The UAE’s first dolphinarium opened in Dubai yesterday. The 1,250 seat indoor arena at the Dubai Dolphinarium in Creek Park will stage three live shows a day, in which dolphins will perform acrobatics, jugglings and “dance” to music.
There is a classroom where visitors are encouraged to attend after shows to learn more about marine life. The dolphinarium also has a multi-media science library and an aqua-themed gym and fitness centre.
Visitors will be able to swim with the dolphins as part of special needs therapy sessions.
Animal rights campaigners have been protesting and speaking out over several months about these aquariums, saying that the viewing of captive animals which are trained to perform unnatural performances gives the public a false impression of their natural behaviour and their life.
A larger dolphinarium is to open later this year, at the Atlantis hotel on Palm Jumeirah. Dolphinariums in dubai have caused a lot of controversy with campaigners as it was reported that the dolphins were taken from the wild off the coasts of the Solomon Islands.
Source: The National newspaper, UAE
