Iris and Ivo were captured in March 1981. According to information obtained by Belgian journalist and dolphin freedom advocate Yvon Godefroid the two dolphins are mother and son, captured in the Gulf of Mexico -- exact location unknown -- along with two other dolphins, most likely pod members. Ivo’s estimated year of birth is 1978. Iris’ estimated year of birth is 1969. Ivo was only between two and a half to three years old at the time of capture. His mother, Iris, was about twelve. It is not known if Iris had other offspring at the time of capture, nor is it known if the other adult female taken during the capture was separated from a calf.
After having first undergone a violent capture that would forever separate them from their pod and their ocean world, the four dolphins were brought ashore, placed in stretchers and sent on a long airplane ride to the Antwerp Zoo, Belgium. When they arrived at their final destination March 3 they were put in a small, chlorinated indoor concrete tank to be trained to perform tricks for the zoo’s visitors. The four new dolphins were introduced to the paying audience as Iris, Ivo, Illias, and Ina. Several other dolphins were kept at the facility at that time. The dolphins were the zoo’s star attractions and presented to the public as “one big happy family.” What the audience didn’t know back in 1981 was that eighteen dolphins had already died here.
The Dolphin Project inspected the captive dolphin facility at the Antwerp Zoo in December 1998 when Iris and Ivo were left as the sole survivors. The mere sight of the heavily chlorinated dolphin tank was appalling. The main tank was barely 29 meters in length, about 3 meters deep. In addition, the tank consisted of an adjacent isolation tank and a quarantine tank used for sick dolphins.
A total of 31 dolphins had been kept here since 1968. Most of them had been
captured from the wild. Totally deprived of living in accordance with their true nature these sonic, highly intelligent marine mammals would have nothing to look at except barren walls. In nature they would normally swim up to 40 miles per day, navigating, diving deep, surfing, foraging, and socializing with their pod members. Here, in this bleak and undersized tank, they would have nothing to do except swimming in small circles, waiting for a handout and some attention from their keepers.
Being trained to perform captive dolphin spectacles by a clockwise routine, these once-wild, opportunistic foragers of the sea had been reduced to sickly pets and circus clowns. Since 1968 till the end of the nineties the lives of 31 dolphins had been permanently shattered in this dark building where the sunlight never enters. 
As is the case in most captive dolphin facilities, part of the dolphins’ show-repertoire was to walk on their tail, play ball, and take children from the audience for fast speed rides around the tank in a small rubber boat. For 17 years Iris and Ivo had been performing the same circus tricks over and over, and for all this time they had depended completely on the keepers for food. When observing a training session we noticed how the trainer, giving her commands by the means of hand signals, made Iris and Ivo “sing” “Happy Birthday.” Their reward: Some dead fish. According to the dolphin captivity industry, training dolphins to perform these kinds of behaviors teaches the audience “respect for wildlife.”
From the time of their arrival at the Antwerp Zoo in 1981 Iris and Ivo had watched their companions die one after one. Ina died six years after her capture, in July 1987. Illias died between 1995 and 1998. (The exact year of death is unknown to us.) 29 dolphins have died at the Antwerp Zoo since the first wild-caught dolphin was sent to the facility in 1968. Among the causes of death are trauma, pneumonia, and bronchopneumonia. A just two-year-old calf -- this dolphin, too, had been taken from the wild -- caught her head in a drainage pipe. Cause of death: Drowning.
In the wake of this good news four Belgian organizations initiated an international association consisting of more than 50 organizations and individuals to take part in a 'Save Iris and Ivo Campaign 1999.' The goal: To prevent Mr. Daman from simply selling Iris and Ivo to the Duisburg Zoo, Germany. The message to Mr. Daman was to act in the best interest of the dolphins and let Iris and Ivo live out the rest of their lives in a natural sea pen where, for the first time since their capture, they would be able to feel the rhythm of the sea, the tides, the currents and, above all, be free from human exploitation.
