Zoo accused of exploiting dolphins in pool display

Inspectors from the Environment Ministry are challenging the legality of a display at the Attica Zoological Park’s dolphin pool, which they say is a spectacle that contravenes animal protection laws and the privately owned zoo claims is part of an exercise program.

The inspectors’ report has been forwarded to a prosecutor, who will investigate whether the way the zoo displays the dolphins constitutes exploitation. In the November 3 report, inspectors say they paid an admission fee of 3 euros to watch the dolphins performing acrobatic tricks and “pirouettes” for 20 minutes in “an entertainment spectacle.”

“The inspectors obviously didn’t take an interest in listening to the narrator… and the explanations that accompany the program that is aimed at exercise and public awareness,” the zoo has countered in a written statement. “All of the behaviors the public see are natural behaviors that we explain during the course of the display.”