Having spent some time watching wild
whales and dolphins in Iceland, our little Morgan headed to Brussels to meet up
with World Cetacean Alliance partner The Dolphin’s Voice and to attend the ‘Europe:
Close Dolphinaria’ demonstration in Brussels. Held on 28th June 2014
the event was attended by around 400 people from France, Belgium, Holland, Italy,
Switzerland, Russia, Brazil, Germany, UK, Ireland, Greece, Czech Republic to
name a few. All coming together to unite for a world free of captive whales and
dolphins, and our little Morgan was there. The event was also attended by Ric O’Barry
who set up The Dolphin Project and who has been actively educating the public
and raising awareness about the captivity issue, and was featured in the award
winning film The Cove which exposed the yearly dolphin drive in Taji , Japan
Currently there are 34 dolphinairums
in 15 European Union counties with more than 300 small cetaceans (whales,
dolphins and porpoises) on display, from Belugas to Orca like Morgan. Everyone
at the event, including our little Morgan hoped it would help urge the European
Union to ban the import of whales and dolphins and ultimately end captivity.
This years event included lots of
motivational speeches, but our little Morgan particularly liked the formation
of the words FREE by the crowd and the team from Bite Back.
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| © Valeria Machado |
Annelies Mullens, one of the events
organisers, said to Morgan ‘These photos say it all: alone we are small, but
together we will make a difference –FREE dolphins! Every single person who came
to the demo today helped make this happen. We made a huge and powerful
statement to the dolphinaria industry. Working together in a team with people
from so many countries will help to end dolphin captivity. Thank you!"
Our little Morgan certainly felt
proud to be amongst people who are as passionate as she is about ending
captivity of whales and dolphins, and hopes to attend the event next year… and
if enough people do you never know we may be able to make the words FREEDOM!
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| © Sasha Abdolmajid |
A huge thank you to Richard O’Barry,
Annelies Mullens, Yvon Godefroid, Bite Back and everyone who contributed to the
development of this event. A special thank you to The Dolphin’s Voice for
taking our little Morgan along!
