An activist group has charged a new staff member of the Georgia Aquarium with using physical punishment while training dolphins at his previous job, a charge that the aquarium strongly denies.
The activist group, SOSdelfines, posted videotape purportedly showing Jose Luis Barbera slapping and shouting at dolphins while training them at Marineland Mallorca.
In a statement, the Georgia Aquarium said, “Jose Luis Barbero emphatically denies that he has ever participated in the mistreatment of animals, and that he would he never condone it.”
The video, seen here, was posted on YouTube by the animal activist website, the Dodo. It purports to show Barbera striking and shouting at a dolphin at the Spanish marine park. Mallorca (or Majorca) is an island off the east coast of Spain and a major tourist destination.
Barbero has been working as a consultant for the Georgia Aquarium since January, and becomes a senior vice president next month.
Mike Leven, chairman and CEO of the Georgia Aquarium, said, in a statement, that Barbero’s “35 years of professional experience have been thoroughly reviewed and vetted by the leaders of Georgia Aquarium, and we are confident in his commitment to the well-being and care of our animals.”
Leven’s statement added: “Georgia Aquarium has a zero tolerance policy against the mistreatment of any of our animals. We would never condone or allow any mistreatment of animals to ever occur at any of our facilities.”
Barbero wasn’t immediately available for a comment. His Facebook page calls the video a “montage” and a “brutal and cowardly campaign on my professionalism.”
Jennifer Berengueras of SOSdelfines told the website The Dodo that the video was shot partly by disturbed neighbors of the marine park, and is meant to show how captive dolphins are treated.
Friends writing on Barbero’s Facebook page expressed admiration for his abilities as a trainer: “I have never known a more professional and passionate animal lover,” wrote Annie Mortera of Mallorca.
Russ Rector of Fort Lauderdale, a former dolphin trainer and president of the Dolphin Freedom Foundation, said he has reviewed the tape, and what he saw wasn’t violence, but a frustrated trainer with a short fuse. “I never saw him hurt the animal, but he used the technique a lot of people use with kids, which is screaming at them. And how well does that work with kids?”
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