Dizzy time with the Palmitos Park dolphins spinning in the air and doing pirouettes. The Loro Parque's problems in Tenerife with environmentalists are not isolated. The UK's Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (RSPCA) this weekend joined other wildlife organizations in urging TUI to stop selling marine parks that offer dolphin shows and other attractions, whales and others cetaceans in captivity such as Palmitos Park in the south of Gran Canaria, owned by Aspro Parks, of the Madrid aristocratic Cotoner family.
Several major operators, including Jet2holidays and EasyJet Holidays have decided to stop selling these parks in recent months following pressure from wildlife groups, but TUI continues to sell them, although it has stressed that this is under review. It is not known if the aquarium in Las Palmas, the Poema del Mar, owned by Loro Parque, is in the same veto.
The RSPCA has now joined other wildlife organizations such as Peta, World Animal Protection, Born Free Foundation, World Cetacean Alliance, Humane Society International/UK and Whale and Dolphin Conservation to write to TUI managing director Andrew Flintham, calling for the operator changes his position on such attractions.
In the letter, to which Maspalomas24H has had access, the groups say: "There is ample scientific evidence that shows that captivity is totally incompatible with the complex needs of orcas and other dolphins." They add that it would be “unconscionable” for TUI to continue selling tickets to marine parks now that most of its main competitors have ended this practice.
