In December 2024 Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida applied for permits to import five male bottlenose dolphins from Attica Zoological Park in Greece. These permits have now been approved, but no details are available as to when the transfer will take place. Dolphinaria-Free Europe strongly opposes this transfer. Relocating these dolphins across the Atlantic, only to confine them once again in tanks for public display, poses serious risks to their welfare and subjects them to ongoing, unnecessary psychological and physical stress.
Our coalition formally registered opposition to the move and continues to question whether this is truly in the best interest of the dolphins. Although they were born in captivity, these dolphins still deserve the chance at retirement and the right to live a more natural life in a seaside sanctuary as soon as one becomes available.
Currently, Clearwater Marine Aquarium has nine dolphins. Six rough-toothed and three bottlenose.
