The Netherlands (or 'Holland') is a beautiful country that has a lot to offer her international visitors. The historic town of Harderwijk is beautiful - except that it is home to the second largest number of captive dolphins in Europe. Dolfinarium Harderwijk is so heavily promoted, tourists miss out on everything else Harderwijk has to offer.
As a country, we are actively promoting captive dolphins as entertainment, sending a message that is no longer supported by huge numbers of tourists visiting The Netherlands. It is time to start listening to our tourists and turn Dolfinarium Harderwijk into a modern, educational facility without captive dolphins.

About 80% of our international tourists are from Germany, the UK, Belgium, the US, France, Italy, Spain, Russia, China and Japan. 

The British public has spoken out loud & clear against keeping cetaceans in captivity for entertainment in the late '80's and early 90's, resulting in the closure of their facilities. [More info]

In America, SeaWorld has lost the support of the public -- known as the "Blackfish effect" -- resulting in a historical stock plunge. SeaWorld is sinking. [More info]

Worldwide, more and more people are speaking out against keeping dolphins, orcas and small whales captive to entertain people.

India is the latest country to ban captive dolphins, giving them "Non-Human Persons" status to further protect them. [More info] 

Even in Japan, a country actively whaling and allowing the most horrible and well known dolphin hunt in the word (the Taiji drive hunt), people are slowly gaining access to the information the Japanese government is keeping from them, and more and more Japanese people are speaking out against the hunt in Taiji and captive dolphins in Japan and worldwide. [More info]

While the world is changing and speaking out against captive dolphins in the entertainment industry, we are still actively promoting this practice. Science has shown why this is wrong. The public won't buy tickets to watch and sponsor the abuse of sentient animals. We need to listen.

The Netherlands are known as a liberal country. Our policies on important issues like same-sex marriage are among the most liberal in the world. We have recently banned wild animals in circuses. Being home to the largest marine park in Europe, housing the second most captive cetaceans, is not something to be proud of in this day and age. We need to acknowledge everything science has taught us, we need to listen to the people visiting our country and we need to step up. The time to change is NOW.