Watch: Mediterraneo insists dolphin tricks 'not cruelty, it’s all natural'
As Pietro Pecchioni walks up the steps leading to a three-million-litre water tank at Mediterraneo Marine Park, two dolphins glide hurriedly towards him from across the pool, rest their bellies on a shallow ledge and look at him earnestly. One of the dolphins is casually poking its head through a hula hoop. Ninu, 12, and Cha, 11, were born in the park in 2010 and are highly trained to obey instructions at the flick of the trainer’s finger, swim around visitors, playfully splash them with water, wave their flippers in clapping motion, make different noises on cue, breach at fascinating heights and float upside down for belly rubs. Mediterraneo runs a programme which allows guests to swim with captive dolphins for 30 minutes against a fee, but activists have been calling for the park to close down, arguing that despite operating under the guise of an educational facility, it is nothing short of a circus, where Ninu, Cha, and other dolphins are held in captivity and forced to perform tricks for an audience. Video: Karl Andrew Micallef Malta banned animal circuses in 2014 but still allows facilities to operate as zoos, but activists insist the park is not a zoo because zoos do not...