Flying Dolphins

The day started with fireworks as the City of Tampere offered a small music show in one of the parks. 

I was lucky to see the fireworks because it happened so near of the dolfinarium of Tampere. I was photographing as they sectertly did try to transfer the animals away. The blip is from Dolphinarium parking lot. 

There had been protests against this wery neat and clean and good dolphinarium - and the amusement park closed it suddently in october 2015. After that animals have lived there with closed doors all winter and summer already. No shows, only rumours that they will maybe be sold somewhere soon. 

The four bottlenose dolphins of Särkänniemi Dolphinarium, Veera, Delfi, Leevi and Eevertti, had been prepared for transfer away secretly and they tried to move them away in secret - unsuccesfully, because Animal actives and journalists got a hint and I also was there as a worried citicen and photographer eyewintessing this.... And I wanted to say good bye to the poor animals.

Just at the time the first dolphin was moved into the lorry, the fireworks started. 

They were moved to plane at 00-02am and packed into the plane - of which destination was heard only from Finaviation: Plane was heard to go to Athens. 

Only after the dolphins were already landed, to Athens, the Amusement park did inform that the animals will been transferred into Attica Zoological Park, located near Athens in Spata. 

Their plane landed to Greece on August 28th, 2016 at 8.36. The Amusement park told that the dolphin transfer went according to plan. Which is good news of course. 

However there has been severe rage against the amusement park today, as not a single inhabitant was informed beforehand. And as there has been problems with dolphins in Attica Zoological park earlier, the finnish people for Animal rights are not happy about this decision or transfer - even if they earlier were demanding that doplhinarium should be closed.

Announcement of the Amusement park Särkänniemi in english.

I think these animals should have kept here, as they all have born here. Or should have given eutanasia, if the amusement park really had no money to keep them. Anyway I do not understanf financial reasons, as the amusement park really did keep the dolphinarium closed for almost 1o months - and now the animals were moved into Creece for free!

But to be honest, in 1980's worst idea from the amusement park and Tampere City was to build the dolphinarium in the first place. The second worse idea was this kind of transfer plan...

Sad day. 
In the extras there is two shots from the Flightradar24, as I followed the plane through Europe. 

Susanna