Activists Fined for ‘Reckless’ Dolphin Release

MIAMI — Animal rights activists who freed two captive dolphins off the Florida Keys were fined $59,500 for what federal regulators described Friday as a reckless act.

The fines were announced by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration or NOAA, a federal agency with jurisdiction over marine mammals.

Richard O’Barry, a Miami man who once trained dolphins for the “Flipper” television show, and Lloyd Good, a Florida Keys resident, were found guilty of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act by releasing two dolphins without permits or adequate safeguards, NOAA said.

O’Barry and Good released the dolphins, named Luther and Buck, six miles off the coast of Key West May 23, 1996. Luther was found in a busy Key West marina a day later with deep gashes, approaching people and begging for food.

Buck was found two weeks later some 40 miles away, emaciated and suffering similar deep cuts, probably inflicted by boat propellers.

Volunteers and state and federal authorities rescued the dolphins and provided medical care. Buck now lives at a dolphin research center in the Keys; Luther is at a U.S. Navy facility in California.

“Releasing captive dolphins to the wild has been romanticized in recent years and has been promoted as a noble pursuit,” said Hilda Diaz-Soltero, director of NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources. “However, the injuries these dolphins suffered and their obvious dependence on humans highlights the need for any release project to be conducted responsibly and scientifically.”

The dolphins had been captured off Mississippi in the 1980s and held in captivity almost 10 years. They were initially in the Navy’s marine mammal program, which trained the animals for military work.

They were transferred to the Sugarloaf Dolphin Sanctuary in the lower Florida Keys in 1994 in preparation for their return to the wild. But the permit needed to release them was not obtained or even requested, NOAA said.

Releasing captive marine mammals can be hazardous unless precautions are taken to ensure they can forage for food, defend against predators and integrate with wild populations, NOAA said.