Resorts World Sentosa wild-caught dolphins with basketballs and hula hoops

-- On 14 November 2011, representatives from ACRES, Earth Island Institute (EII) and the Philippines Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) visited Ocean Adventure in the Philippines to film training sessions of the Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) wild-caught dolphins. It was, however, regrettable that staff members of the facility tried to prevent ACRES from filming the dolphins. The RWS wild-caught dolphins were filmed confined in small enclosures, and some have been housed there for almost three years. ACRES, EII and PAWS witnessed and filmed the trainers introducing basketballs and hula-hoops to the dolphins, something highly unnatural. We are puzzled by this as RWS has always maintained that they have no plans for animal shows. Furthermore, RWS recently stated in their job advertisement that the Marine Mammal Specialist (Job ID 11912) responsibilities include "behavioral conditioning of the mammals for...show-type behaviors". They, however, clarified that "the responsibilities of the marine mammal specialists include engaging in enrichment practices with the dolphins to display natural behaviors commonly seen in the wild...". It is tragic to see these dolphins, who once roamed the vast open oceans, now having to resort to playing with basketballs and hula hoops. We hope that RWS provides the public with complete details with regard to how the dolphins are housed and trained and that they be truthful. ACRES remains committed to an open dialogue, but we regret that RWS have continued to decline to respond to all our concerns and have now prevented us from filming how the wild-caught dolphins are housed and trained.