Animal rights groups criticize air transfer of dolphins to Cancun

[dArKeR]

They arrived on the beach before dawn in blue plastic crates: twenty-eight dolphins that had been plucked from the high seas near the Solomon Islands, loaded on a cargo jet and flown to Cancun, a half a world away.

Mexican authorities insist the journey was safe and legal.

They say the dolphins, 15 males and 13 females between the ages of 6 and 14, will be well cared for at their new home, a water park on the Caribbean Coast.

But animal rights groups say seven of the dolphins died while waiting to be flown to Mexico and that two others succumbed to the harmful effects of the trip shortly after they landed in this country.

"We're talking about a kind of total trauma so devastating that it's unlikely they'll eat and I would expect there'll be a very high death rate over the next few days," said Sue Arnold, the coordinator of Australians for Animals, which has been watching the case very carefully.

http://theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20030723.wdolphins0723/BNStory/International/

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