Complaints force Seoul to suspend popular dolphin shows

ORIGINAL: AsahiAJW

By AKIRA NAKANO / Correspondent
March 20, 2012

Seoul Mayor Park Won-soon, center, plays with a dolphin at Seoul Grand Park. (Provided by the city of Seoul)

SEOUL--Seoul officials have been thrown into the deep end after suspending popular dolphin shows from March 19 at a city-run zoo after an animal rights group called them a form of animal abuse.

With the shows at Seoul Grand Park being so popular among parents and children, officials are now being swamped with requests to continue them.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government plans to decide whether to discontinue the shows permanently in about a month after holding discussions and conducting a survey, officials said.

In South Korea, capturing dolphins is prohibited in principle, except for scientific research.

Since one of the five dolphins at the zoo had been found to have been illegally captured off the coast of Jejudo island, an animal rights group has been calling for the halt of the dolphin shows and the release of the dolphin.

The city plans to release it back into the sea where it was caught. Before releasing it, however, the government will provide two years of preparation and training for it to live again in the wild, the officials said.

The city has decided not to release the zoo's four other dolphins, citing their age and the fact that they have grown too dependent on the care of people.