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Common dolphin

WDC takes ‘A Walk in the Park…with Animal Friends’

Longstanding WDC partner Animal Friends returns with season two of their podcast 'A Walk in...
Japanese whaling ship

Infamous whale slaughter ship docks for the final time

The whaling ship, Nisshin Maru has returned to the port of Shimonoseki for the final...
Sperm whale

Dominica announces new protections for sperm whales

Dominica has placed almost 800 square kilometers of sea off the west coast of the...
Porpoise dies after becoming entangled in fishing net

UK government rejects chance to protect whales and dolphins

The government has formally rejected almost all of the crucial recommendations made in a House...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
  • Strandings
Sperm whale © Douglas Hoffman

Featured policy news item

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc magna elit, gravida at lectus vitae,...
sea_world_orlando_rob_lott

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque Following a three...

Endangered Southern Resident orca loses newborn calf

In heartbreaking news from the Pacific Northwest, the Center for Whale Research has reported that...
srkw_shoup_2003_text

U.S. Defense Bill weakens protections for whales

24 July 2018, Plymouth, MA: The FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act conference report was released...
All news
  • All news
  • About whales & dolphins
  • Corporates
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Green Whale
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Scottish Dolphin Centre
  • Stop whaling
  • Stranding
  • Whale watching
Common dolphin

WDC takes ‘A Walk in the Park…with Animal Friends’

Longstanding WDC partner Animal Friends returns with season two of their podcast 'A Walk in...
Japanese whaling ship

Infamous whale slaughter ship docks for the final time

The whaling ship, Nisshin Maru has returned to the port of Shimonoseki for the final...
Sperm whale

Dominica announces new protections for sperm whales

Dominica has placed almost 800 square kilometers of sea off the west coast of the...
Porpoise dies after becoming entangled in fishing net

UK government rejects chance to protect whales and dolphins

The government has formally rejected almost all of the crucial recommendations made in a House...
All policy news
  • All policy news
  • Create healthy seas
  • End captivity
  • Prevent deaths in nets
  • Stop whaling
  • Strandings
Sperm whale © Douglas Hoffman

Featured policy news item

Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Nunc magna elit, gravida at lectus vitae,...
sea_world_orlando_rob_lott

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque

Holiday giant Thomas Cook stops selling tickets to Seaworld and Loro Parque Following a three...

Endangered Southern Resident orca loses newborn calf

In heartbreaking news from the Pacific Northwest, the Center for Whale Research has reported that...
srkw_shoup_2003_text

U.S. Defense Bill weakens protections for whales

24 July 2018, Plymouth, MA: The FY2019 National Defense Authorization Act conference report was released...

WDC presents petition to Carnival and asks them to stop exploiting dolphins

Today, WDC representatives, Rob Lott (End Captivity campaigner) and Julia Thoms (campaigns manager) met with senior Carnival staff at their headquarters in Miami. We were there to present more than 27,000 signatures from WDC supporters who want Carnival to stop offering their cruise ship passengers shore excursions to swim-with-dolphins attractions. If you were one of the 27,000 who signed our petition – thank you, we were there on your behalf.

This petition is part of our campaign to end all UK tour operator support for whale and dolphin captivity, to which well over 300,000 people have already given their support.

Carnival is the biggest cruise company in the world and owns household brands such as P&O Cruises, Princess Cruises, Carnival Cruises and Cunard and we welcomed this opportunity to talk with them about the role they can play in helping to shape a more positive future for tourism, especially in Mexico and the Caribbean.

We explained why dolphins are unsuited to life in captivity and how the cruise industry is inextricably linked to the rise in swim-with-dolphins attractions in Mexico and the Caribbean where dolphins have to interact with tourists all day every day. As industry leader we hope that if we can persuade Carnival to make changes, others will follow.

Carnival have committed to auditing all the dolphin facilities on their books, beginning this year, and today they reinforced their commitment to this process. We will keep talking with them as they undertake these audits. We hope that they will follow the example that has been set by Thomas Cook who have so far dropped 29 attractions which failed to meet standards at audit.

Carnival were keen to hear about sanctuaries as solutions for the individuals already in captivity and congratulated WDC on launching the world’s first whale sanctuary in partnership with SEA LIFE Trust. 

We are best placed to influence change by working with the travel industry, and we are optimistic that by building relationships like this, we can help companies transition to a model of tourism that does not exploit dolphins but rather allows holidaymakers to experience these intelligent, sensitive creatures in their natural environment.

 

About Julia Pix

Communications manager - Public Engagement