12;
SINGAPORE - Charges have been filed against Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) by a city court in the Philippines, for allegedly exporting 11 wild-caught dolphins to Singapore while the case was still being heard.
A joint statement issued by the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society (ACRES), the Philippine Animal Welfare Society and the Earth Island Institute Philippines alleged that the integrated resort had disregarded the Philippines' laws by sending the 11 dolphins here on Nov 19 despite a motion filed and not informing the court about it.
The Philippine court had rejected an application for an extension of the Temporary Environment Protection Order (TEPO) filed last month, clearing the way for the export of the dolphins.
However, on Nov 19, the groups in the Philippines had asked the court to reconsider the decision.
"This makes a mockery of the proceedings in this case and is in brazen and utter contempt of this Honourable Court and the entire administration of justice in the country," the groups said in another motion filed the next day.
The three groups also said that, despite the motion filed, RWS proceeded to transport the remaining dolphins to Singapore last Thursday. One died during the journey.
The charges of indirect contempt - a violation of a court order outside the immediate presence of the court - was filed by Earth Island Institute Philippines, Philippine Animal Welfare Society and CARE Welfare Philippines.
The statement said the judge had set a hearing in the Quezon City Court for Feb 15.
A spokesman from RWS' Marine Life Park said that the park had done nothing wrong as the Philippine court had rejected the application for an extension of the TEPO.
He also pointed out that the groups have withdrawn their motion to ask for a reconsideration of this decision and is now pursuing a motion for indirect contempt charges instead.
He added: "The move of our dolphins to their permanent home in Singapore complied with all the international, Singapore and Philippines' regulatory rules."
However, ACRES Executive Director Louis Ng argued that the appeal against the export was still being heard when the first 11 dolphins were exported.
RWS faces contempt charges in Philippine court over dolphins
Channel NewsAsia 26 Nov 12;
SINGAPORE: Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) is facing indirect contempt charges in a Philippine court.
A judge has set the hearing in Quezon City Court for 15 February 2013.
The charges stem from RWS exporting dolphins while the case was still being heard.
A motion was filed by Earth Island Institute Philippines, Philippine Animal Welfare Society and CARE Welfare Philippines on 20 November 2012.
It stated that even before and while the court was conducting a hearing on the motion for reconsideration, the respondents including Resorts World Sentosa had already flown out 11 dolphins from the country.
One dolphin died during the transport to Singapore.
Local animal rights group ACRES said there is hope that justice will be served for the dolphins.
Dolphins' export: RWS faces Philippine motion
Poon Chian Hui Straits Times 27 Nov 12;
ANIMAL rights groups in the Philippines have filed a motion against Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) for indirect contempt of its courts.
This centres on RWS transporting 14 captive dolphins to Singapore on Nov 19, even as an appeal to reconsider halting the export had yet to be heard in court on the same day.
The Earth Island Institute, Philippine Animal Welfare Society and CARA Welfare Philippines - which jointly filed the motion last week - said in a statement yesterday that the export "makes a mockery of the proceedings" of the country's courts.
The Quezon City Court has scheduled a hearing for Feb 15 next year for both sides to file their comments on the motion.
The appeal on Nov 19 involved extending a Temporary Environment Protection Order (TEPO), which would have prevented RWS from flying the bottlenose dolphins here.
A TEPO to temporarily stop the export was issued on Oct 13, but was valid for only 72 hours. After this expired, an extension was denied by the court the following week. A subsequent petition organised by the three animal welfare groups appealed to the court to reconsider its decision.
A Marine Life Park spokesman said yesterday the dolphin export complied with all international, Singapore and Philippine regulations. "With the court's denial of the TEPO extension, there was no prohibition for RWS to bring our dolphins home, and we have full confidence the hearing next February will bear that out."
Local animal group Animal Concerns Research and Education Society supports the move to level indirect contempt charges against RWS. Said its CEO Louis Ng: "They should not have exported the dolphins because the application for the protection order was still pending. They should have informed the court."
A representative for the Philippine groups said RWS will face a heavy fine if it is charged by the court. This comes after one of the dolphins died en route last week to the new Marine Life Park.
Animal rights activists are up in arms over the situation of the mammals, caught in waters off the Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. They were later kept in Subic Bay in the Philippines from 2008, while the park was being built.
Activists to file charges over death of dolphin shipped to Singapore
Janvic Mateo The Philippine Star 27 Nov 12;
MANILA, Philippines - Environment and animal rights activists plan to file charges against the people responsible for the death of one of the 25 dolphins recently shipped from Ocean Adventure in Subic, Zambales to Singapore.
“We are studying possible violations of the Animal Welfare Act following the death of one of the dolphins,” said lawyer Mel Velasco, counsel of petitioners Earth Island Institute (EII), Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), and CARA Welfare Philippines which earlier tried to block the transport of the dolphins.
In a press briefing in Quezon City yesterday, representatives of the three groups expressed outrage over the death of one of the dolphins while they were being transported to Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) in Singapore.
“Wen-Wen, a 10-year-old male dolphin, died en route to Singapore despite their assurances that there were experts on the plane,” EII regional director Trixie Concepcion announced.
“Because of their haste to fly the animals out of the country, one dolphin died,” she added.
PAWS director Anna Cabrera likewise criticized the Department of Agriculture (DA) and the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) for failing to provide information about the dolphins.
