Dolphin 'accident' at Dolphin Academy, Curacao

Six people were holding a stick for the dolphin to jump across but instead the animal turned side-ways and landed on three of the people with its full weight. Unconfirmed reports state it took some time before action was taken to help the injured woman, who was taken by ambulance to hospital. Following the incident, visitors were asked to hand over their cameras and footage was deleted. All 3 victims were refunded their entry fee, but no explanation for the incident was offered by the facility, however Dolphin Academy has since commented that this was just “a little accident”.

Annie, the animal involved is 11 years old and was born in captivity at Honduras Roatan Institute. “Incidents like this show that even when born in captivity, dolphins are intrinsically wild animals which retain their wild instincts, and are therefore unpredictable which can put participants, and the dolphins, at risk from injury. The reported attitude of Dolphin Academy employees to the customers following this incident would seem to indicate that their main motive is monetary,” comments Janja Novak, Campaigns Development Officer.

Prior to this incident, the facility had been closed temporarily due to a partially collapsed wall. Apparently, there had been a crack in the wall for some time, which had been reported, however no action was taken to repair this which probably led to the recent collapse.

This raises further questions regarding the operation of this facility, coming just one month after the death of two dolphins there.

Back to main page, for footage of incident, details on how you can help and to read Curacao DA rebuttal to reports