Bankruptcy leaves dolphins’ fate up in the air
CANCUN, Mexico––Great excitement among dolphin freedom advocates over the declared bankruptcy of The Dolphin Company, owners of 30 or 31 dolphinariums in eight nations, depending on which company statement one accepts as current, is tempered by the reality that depending on the terms of the bankruptcy, if accepted by a Mexican court, none of the dolphins at any of the Dolphin Company facilities may be going anywhere.
It is possible that several hundred dolphins, the most valuable assets of the Dolphin Company, might be auctioned off, the proceeds to be used to partially liquidate a claimed $200 million in debt.
Ric O’Barry, 85, “did a backflip off the couch”
“When I first heard they were going out of business I did a backflip off the couch!” exulted Ric O’Barry, 85, founder of The Dolphin Project.
“Now it’s time to figure out what is fact and what is fiction,” O’Barry quickly added.
O’Barry, a former Miami Seaquarium dolphin trainer, has been campaigning for dolphin liberation from zoos and aquariums since 1970.
The effort has included many returns of dolphins back to their native habitat, along with at least as many disappointments when dolphin exhibitors could neither be persuaded nor be compelled by litigation to let their dolphins go.
What type of bankruptcy?
A huge amount depends on what type of bankruptcy Dolphin Discovery, one of many business names used by Controladora Dolphin S.A. de C.V., has declared, and how many of the multitude of company holdings and subsidiaries are involved, to what extent.
If the Dolphin Discovery bankruptcy is approved under the Mexican equivalent of U.S. Chapter 11, & if the bankruptcy court approves, the accumulated $200 million owed to creditors may be discharged for pennies on the dollar and the company might otherwise be able to keep on doing business as usual.
Further, since Dolphin Discovery is a multinational corporation, declaring bankruptcy in Mexico, home of Controladora Dolphin S.A. de C.V., the Mexican bankruptcy might not actually affect assets anywhere else, certainly not without separate filings by each of the many Dolphin Discovery subsidiaries.
How many sites are involved?
Beyond all that, the bankruptcy court, or courts, must disentangle how much of the Dolphin Discovery debt is owed to outside creditors, and how much is “paper debt” resulting from transactions within the multitude of companies either owned outright or controlled by Controladora Dolphin S.A. de C.V., a holding company for the rest apparently formed in 1990.
The newspaper El Heraldo de Mexico on February 12, 2025 first reported that Dolphin Discovery had declared bankruptcy.
A follow-up report on February 17, 2025 disclosed that dolphinariums in Cancun, Isla Mujeres, Cozumel, Riviera Maya, Puerto Aventuras, Mahahual, Playa del Carmen, Akumal, Nuevo Vallarta, Punta Cana, Miami, Ocho Rios, Montego Bay and other Caribbean islands were involved: at least 12 in Mexico, some in unspecified Caribbean nations, and a disputed interest in the Miami Seaquarium in Florida.
Many more locations
The Dolphin Discovery web site lists as Caribbean holdings Dolphin Discovery, Grand Cayman, British West Indies; Dolphin Discovery, St. Kitts, British West Indies; Ocean Adventures, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Dolphin Discovery, Punta Cana, Dominican Republic; Dolphin Cove, Ocho Rios, Jamaica; and Yaaman, in Jamaica.
The above were all included, at least by implication, in the El Heraldo de Mexico reckoning.
But Dolphin Discovery also claims controlling interests in dolphinariums not specifically mentioned, including Marineland, in St. Augustine, Florida; Dolphin Connection, on Duck Key in Florida; and Gulf World, in Panama City Beach, Florida.
This is in addition to the disputed interest in the Miami Seaquarium.
Holdings in Argentina & Italy
Also not mentioned by El Heraldo de Mexico were claimed Dolphin Company holdings in other nations, among them Aquarium Mar de Plata in Argentina; ZooMarine, in Rome, Italy; Aquafelix, in Civitavecchia, Italy; and Acquajoss, in Conselice, Italy.
Whether any of these dolphinariums are involved in the Mexican bankruptcy proceedings remains unclear.
According to El Heraldo de Mexico columnist Dario Celis Estrada, the major Dolphin Discovery creditors include the Prudential Insurance and Cigna Insurance groups.
Overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings, Estrada wrote, is to be Gerardo Badín, one of the best-known bankruptcy conciliators in Mexico.
15% drop in attendance
Observed the Mexican news website Reportur.mx, “This group of dolphinariums is considered one of the largest in the world, but has been in decline, apparently due to the April 2024 expiration of a contract to operate the Miami Seaquarium and subsequent eviction. The company faces lawsuits and countersuits, since the famous orca Lolita died in Miami in 2023.
“Dolphin Company parks had seen a significant drop in tourists since the summer,” Reportur.mx noted in October 2024.
“This year, compared to last year, we clearly see a slowdown,” Dolphin Company director of operations Franco Martínez acknowledged.