Several attempts were made at setting up a meeting with Mr. Daman in order to discuss the possibilities of adding some much needed quality to the lives of Iris and Ivo. Regretably, Mr. Daman refused to discuss the issue, and on February 21 1999 
we held a protest in front of the Antwerp Zoo, in an effort to bring attention to the injustice of simply sending the last two surviving dolphins from one concrete tank to another. Among the protesters were Yvon Godefroid, GAIA, Yvon Beck, Philippe Soreil, Gautier Chappelle of Cetus, and veterinarian Gerard Lippert.
The campaign to save Iris and Ivo was lost, for the following reason:
It was not in the interest of Mr. Daman to allow for Iris and Ivo to be introduced to an enclosure in the sea. No doubt such a project would have sent a powerful message to the rest of the world that dolphins do not belong in captivity; that these sentient creatures deserve better than to be brutally torn away from the world that is truly theirs -- the open ocean. In other words, such a project would work against the intentions of the billion-dollar dolphin captivity industry, an industry that nourishes its huge profits by telling the public that capture and confinement serve the dolphins’ best interest. And so the fate of Iris and Ivo was sealed: On March 31 1999 they were sent by truck and airplane to the Duisburg Zoo, Germany.
During 1999 Iris became pregnant. She gave birth to a male calf in April 2000. The calf only lives to be 33 hours old. “The death of Iris’ calf was the third dolphin death at the Duisburg Zoo in less than one year. It was the 47th dolphin death since the opening of the Duisburg Zoo.” says Yvon Godefroid who has continued to monitor the plight of Iris and Ivo since their arrival at the Duisburg Zoo.
On Yvon Godefroid’s web site you will find valuable information and updates on Iris and Ivo’s current state:
Read this detailed description of the tank of Antwerp Zoo where Iris and Ivo spent the first 18 years after their capture:
http://www.dauphinlibre.be/irisivo4.htm
For a complete list of the 29 dolphins that died at the Antwerp Zoo, go to:
http://www.dauphinlibre.be/irisivo5.htm
For updates on Iris & Ivo, go to:
http://www.dauphinlibre.be/fresh.htm
Sign new international petition on behalf of Iris & Ivo here:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/takeaction/959437581?sign[partnerID]=1&sign[memberID]=115426073&sign[partner_userID]=115426073
Is there any hope for Iris and Ivo?
This is the question our supporters ask us again and again.
At the time of writing -- January 2002 -- Iris and her son, Ivo, are going into their twenty-first year of captivity. Captured along with two other dolphins, for twenty-one years Iris and Ivo have not seen the sun, felt the rain, tasted real sea water, or experienced the thrill of foraging, navigating, surfing the waves, diving deep, and leaping for the sheer joy of it. For twenty-one years these two dolphins -- ironically presented by the captivity industry as 'ambassadors for their wild co-species' -- have not seen the ocean. The question is: Will they ever be able to reunite with their natural environment? Sadly, the likelihood of the Duisburg Zoo ever letting Iris and Ivo once again experience natural seawater and the ability to move without restraint is minimal. The dolphin captivity industry has sentenced Iris and Ivo to lifelong confinement without parole, and with the dolphins' transfer from one concrete tank in Belgium to another concrete tank in Germany the dolphins seem to have reached their final destination.
But let's not give up. It is worthwhile expressing your opinion regarding the way the dolphin captivity industry chooses to treat the precious wildlife of our Planet. Please respond to Yvon Godefroid's request for letters on behalf of Iris and Ivo. Send a letter voicing your concerns to the Director of the Duisburg Zoo. Please send a copy of your letter to the marine mammal veterinarian:
Duisburg Zoo Director
Dr. Frese
Marine Mammal Veterinarian
Dr Manuel Hartmann
Address:
The Duisburg Zoo
Mülheimerstrasse 273
47058 Duisburg, Germany
Phone: (+49) 203-305590
Fax: (+49) 49 203-3055922 E-mail:
info@zoo-duisburg.de
By Helene O’Barry
The Dolphin Project wants to send a very speciel thanks to Yvon Godefroid who continues to monitor the plight of Iris of Ivo, determined to make sure that their story is never forgotten.
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