Activists Fined for Releasing Navy Dolphins

Animal activist Richard O’Barry, a trainer of Flipper the dolphin, and an associate must pay $59,500 in fines for endangering two dolphins by releasing them into the open sea, officials said Friday.

An administrative law judge in Florida found O’Barry and Lloyd Good III had violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act because he released the two dolphins without properly preparing them for survival in the wild after nearly a decade of captivity.

Barry and Good released the two Navy dolphins named Luther and Buck six miles off Key West, Fla., on May 23, 1996, after they had been in captivity for nearly 10 years.

A day after the release, Luther appeared with deep lacerations and was begging for food at a congested Key West marina. Buck was found two weeks later about 40 miles from where he was released and also had deep lacerations and was emaciated, the government said.

O’Barry, at a trial in February, had denied any wrongdoing and claimed that the two dolphins at his Sugarloaf Dolphin Sanctuary in the Florida Keys were adequately conditioned for release.

But Administrative Law Judge Peter Fitzpatrick in Key West found the defendants guilty and levied $40,000 in fines against O’Barry and Good for illegal transport and harassment of the two dolphins, officials said. O’Barry’s dolphin sanctuary was fined an additional $19,500 for failing to notify federal regulators of the release.

The defendants have 30 days to appeal to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

“This case involves the reckless and intentional release of two captive dolphins by overzealous activists who had not prepared the animals to survive in the wild,” said attorney Joel LaBissonniere of NOAA’s fisheries division, which brought the original prosecution.

The agency had sought $60,000 in fines, saying O’Barry had been warned that the two dolphins should not be released without a proper scientific research permit.

Neither O’Barry nor Good could be reached for comment Friday.

In January, when the fines were first proposed against the two men, O’Barry said that both Buck and Luther were ready for life in the wild, but that their release had been “sabotaged” by rival activists and federal biologists.