French Pool Their Resources to Help Stranded Dolphins

Two performing dolphins that were stranded for months in a classy Cairo swimming pool arrived in France today after being spirited out of Egypt to avoid a legal battle that could have kept them there.

Leo and Nemo, flown to France in a ZAS Boeing 707, were placed in a hospital pool at Marineland Cote d’Azur, according to Dr. David Taylor, a veterinarian caring for the animals. They immediately began to eat.

He was hopeful about Nemo, who is suffering from pneumonia in one lung, liver trouble and skin problems. Both animals had grown lethargic after a year of swimming in circles in the pool of Cairo’s Meridien hotel.

The dolphins were brought to the Meridien last November to perform in the main pool for guests during the winter season. But they were stranded there after the contract allegedly expired May 31, and the owners, the International Dolphin Show Co., said they had nowhere to take them.

Edouard Speck, the Meridien hotel general manager, has said the hotel is taking Leo’s and Nemo’s owners to court to decide the animals’ eventual fate.