In 2025, the global reality facing dolphins has become impossible to ignore. From brutal annual hunts to mounting scandals within the marine park industry, dolphins remain among the most exploited and endangered marine mammals on the planet. Yet alongside this suffering, a growing international movement is challenging the systems that profit from cruelty and demanding a future rooted in protection, rehabilitation, and dignity.
This Sustainable Action Now Report brings together the most significant developments of the year, placing them in broader context and underscoring why urgent action is still needed. For ongoing coverage of dolphin captivity, rehabilitation, and policy reform, readers can explore Sustainable Action Now’s dedicated reporting on dolphins in captivity.
Mass Dolphin Hunts: A Year of Alarming Losses
Taiji, Japan: A Devastating Season Continues
The 2025–2026 dolphin drive hunt season in Taiji, Japan, which began in September, has been described by observers as one of the most destructive in recent memory. By early December, approximately 600 dolphins had been killed, with an additional 140 captured alive and sold into captivity, primarily to marine parks across Asia. Targeted species included striped dolphins, melon-headed whales, and bottlenose dolphins—each enduring violent separation from their pods.
These hunts, driven by both meat sales and the lucrative captivity trade, continue despite widespread international condemnation. Documentation from activists and researchers has played a critical role in exposing the realities behind the cove walls and countering long-standing misinformation.
Faroe Islands: The Grindadráp
In the Faroe Islands, the 2025 Grindadráp resulted in the killing of 996 pilot whales and Atlantic white-sided dolphins by mid-September. One particularly disturbing event occurred on September 13 in Fuglafjørður, where a single “superpod” slaughter claimed 285 lives in what witnesses described as one of the longest and most chaotic hunts of the year.
Illegal Harvesting and the Bait Trade
Elsewhere, reports emerging in late 2025 highlighted an escalating illegal dolphin harvest in regions such as Sri Lanka. Dolphins are being killed for human consumption and used as bait in industrial long-line fisheries—an underreported crisis that threatens already vulnerable populations.
The Collapse of the Dolphin Captivity Industry
Bankruptcy and Investigations
The global marine park industry faced major upheaval in 2025. The Dolphin Company, one of the world’s largest operators of dolphinariums—including Gulf World, Miami Seaquarium, and Marineland—filed for bankruptcy. This financial collapse exposed long-standing welfare concerns and systemic neglect.
At Miami Seaquarium, Miami-Dade County moved to terminate the facility’s lease, seeking court approval to force the relocation of its remaining dolphins and marine animals. At Gulf World in Florida, a criminal investigation was launched after multiple dolphin deaths, including one animal that died during a public performance from blunt force trauma. Whistleblowers later reported failing infrastructure and dangerously poor water quality.
Deaths in Captivity
Several high-profile deaths further underscored the cost of captivity:
- Kshamenk the orca, who lived in near-total isolation in Argentina for decades with only a bottlenose dolphin for companionship, died on December 14, 2025, at age 36.
- Gulf World recorded four dolphin deaths between October 2024 and early 2025, intensifying scrutiny of the facility.
- Aquarium Mar del Plata in Argentina announced its permanent closure, with seven dolphins scheduled for relocation—an outcome increasingly seen as inevitable for outdated marine parks.
Legal Battles and Shifting Policy
United States: Federal Lawsuit
On November 7, 2025, Friends of Animals filed a federal lawsuit against the National Marine Fisheries Service, challenging the continued import, export, and commercial exploitation of cetaceans for public entertainment in the United States. The case reflects a growing legal consensus that captivity violates both animal welfare principles and conservation goals.
Europe: Court Rulings and Advocacy
In Greece, the owners of Attica Zoo were found guilty in January 2025 of running illegal dolphin exhibits. Later in December, permits were controversially issued to relocate five bottlenose dolphins to Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida, sparking renewed debate about whether relocation to another captive facility truly constitutes rescue.
In Spain, advocacy efforts continued to focus on Loro Parque in Tenerife, where orcas and bottlenose dolphins remain confined in performance tanks. Campaigners are urging Spanish authorities to implement a nationwide ban on captive breeding of dolphins and orcas.
Mexico: A Landmark Reform
Mexico achieved a major milestone on June 25, 2025, when lawmakers approved reforms banning the reproduction of marine mammals in captivity, prohibiting their use in concrete tanks, and ending physical contact during swim-with-dolphins programs. This legislative shift positions Mexico as a global leader in marine mammal protection.
Rehabilitation, Retirement, and Ethical Alternatives
Retirement With Dignity
All formerly performing dolphins deserve retirement rooted in peace and dignity. One example is Rambo, a former captive dolphin who underwent intensive rehabilitation at the Umah Lumba Center before choosing freedom in the waters of West Bali, Indonesia. His journey demonstrates that recovery and autonomy are possible when exploitation ends.
Europe’s First Dolphin Refuge
Near Taranto, Italy, Jonian Dolphin Conservation is leading the creation of the San Paolo Dolphin Refuge—Europe’s first sanctuary dedicated to non-releasable dolphins rescued from marine parks. Designed to offer a more natural environment while ensuring professional care, the refuge is widely regarded as a model for ethical relocation and long-term welfare.
Bali: Rescue, Education, and Release
In Bali, dolphin rescue and rehabilitation efforts expanded significantly in 2025. The Umah Lumba Center responded to numerous dolphin and sea turtle strandings, provided training for communities and universities, and helped ensure that informed intervention led to successful releases. The center also opened Indonesia’s first wildlife crime museum and continued operating the only sea turtle hospital in Bali, treating 56 patients this year.
Global Activism and Public Awareness
From Empty The Tanks demonstrations across Europe and North America to coordinated actions during the Taiji hunting season, activists continued to demand an end to dolphin captivity and slaughter. Campaigns targeting the tourism industry—including calls for companies like TUI to sever ties with dolphinaria—highlighted the power of ethical travel choices.
Educational outreach also expanded, with interviews, school programs, and engagement with policymakers helping to shift public understanding. Across Europe in particular, leaders are increasingly acknowledging that commercial dolphin exploitation has no place in a humane and sustainable future.
The Path Forward
The events of 2025 make one truth clear: dolphins are paying the price for outdated traditions, profit-driven entertainment, and weak regulatory systems. At the same time, the year also revealed growing momentum for change—through court rulings, legislative reform, sanctuary development, and global advocacy.
Ending dolphin suffering requires dismantling the captivity industry, confronting the reality of annual hunts, and investing in rehabilitation and true sanctuaries. Sustainable Action Now will continue to document these issues and amplify the voices demanding a world where dolphins are no longer exploited, but protected as the intelligent, social beings they are.
For continued updates and in-depth reporting, visit Sustainable Action Now’s dolphins in captivity coverage.
