Ric O’Barry has spent most of his life “on the dolphin trail,” as he puts it. As the founder and director of the Dolphin Project, O’Barry has made it his mission to end the exploitation of dolphins and whales.
After 54 years, O’Barry hopes to see his efforts come to fruition at one location at least. The Miami Seaquarium – the very place where his passion began – may be closing for good.
O’Barry wasn’t always a dolphin activist. In fact, he started off working within the very industry he now opposes. When he was 21, he was hired to work at the Seaquarium, first as a diver and later as a dolphin trainer. Eventually, he found himself caring for the five dolphins that appeared in the 1960s television series “Flipper.”
Looking back now, he realizes how unhappy he was. After one of the Flipper dolphins, Kathy, died in his arms, he recognized their suffering. He became determined to change things and launched the Dolphin Project on Earth Day in 1970.
The original Dolphin Project was set up at the lagoon off of Key Biscayne’s Mashta Point. There, O’Barry and his team successfully rehabilitated two formerly captive dolphins, Liberty and Florida. The pair were ultimately released near the Bahamas in 1974.
Recently, O’Barry returned to South Florida for a few days to lead a peaceful demonstration outside the Seaquarium. His goal is to keep the pressure on the County to follow through on its decision to terminate the Seaquarium’s lease.
He’d like to see the concrete tanks and parking lots bulldozed. “The County could plant tropical trees on the property and build a bike path,” he suggests. “Doing so would also reduce the traffic a tourist attraction brings.”
While in town, he hoped to enjoy a stroll down Richard O’Barry Drive, formerly SW 74th Avenue. The City of South Miami renamed the street in his honor a decade ago.
Now in his 80s, O’Barry reflects on the many years he has spent trying to understand and help dolphins. “I’ve spent so much time trying to figure them out. And the more I’ve learned about who they are, the more I’ve realized that we are all connected.”
“There is this illusion that we are all separate beings. When water splashes up into the air, we see separate water droplets. But when the droplets fall back into the ocean, the water is all one body.”
He detects an irony in his work. “We at the Dolphin Project spend so much time traveling around the world reconnecting dolphins with their families. That means we have to spend a lot of time away from our own families.” Activism takes its toll.
O’Barry does have some advice for young people who want to make a difference in the world: “Find something that you can be passionate about. Whatever the issue is, learn everything you can about it. That knowledge will give you power. The first step is finding out what your passion is.”
For O’Barry, his passion is clear: “I’m still trying to make amends for what I did in the past. After the TV series ended, I could have tried to free the Flipper dolphins. Instead, they languished.”
Much of his current focus is on the Dolphin Project’s first permanent dolphin sanctuary, the Umah Lumba Center in Bali, Indonesia. O’Barry’s son Lincoln explains that the Center’s efforts extend beyond helping dolphins. The Dolphin Project is committed to empowering the local community and has opened an education center where 60 children attend school and learn the importance of marine conservation. The Center also operates a turtle hospital, and its veterinarian provides no-cost spay and neuter and medical services for the local community’s companion animals.
Lincoln is working on a documentary film about his dad. Given all that the Dolphin Project has accomplished, there is quite a story to tell.
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