“We’ve been asking the DA and BFAR about the situation of the dolphins but we didn’t get a response,” said Cabrera. “All this time, we were in the court hearings, we didn’t know that they are already exporting the dolphins.”
Cabrera accused the agencies of negligence prior to the transport of the dolphins.
“BFAR did not conduct a welfare check, a health check of the animals before they left,” she said. “They just counted the animals.”
Last month, the three groups asked a Quezon City court to order the DA, BFAR, and RWS to stop the transport of the 25 dolphins that were imported into the Philippines from the Solomon Islands in 2008, 2009, and 2011.
A 72-hour Temporary Environment Protection Order (TEPO) was initially issued on Oct. 12.
After the order expired, however, Quezon City Judge Evangeline Marigomen of Branch 101 decided not to re-issue another one, saying that the “petitioners have not proved any violation of law committed by the concerned government agencies.”
The groups have filed a motion for reconsideration, which has yet to be resolved.
After learning of the transport of the 11 dolphins last week, the petitioners filed a very urgent motion and manifestation urging the court to stop any move to re-export the remaining dolphins.
They also asked the court to cite for indirect contempt all those who were responsible for the re-export of the first batch of dolphins.
“They moved the dolphins despite the urgent motion that we filed last week,” Velasco said. “This is a brazen disregard of the judicial system.”
Velasco noted that with the transport of the dolphins, the case that they filed against DA, BFAR, and RWS is now moot and academic.
“With their departure, the Philippines now has no jurisdiction over the dolphins,” he said, adding that they would pursue the contempt charges to hold those who were responsible accountable.
The recent development may lead to further violation of the rights of endangered animals, said Velasco.
“We are saddened with state of environmental justice here in the country,” she said. “The judiciary was not given a chance to act on the case.”
The activists said that the harvest of the dolphins from the Solomon Islands was not sustainable and in violation of the Wildlife Conservation and Resources Act.
Louis Ng, chief executive of environmental group ACRES, said that public outrage in Singapore over the death of the dolphin is very high.
“We urge Resorts World not to give us the dolphins but to help in their rehabilitation so that they can be released back to the wild,” he said, adding that they will hold a candle lighting activity on Sunday to condemn the incident.
Cabrera said that a similar activity would be held here in the country also on Sunday.
“They’re citizens of the world. They belong to our children, our children’s children. They don’t belong to us,” she said, referring to the dolphins.
Singaporeans, too, angered by dolphin’s death
Julie M. Aurelio Philippine Daily Inquirer 27 Nov 12;
Not only animal welfare advocates but the public in Singapore are outraged over the death last week of a dolphin in transit to the city-state from the Philippines despite pending court motions.
Louis Ng of the Animals Concerns Research and Education Society (Acres) in Singapore said the public outrage on social media was so intense netizens filled the Resorts World Sentosa Facebook page with angry comments.
Resorts World Sentosa was to use the dolphin in its water shows.
“It’s not just us animal advocates but the public is very angry. They are also demanding the release of the captive dolphins back into the wild,” said Ng in a press conference in Manila yesterday.
Ng flew to the Philippines following the death of Wen Wen, a 10-year-old male dolphin that was one of 25 sea creatures transported to Singapore by plane despite motions filed in a Quezon City court.
Acres is the Singaporean partner of the Philippine Animal Welfare Society (PAWS), Earth Island Institute (EII) and Cara Welfare Philippines. The Philippine groups had sued Resorts World Sentosa and two government agencies in court in a bid to stop the export of the dolphins.
The Indo-Pacific bottle-nosed dolphins which originally numbered 27 were imported from the Solomon Islands in 2010. Two died in Malaysia before they could be brought to the Philippines where they were to be trained in Subic before being exported to Singapore.
Died on the plane
“There was a dead dolphin on the plane. All the airplane ground staff would have seen that,” said Ng.
“If conservation is taking animals from the wild and they die in captivity then that is the biggest con in conservation,” he said.
On Monday, Judge Evangeline Marigomen of Quezon City Regional Trial Court Branch 101 ordered Resorts World Sentosa, the Philippines Department of Agriculture and the Bureau of Aquatic Resources to answer the advocates’ motion to have them cited in contempt for transporting the dolphins despite the court proceedings.
But since all the dolphins were now in Sentosa, the animal rights advocates said their efforts all went to waste with Resorts World’s “blatant, outright disregard for the Philippine courts.”
“Our main case was to stop the transport of the dolphins, and they did that without informing us or the court. It’s now moot and academic,” said lawyer Mel Velasco, counsel for the animal rights groups.
Last month, the Quezon City court issued a Temporary Environment Protection Order blocking the export of the dolphins but only for 72 hours. The court did not extend the Tepo but was hearing the animal advocates’ appeal for its extension.
With the death of Wen Wen, Velasco said they will go after the government agencies involved and Resorts World Sentosa.
“The best way to move forward would be to hold them liable for Wen Wen’s death under Philippine laws or under the Animal Welfare Act,” he said.
Anna Cabrera of PAWS said the dolphins were shipped out of the country on Nov. 17, 19 and 22. Wen Wen was in the last batch and died en route to Singapore.
“All this time we were going to court to follow the process and behind our backs the dolphins had already been spirited way,” she said.
Trixie Concepcion of EII refuted claims that species of dolphin normally died at the age of 10.
“That age is a juvenile age for them. They normally reach the age of 70 in the wild,” she said.
