By NEIL HARTNELL

Tribune Business Editor

nhartnell@tribunemedia.net

Environmental activists yesterday urged the Government to turn a PR disaster into a world leader by transferring the dolphins presently based at Blackbeard’s Cay to a “marine mammal sanctuary”.

Sam Duncombe, ReEarth’s president, in demanding that the Government enforce a Supreme Court Order to close the $8 million Blackbeard’s Cay project, said such a sanctuary would remove “a stain on our international image”.

In a September 18 letter to the Prime Minister and V Alfred Gray, minister of agriculture and marine resources, Mrs Duncombe urged the latter to “move with haste to rectify your mistakes” in approving the import permits for Blackbeard’s Cay’s dolphins.

She acknowledged that the Government was having difficulty in determining who owned the dolphins, due to a legal dispute between their Honduran supplier and the Blackbeard’s Cay developer, Blue Illusions Ltd.

Yet the ReEarth president suggested there were better options that either their return to Honduras or transfer to temporary accommodation, such as the Atlantis dolphin encounter.

“A third, more ambitious option also exists: The use of Crown land and seabed in the Bahamas for the creation of a marine mammal sanctuary - the first of its kind in the world,” Mrs Duncombe wrote.

“We have identified a possible location and are eager to discuss this with you further..... Such a facility could turn what is currently a stain on our international image into a globally-recognised accolade among conservationists, animal welfare advocates and the increasing number of ordinary people who are coming to see captivity in a very negative light.”

Taking up the point with Obie Wilchcombe, minister of tourism, the ReEarth president pointed out that the Bahamas was removed from Ethical Traveller’s ‘10 most ethical destinations’ December 2014 because of the presence of captive dolphin facilities in this nation.

Arguing that traveller moods were turning against captive animal facilities, Mrs Duncombe said: “More than 96,000 people around the world have already signed ReEarth’s petition calling for a ban on any new facilities of this kind in the Bahamas.

“Additionally, 32,185 people have shared our petition on Facebook, and 3,796 have tweeted the same.

“We no longer live in a world where it takes days to reach the public; with the push of a button, issues are aired for the world to see.”

And she added: “If we want to continue to play in the global arena, we are going to have to take note of global trends, all of which in this particular issue are moving away from captivity for animals, so logically we must follow suit, because we are definitely on the wrong side of history on this one.

“The Bahamas must evolve. Not because the animal activists say so, but because activists the world over have convinced customers that captivity is cruel, and the customers are shunning these facilities.”