A Miracle Amidst Misery Brings Hope

By William Rossiter, CSI President

CSI is about cetaceans, but because we recently became enveloped in the suffering of thousands of people as we fought for captured dolphins we feel compelled to ask all our Whales Alive! readers to do something large or small to help the people of Haiti, now. Destructive storms swept in waves across both Haiti and the Dominican Republic beginning in late May, just the start of the rainy season. By mid-June whole villages were covered from mud slides, the agricultural infrastructure was devastated, thousands of families were homeless, and many thousands had died.

Jane Regan, a gifted reporter with Wozo Productions (http://www.wozoproductions.org/), provided CSI with much of the news about the situation in Haiti, and responded to our plea for a charity to support, should our readers be moved to help, with this link to the United States Fund For UNICEF, since UNICEF has set up a special relief effort for Haiti's children. Also see UNICEF's own web page about the crisis in Haiti: http://www.unicef.org/emerg/haiti/index_21821.html

CSI became deeply aware of the storm wracked human misery as we reacted in mid-May to the sort of problems we've been dealing with a lot lately: Perhaps ten dolphins and an unknown number of sea turtles had been captured in Haiti, probably for international sale. The capture permit was issued to "Action Haiti" in February under false pretenses by an outgoing official of the Jean-Bertrand Aristide government, just before the new government took office. Of course no data were available on the dolphin population preyed upon for the capture, and under CITES no turtles should have been captured.

The pattern was familiar; a rich Haitian entrepreneur, Jose Roy, was seeking enormous profits by exploiting his own impoverished nation. Others had practiced the same type of exploitation in the Solomon Islands, Guinea-Bissau, Antigua, and Guyana. Roy's attorney was the man responsible for dumping tons of toxic trash from Philadelphia, PA, onto Haiti's shores two decades ago. Some of the funding came from Spain, and some of the crew were hired from a Mexican company.

The first reports that leaked out in mid-May mentioned only eight dolphins and some turtles, prompting Ric O'Barry of France's organization One Voice to start immediately for Haiti, working against impossible odds to get the dolphins free. CSI's role was to help coordinate a network of organizations trying to convince Haitian officials that the captures were wrong, and that the dolphins should be freed. We heard from O'Barry what he was going through, but we also learned of the daily misery endured by a valiant people. And that was before things got much worse.

We were amazed when O'Barry was not only able to meet with Secretary of State for the Environment, Mr. Yves-Andre Wainright, but Minister Wainright immediately opposed the captures and appointed O'Barry to investigate the situation. Recognizing the dangers that O'Barry was facing, the Minister even provided O'Barry with a letter of authorization and an escort. The next day O'Barry waded through angry opposition and into the water at Les Arcadins, with the help of armed police, and found six male bottlenose dolphins, heavily scarred from nets and slings. They also showed scarring from fights, from confinement in a 15 by 15 foot netted area never deeper than five feet, with curious local people swimming around it. There was no escape from the sun or storms. Two had died during the long boat and truck transport from Les Cayes, where they were captured, two others probably had died in the pen, and there was no information on how many others died during the captures.

Within days the first terrible storm hit, and Haiti and the Dominican Republic suffered unbelievably. Years of exploitative mismanagement had left Haiti's slopes vulnerable to mud slides, and whole villages were swallowed. 40,000 Haitians became homeless. At least 2000 people died. The Los Angeles Times reported that: "The natural disaster has been a crushing blow to a nation already ravaged by political rebellion, poverty and illness. It has also laid bare the powerlessness of an impoverished interim government that has neither an army nor a functioning police force to come to the rescue." Then an earthquake hit. No one could be expected to think about the dolphins.

O'Barry now was joined by marine mammal veterinarian, Dr. Guillermo Lopez of the Dominican Republic Academy of Sciences, sponsored by the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA). They met on 1 June with the Minister of Agriculture, Mr. Philippe Mathieu, with the intention of asking for authorization for Dr. Lopez to visit the dolphin enclosure. But Minister Mathieu instead handed them his authorization for the dolphins to be released, adding that any further evidence to the dolphins' inadequate living conditions were unnecessary, and a decision had already been made, based on the recommendations of One Voice, to free the dolphins.

Ric O'Barry cuts a chain link fence to release the dolphins and turtles.
Photo courtesy Daniel Morel

Dolphin rapidly leaving the enclosure. Photo courtesy Daniel Morel

Minister Mathieu reviewed how deforestation had made the storm damage into a disaster, adding that the deforestation must stop. "We need to find alternative ways of surviving in order to ensure both our own future and that of the environment. The same could be said about the dolphin issue. Allowing entrepreneurs to come to Haiti and profit from the misery of our natural treasures is not going to solve any of our problems. Giving the dolphins their freedom back is the right thing to do both for the dolphins and for the people of Haiti."

The dolphins and turtles were released on 3 June, with protective support from both the Haitian and US Coast Guards. Minister Wainright not only told an angry Mr. Roy that "Haiti will not allow for the establishment of a tourist attraction that is based on animal suffering," he personally helped a turtle out of the pen. For a more detailed story see: http://www.dolphinproject.org/?pageid=29048.

CSI congratulates Minister Wainright and Minister Mathieu, for their clear intent to bring hope to Haiti's future, and for the inspiring and powerful standard they have set for responsible officials in other nations who will be faced with similarly exploitative situations.

We ask you, our readers, three things: First, please write and thank Monsieur Philippe Mathieu, Ministère de l'Agriculture, Damien Route Nationale #1, Port-au-Prince, Haïti, and Monsieur Yves-André Wainright, Ministère de l'Environnement, 181, Haut Turgeau, Port-au-Prince, Haïti.

Next, please consider a donation to UNICEF for Haiti (web site above).

Third, please join CSI in seeking ecotourism opportunities to help Haiti recover, and to utilize her natural resources in benign, renewable and educational ways.

CSI thanks Ric O'Barry, who risked his life for the freedom of dolphins, endured moments of terror and days of boredom, and persuaded officials to act and the media to care. He was told he couldn't get into the country, witnessed men murdered in front of him, woke up to gunfire at all hours, drove down roads where tourists had been killed days before, faced people who could do whatever they wanted with him and who didn't care, and found a way to meet with and persuade Ministers in spite of the unimaginable crisis that has enveloped the country.

Ric's wife, Helene, had it just as hard, knowing every moment that Ric was in danger and out of reach, hearing gunshots during their cellphone calls and probably in her dreams, fighting, against her instincts, to stay home and keep the issue alive outside of Haiti. She joined him just in time for the incredible triumph, which she shares absolutely.

Thanks also to Dr. Guillermo Lopez, a courageous and respected vet, who worked on the release alongside O'Barry.