Palm | Kelapa Sawit

Eric Ong Beng Kiong Today Online 20 Dec 12;

I refer to the letter, "Dolphins benefit from life parks: RWS", (TODAY, Dec 19).

While Resorts World Sentosa has met or exceeded international guidelines on the acquisition and care of its dolphins, it misses the point that forcibly capturing them from the wild has contributed to one of the threats to the dolphin population.

Is any among its team of animal lovers sure that dolphins thrive better in miniature pools compared to open oceans?

By saying that dolphins live longer in captivity than their counterparts in the wild, is RWS saying that it removed its 24 dolphins from the waters of the Solomon Islands so that they could lead long lives?

The quality of life for dolphins in the wild would be better than for dolphins faced with concrete walls, fed dead fish and unable to swim tens of kilometres daily in open waters. We should talk about this rather than length of life.

The Marine Life Park, with its size, can offer decent quality of life to most marine life in captivity apart from larger, more developed animals. Smaller sharks and manta rays, for instance, would do well in its enclosure.

I am not against the Marine Life Park, which I am sure will be a world-class attraction. RWS can still send a powerful conservation message to the international community by working with the relevant organisations to return the dolphins to the ocean.

Singapore should review evidence on dolphins
Jen Zhang Qinyan Today Online 19 Dec 12;

I refer to the letter, "Dolphins benefit from life parks: RWS" (Dec 19).

The Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums has stated that any collection of animals from the Solomon Islands would not adhere to its standards and guidelines.

How is it possible for RWS to now state that "the acquisition and care of our dolphins have met, will continue to meet and, wherever possible, surpass international guidelines"?

While RWS stated that "research shows that bottlenose dolphins thrive in zoological parks and live longer than their counterparts in the wild", this refers to the common bottlenose dolphin, a different species from the Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins RWS acquired.

Animal lovers are not against zoos or the Marine Life Park. The issue is the way these facilities operate.

Animal lovers are against the capture of dolphins from the wild, which pushes species closer to extinction, and the keeping of animals who cannot cope with captivity.

Other countries have outlawed this practice; it is time for Singapore to review the evidence and follow the progressive examples of others.