Marine Life Park

Resorts World Sentosa

Singapore

Re: harassment suit against environmentalists and animal welfare groups in the Philippines

Dear Marine Life Park,

We had recently known that your company had been instituting a Strategic Lawsuit Against Public Participation (SLAPP) suit against environmentalists and animal welfare groups in the Philippines for the past six years.

These advocacy groups had filed a case against Resorts World Sentosa (RWS) and the Philippine government in 2012 for granting import permits for dolphins captured from the Solomon Islands. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as well as the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) Scientific Authorities in the Philippines all agree that the importation of the dolphins should not have been allowed given the lack of scientific studies showing that the harvest of the dolphins are sustainable.

The importation of dolphins from the Solomon Islands likewise violates the Wildlife Resources Conservation and Protection Act of the Philippines (RA 9147). In fact, the Amended Fisheries Code of the Philippines in 2015 specifically states that scientific assessments should be made before any transport of any CITES Appendix II species. Bottlenose dolphins belong to Appendix II of CITES.

Finally, the Solomon Islands had banned the export of dolphins beginning January 2012 because scientific studies had shown that the dolphin populations of that country had already been depleted.

It is therefore clear that Resorts World Sentosa had made a mistake to capture dolphins from the Solomon Islands for display in Singapore. It is a bigger mistake to file a harassment suit against environmentalists and animal welfare groups seeking to protect the animals and the environment.

It is totally hypocritical of Resorts World Sentosa to claim that it is a ‘green champion’ when in fact it harasses environmental advocates with this legal suit.

We ask the Resorts World Sentosa to immediately withdraw this harassment suit against these animal welfare and environmental advocates. We also urge you to release what remains of the dolphins from the Solomon Islands. This is the only way to rectify this mistake if you are to continue marketing your business as a leader of sustainability.