Ric O'Barry
Richard (Ric) O'Barry was first recognized in the 1960’s for capturing and training the five dolphins that were used in the well-known TV series “Flipper.” The show led to an increased amount of interest in trained sea mammals and O’Barry profited from the popularity. However, soon after one of the dolphins, Kathy, died in O’Barry’s arms he made a radical transition from training dolphins in captivity to actively releasing every dolphin that he could.
Biography
O’Barry currently lives in Coconut Grove, Florida and has been fighting against the captivity industry for the past 38 years. In 1989 O’Barry founded the non-profit organization, Dolphin Project Inc., to study Atlantic Bottlenose Dolphins in estuarine waters. In addition, he has written several books to raise awareness about dolphins in captivity including Behind the Dolphin Smile (1989) and "To Free a Dolphin" (200). O’Barry was presented the United Nations Environmental Achievement in 1991.
Most recently, O’Barry worked on the feature length documentary The Cove, directed by Louis Psihoyos. The film centers on Taiji, Japan, bringing attention to the twenty-three thousands dolphins that are killed there every year. The Cove utilizes equipment and tactics never previously used by filmmakers in order to obtain footage that the Japanese government refused to allow the film crew to capture.