Richard O Barry

Born as Richard O’Barry on October 14th, 1939 (age 76), Ric O’Barry is an American activist known for capturing and training dolphins in the 60’s TV series, Flipper. However, when the dolphin that played Flipper most of the time, Kathy, died in his arms; O’Barry realized that his work was wrong. He soon transitioned to activism, advocating against industries that keep dolphins in captivity. On the first Earth Day in 1970, he founded a campaign against the “multi-billion dollar dolphin captivity industry”, called The Dolphin Project. In the 1960s, O’Barry was capturing and training dolphins for the Miami Seaquarium. He was the head trainer on the series Flipper, where five dolphins collectively played Flipper. He became very successful in his
Take it away, and they’ll quit doing this…Dolphins are free-ranging, intelligent, and complex wild animals, and they belong in the oceans, not playing the clown in our human schemes.”
O’Barry has received criticism for his work, as well as neglecting other important issues such as poverty and homelessness. However, he states that the reason he is so passionate for this issue is due to fact he had trained to be apart of the dolphin amusement park industry, and he must be effective to his nature and purpose: “It’s about being effective, and this is how I am as effective as I can be.”
Despite all the negative responses, O’Barry received an outburst of positive support from all over the world. In 1991, he received the “Environmental Achievement Award” from the US Committee for the United Nations Environmental Program for his work with The Dolphin Project, his passionate activism and release of captive dolphins. O’Barry’s more than 45 years of experience with dolphins and knowledge about capture & training allowed him to travel around the world and participate in lectures and conferences about the controversial issue. In 1999, O’Barry and Lloyd Good III were convicted of violating the Marine Mammal Protection Act after caught releasing two captive dolphins into the Gulf of Mexico without authorities’ notice. A statement was released explaining that the captive dolphins were not healthy enough to survive in the wild and their actions lead to both dolphins
In 2000, he released his second book “To Free A Dolphin”, and his first being “Behind the Dolphin Smile” (1989), both about his work and passion of dolphins. In 2007, he was named as a “Marine Mammal Specialist” for the Earth Island Institute, and was soon after appointed Director of the “Save Japan Dolphins Campaign”. O’Barry took an extremely strong interest in Japan, where dolphin meat is considered a delicacy; more specifically the dolphins that were not suitable performance dolphins were viciously slaughtered to be sold on the Japanese seafood market. 2009 was the year Japan was put on the spot. O’Barry was featured and casted in the documentary “The Cove”, that centered on the capture, display, murder and worldwide dolphin trade. Mainly set in Taiji, Japan, an elite team of activists, filmmakers and free divers took on a risky, covert mission to expose the remote and hidden cove in the small fishing town. The team utilized a large range of techniques including hidden microphones and cameras in fake rocks, to share the terrifying slaughter of the marine animals. The film received numerous awards including an Academy Award for “Best Documentary Film” the next year. It was extremely well received by the international community and helped advanced his campaign to sustain the decreasing dolphin population. “The Cove” directed by Louie Psihoyos, alongside