Dolphin Show Protester Can’t Stomach Sentence

An animal rights activist arrested as she protested the dolphin show at Knott’s Berry Farm told a judge on Wednesday that she would not perform community service at a church that serves meat.

“The work that the church does is commendable, but I am an atheist and strict vegan, and I have a moral problem with contributing to an institution that serves non-human animal flesh,” Gina Lynn said in a written statement to Municipal Judge Gregg L. Prickett during her hearing.

In May 1995, Lynn, her mother and two other members of Orange County People for Animals chained themselves to the railing of the park’s dolphin pool, disrupting a show that was about to begin.

Lynn, 25, a former Anaheim resident who now lives in Menifee, Calif., was convicted of trespassing and resisting arrest. She was spared incarceration if she agreed to complete 350 hours of community service feeding the homeless. She was back in court Wednesday, though, after refusing to work at a Buena Park church. She said she would rather go to jail.

“I don’t want to send you to jail,” Prickett told her. Instead, he allowed her to try to get the nonprofit organization of her choice, Southern California Food Not Bombs Network, based in Santa Monica, registered as a court-approved community service site, so that she may complete her sentence there. Should that fail, Lynn was ordered to get a list of approved sites from the Volunteer Center of Orange County, pick one and report back Tuesday.

Lynn has said that dolphins “belong in the ocean, not in a tank for us to look at and to laugh at.” She and several animal rights organizations also say that the Knott’s dolphin pool is located next to a loud roller coaster and that dolphins are extremely sensitive to noise.

The park maintains the noise does not harm the dolphins.

Tom Mehrmann, vice president of operations and entertainment for Knott’s, said the two dolphins and three sea lions are properly cared for and help increase public awareness about dolphins.

“They are treated with the utmost dignity, respect and care that we can possibly provide them,” he said.

“Some people may say, ‘You’re putting on a circus.’ We deny that statement because [the dolphins] perform natural behaviors. . . . We don’t believe that we’re putting these animals in jeopardy. They’re living very healthy, productive lives.”