Animal Liberation Malta said Saturday that three dolphins died at the Mediterraneo animal park last year in the span of one month. This happened between August and September 2021.

This information was kept secret although we know that the Maltese Veterinary Department was completely aware of what happened, the activists said in a press conference.

Animal Liberation Malta was advised about the death of the 3 dolphins by Margaux Dodds, Director of UK based NGO Marine Connection. The three dolphins that died were all females, one being just 7 years old according to the Cetabase registry, whilst the other two females “we believe were between 20 and 25”.

The deceased dolphins are Onda and Mar which were caught from the wild in Cuba to be caged till their death in Malta since 2000 and the young 7 year old Melita born at Mediterraneo in October 2014, daughter of Mar.

Melita has never swam in open sea. Normally international parks not only announce the deaths of their dolphins but also publish the results of the necropsy reports however this has not been the case in Malta, the NGO said.

The park has failed to make any announcements on its social media nor on the official database of captive dolphins, Cetabase.

We are aware that Alison Bezzina the Commissioner of Animal Welfare has opened an inquiry to understand how the investigation was conducted by the government veterinary department, the NGO said. We hope that this will be made public and all documents and correspondence from the veterinary department on this case are made public.

ALM finds it hard to understand how the government was bold enough to ban animal circuses but has given a licence for Mediterraneo to operate under a zoo licence. Mediteraneo is nothing but a permanent aquatic circus and now after the death of Mar, Onda and Melita it has unfortunately changed from a circus to a cemetery for them, the NGO said.