Taesan and Boksoon, two Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins from the Seoul Grand Zoo, could be let loose into the wild in late June, . If carried out, the dolphins would be the sixth and seventh of their kind released in the past three years.
The dolphins were among those illegally caught in 2009 and 2010 and sold to the Pacific Land entertainment park on South Korea鈥檚 Jeju Island. South Korea鈥檚 supreme court ruled in 2013 that the park had to give up Taesan, Boksoon, and two others. The others were rehabilitated in pens off Jeju and released a few months later, but Taesan and Boksoon were too sick to be set loose, so they were moved to the Seoul Grand Zoo for two years.
Taesan and Boksoon are now in a marine pen off Jeju, but they鈥檒l need to demonstrate that they鈥檝e regained the ability to forage for live prey before they鈥檒l be freed. While the dolphins released in 2013 appear to be healthy, these two could be different. 鈥淓verything is case by case, and you should never prejudge the success of a second attempt based on the first,鈥 Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute, told National Geographic. 鈥淚f it looks like they are struggling, I hope they have a contingency plan to rescue them and care for them.鈥
If the release goes ahead as planned, it could poke a hole in the argument from marine parks in the United States聽and abroad that dolphins and whales won鈥檛 survive in the wild after spending their lives in聽captivity. 鈥淭hese efforts are demonstrating the feasibility of rehabilitating and releasing dolphins and whales who have been in captivity for several years,鈥 Lori Marino, executive director of the Kimmela Center for Animal Advocacy, told Tim Zimmermann, the writer of the National Geographic piece. Zimmerman is an 国产吃瓜黑料 correspondent whose coverage of the death of a SeaWorld trainer聽led to the award-winning 2013 documentary Blackfish.
Until the planned release date, Taesan and Boksoon will be weaned off human contact so they no longer associate people as food providers. It鈥檒l also help them reorient to an ocean habitat.