The adverse reaction by the public, started after the four dolphins were brought to Kaş in November 2011, still continues. Local NGOs continue the fight against the exploitation of dolphins for commercial purposes and the opening of this shameful facility in Kaş.
The NGOs that form Kaş Environmental Platform organised information meetings in both December 2011 and April 2012, following the transfer of the dolphins to the Kaş facility. Specialists from national and international NGOs discussed the local impact of the proscribed dolphin park operation in Kaş and tried to develop an exemplary decision for Turkey.
Last week, the Local NGOs discovered that the owners of the facility have again applied for working permission to the Kaş Municipality. Following an assessment meeting, a small representative group visited the Mayor Abdullah Gültekin and the Deputy Mayor Birol Engin.
It was a relief to hear Abdullah Gültekin say:
“We will definitely not be going to give a working permission to this dolphin facility and we have stated this, in our written reply, to the authorities of the facility. Our position is the same as from the beginning. We put a seal on the door last year following a public warning that they had started to work without permission. We gave a limited sanction to allow the dolphins to be fed.”
Dolphin Parks are against the law
Rejecting the application for working permission, the Mayor is applying the law. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), the most popular species used in dolphin parks, are “strictly protected” with international (Bern, CITES and Barcelona Conventions) and national legislations (5199 Animal Protection Law, item 4). These legislations say that wild animals cannot be either captured or transported to Turkey. Giving a working permission to such a facility would be a violation of the relevant laws.
Kaş NGOs have a resolute attitude
The local NGOs consistently state that they do not want to have a dolphin facility in Kaş where animals are captured and abused, and which will contravene the local ethical, ecological and economic values. Kaş Underwater Association Board Member Belma Tosun says: “The facility owners will have to decide about the future of the dolphins up until January 2014, which is the date their contract ends. We, as the local NGOs, will do whatever it takes to stop this facility from opening and to ensure that there is never again any another dolphin facility, in any part of Kaş. The name of Kaş must be associated with accepted ecological principles and animal protection projects, not with dolphin parks.”
Further info:
In the name of Kaş NGOs
Belma Tosun
info@kasexplorers.com
