Dear Editor,

In response to the letter by Ms. Mae, it needs to be clarified that these dolphins are not volunteers to be sent to Dubai or any other dolphin prison for human amusement. These dolphins are brutally captured from their family pods, removed from their homes and put on airplanes to other countries.

What does this teach people about dolphins? That they are slaves for a trade for money and nothing else. The dolphins in Dubai are nothing but toys for the elite wealthy! Do you think the average citizen of the Solomons, or the US for that matter would have access to see these dolphins?

Absolutely not , unless you have thousands of dollars to visit such a place which by the way is in trouble. Dubai is seeing a collapse of its real estate market, tourism , and the list goes on.

At least 5 of the 28 dolphins shipped to Dubai are dead. What does this do for the Solomons? Nothing except allow it to become a pariah when it comes to dolphin protection and allow the greed of a few to reap huge sums of money which never finds its way to the citizens of the Solomon Islands.

This is the 21st century and turning dolphins into slaves for humans does nothing to educate these humans about dolphins or the oceans.

Sincerely, Mark Berman
Earth Island Institute
San Francisco , CA USA