No More Dolphins at Disney!

The tide is definitely turning. After working alongside local activist Izzy Megilley on our Save the Disney Dolphins campaign and collecting over 29,000 signatures asking Disney to retire the captive dolphins at Epcot, in September of 2024, the park announced that all live dolphins would be removed from the park.

As part of an internal memo to staff, Disney stated for a reason, a commitment to prioritize the well being of the sensitive mammals. One month later, in October, the dolphins were moved to the Gulfarium Marine Adventure Park on Okaloosa Island, Florida. While we advocated for Disney to provide a proper retirement for its dolphins, we are pleased that they are now a dolphin-free attraction.

CAMPAIGN BACKGROUND

Our joint Disney petition with Save the Disney Dolphins (SADD) received over 29,000 signatures asking Disney to retire the captive dolphins at Epcot!

“Upon visiting the Epcot centre, we were horrified to see a solitary dolphin in a very small, barren tank. We had avoided SeaWorld and other such attractions, because we object to the keeping of sea mammals in captivity, so were very upset to have this forced upon us.” ~ Izzy Megilley, founder of Save the Disney Dolphins (SADD) and her family upon visiting Epcot-Walt Disney World in Orlando, Florida

On returning home, Izzy found out that there were three dolphins at Epcot who partook in expensive dolphin swims. She contacted Disney and a representative told her that the dolphins were kept mainly for research, education and “not for profit.” In a letter from the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), following an FOIA request, Izzy was informed that the Disney Dolphins were not in the facility for scientific research. The letter stated, “Disney does not, and has not, held dolphins for scientific research purposes.” Soon thereafter, Izzy started Save the Disney Dolphins (SADD), and together with Dolphin Project, launched a campaign to end Disney’s captive marine mammal programs. Our joint petition, “Save the Disney Dolphins” received over 29,000 signatures asking that the captive dolphins at Epcot be retired.

HISTORY OF EPCOT’S CAPTIVE DOLPHINS

Joint Retire the Disney Dolphins campaign with SADD

The “Living Seas Pavilion” (now renamed to “Seas with Nemo & Friends”) was a captive dolphin facility at Walt Disney World’s Epcot park in Orlando, Florida. It opened in 1986. When the facility first opened, a Disney spokesman claimed, “We won’t commercialize sealife. There are no tricks here.” That sentiment obviously didn’t last long. In the first five years, four of their six original dolphins had died. Three of the deaths were believed to have been caused by, or contributed to by an aggressive tank mate named Bob. At the time of the transfer, Epcot held three remaining captive dolphins: Ranier (wild-captured), Calvin (captive bred), and Malabar (captive bred).

READ MORE about the history of Epcot’s captive dolphins.

Featured image: Epcot-Walt Disney World. Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported license; attribution: Eric Marshall