At Boudewijn Seapark’s dolphinarium, approximately forty members of the animal rights organisation Bite Back staged a protest on Saturday afternoon.
The dolphinarium is scheduled for closure in 2037, but Bite Back advocates for an earlier date. “Dolphins are highly intelligent, sensitive animals that do not deserve to spend another 12 years swimming in circles here,” stated spokesperson Anthe Lainé.
The protest in Bruges is part of the international ‘Empty the Tanks’ campaign. Animal rights groups worldwide are highlighting the plight of dolphins and other marine mammals in captivity this weekend. The campaign urges a legal ban on dolphinariums, with activities taking place globally, including at Miami Seaquarium in Florida, Mundo Marino in Argentina, Dolphin Dome in Osaka, and Dolfinarium Harderwijk in the Netherlands. In Bruges, activists handed out flyers to visitors at Boudewijn Seapark, providing information about the poor conditions in which the dolphins are kept.
In late November 2024, Minister Ben Weyts announced the closure of the Belgian dolphinarium by 2037, yet Bite Back wants it shut down sooner. The organisation claims that the seven dolphins living there are in a stressful environment.
“The animals would have to remain here until 2037. Twelve years is a long time if you have to swim the same circles every day. We urge websites and businesses offering discounts for a day at the dolphinarium to stop doing so. We hope this will make the dolphinarium financially unsustainable, prompting an earlier closure. We also want the Spanish parent company, Aspro Parks, to phase out its dolphinariums, with six spread across three countries.”