Martinez said the dropoff was about 15%.
(The Dolphin Company photo)
Jamaican subsidiary stock shares crashed
“Dolphin Cove Limited’s shares tumbled on the Jamaica Stock Exchange, wiping out $2.3 million U.S. dollars in market value after reports emerged that its parent company, Controladora Dolphin S.A. de C.V had filed for bankruptcy,” reported Jamaica Observer business writer David Rose.
Seeking comment, Rose spent the day fruitlessly chasing Dolphin Cove Limited and Dolphin Discovery officials, including Eduardo Albor Villanueva, cofounder and chief executive of the Dolphin Discovery Group.
Miami Seaquarium debacle
The former Dolphin Discovery subsidiary MS Leisure, later absorbed into another subsidiary company, in August 2021 bought the Miami Seaquarium from Festival Fun Parks, the Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania-based owner of 21 theme parks worldwide.
The deal included a lease on the Seaquarium property that was to run until April 2044.
While Dolphin Discovery technically acquired as part of the transaction the orca whale Lolita, the Miami Seaquarium star attraction since her capture in Penn Cove, Washington, in 1970, she was by then ill, frail, retired from performing, and the Dolphin Company was not allowed to exhibit her––or even display her photograph in promotional materials––under the conditions of the Seaquarium operating permit issued by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Lolita died
Eduardo Albor Villanueva, usually called just Eduardo Albor, in April 2023 announced having reached an agreement with advocates for returning Lolita to Penn Cove.
(See A “win-win” for Lolita, & even more for those promoting her homecoming.)
But Lolita, 57, instead died at the Seaquarium on August 18, 2023.
Meanwhile the Dolphin Company had been hit with multiple citations from the USDA Animal & Plant Health Inspection Service [APHIS] for alleged violations of animal care standards.
Attendance, already falling since Lolita was taken off exhibit shortly before the Dolphin Company took over managing the Seaquarium, fell further.
Eviction
Allegedly failing to make payments, the Dolphin Company was on March 7, 2024 sent a lease termination notice by Miami mayor Daniella Levine Cava, who cited the “long and troubling history of violations” cited by USA-APHIS.
When the Dolphin Company failed to vacate the Seaquarium by April 21, 2024, Cava initiated eviction proceedings.
The Dolphin Company ran into further difficulty in early October 2024, when the bottlenose dolphins Turk, Gus, and Nate, ages 15, 14, and 20, died at the Gulf World Marine Park, acquired by the Dolphin Company in 2015.
Marineland staff paid late
Jessica Clark of First Coast News then revealed on December 18, 2024 that personnel at Marineland Dolphin Adventure, near St. Augustine, Florida, had “not been getting paid on time.”
Why not?
Clark reported that she had been unable to get answers from the Dolphin Company.
Marineland of Antibes closes
The Dolphin Company is scarcely the only marine animal exhibition business going broke.
Marineland of Antibes, on the French Riviera, founded in 1970, one of four dolphinariums in France and one of only two European dolphinariums to exhibit orcas, closed permanently on January 5, 2024, after announcing intent to close on December 4, 2024, blaming “declining attendance and increased regulation of animal captivity in France.”
Ric O’Barry told ANIMALS 24-7 that he is advising the French government concerning the disposition of the Marineland of Antibes dolphins and orcas.
The professional services firm RSM Australia was on February 26, 2024 to oversee a business reorganization of the Dolphin Discovery Centre in Bunbury, Western Australia. The Dolphin Discovery Center, while not actually bankrupt, reportedly might have been without a $1.5 million government bailout.
Bankrupt SeaQuest down to four sites
In the U.S., the SeaQuest interactive aquarium chain, which did not exhibit dolphins but featured hands-on exhibits where visitors could touch, pet, and even hold animals, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in December 2024.
“Bankruptcy court records show the company’s gross revenues plummeted in 2024, dropping to $15.28 million from about $27.2 million in 2022. SeaQuest tells the court it currently has more than $16.6 million in liabilities compared to less than $700,000 in assets,” summarized Eric Rasmussen of KSTP television in St. Paul, Minnesota, on February 18, 2025, following the closure of the SeaQuest location in Roseville, Minnesota.
The Roseville closure leaves only four SeaQuest aquariums still operating, in Woodbridge, New Jersey; Folsom, California; Layton, Utah; and Las Vegas, Nevada.
What will become of the animals left stranded by the SeaQuest closures remains unclear.
“Don’t buy a ticket for a dolphin show”
Meanwhile, said O’Barry, “Lots of good stuff going on these days for captive dolphins. ‘Don’t buy a ticket for a dolphin show’ sounds overly simplistic,” O’Barry acknowledged, “but it is the only solution. Governments won’t stop dolphin exhibition; they get paid in the form of taxes.
‘Don’t buy a ticket for a dolphin show’ has been our mantra and strategy for years, and I like to think it’s working.”
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