Animal rights activists to hold second protest outside Mediterraneo park
Protestors will gather outside the Mediterraneo Marine Park on Saturday for a second demonstration demanding its closure after three dolphins died there. In a joint statement on Tuesday, NGOs Moviment Graffitti and Animal Liberation Malta urged the public to join the protest and demand the revocation of the Park’s zoo licence and its permanent closure. Bottlenose dolphins Mar, Onda and Melita died at Mediterraneo Park last year, but their deaths were never reported until activists went public with their suspicions in August. That prompted Mediterraneo to speak up, with the park acknowledging the deaths, which it described as an "unfortunate incident" of lead poisoning caused by a weight bag that was left unattended by a support diver. A probe by the Veterinary Regulation Directorate also concluded that the animals had died due to accidental lead poisoning, but that investigation was called into question by the Commissioner for Animal Welfare. Commissioner Alison Bezzina flagged multiple shortcomings in the VRD investigation. Among other things, inspectors only visited the park one month after the dolphins had died, as part of a scheduled inspection, and only sought an...