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We are very sad to announce the death of Jane Tipson, St. Lucia Animal Protection Society President and Founder. Jane died on Wednesday 17^th September 2003. SLAPS will continue Jane's vision of improving animal welfare in St. Lucia. Her committment, dedication and sense of humour will be sorely missed by all who knew her.

This web site has been developed with the sole purpose of gaining worldwide exposure for current plans to develop a "swim with the dolphins" facility in St. Lucia.

Minvielle & Chastanet Ltd., a large St. Lucian company wants to capture wild dolphins and put them in a sea pen for tourists to play with.

St. Lucia and the Commonwealth of Dominica currently have captive dolphin facilities in the planning stages. The one in Dominica is partially constructed.

The two foreign investors involved are in St. Lucia, Dolphin Fantaseas and in Dominica, DOLPHINS PLUS.

A permit will be sought for the first 6 bottlenose dolphins for the St. Lucia facility to be captured in St. Lucia's territorial waters, in defiance of the SPAW protocol of the Cartegena Convention, which St. Lucia has ratified.

The dolphins for Dominica will be taken from the Dolphins Plus facility at Prospect Reef in Tortola.

"The beginning of a journey to death for Tracey, Kimbit, Isla and Jessica who arrived in Dominica from Tortola earlier this month" Unconfirmed reports state that Isla has died and Tracey is critically ill.

Our dolphins are a shared resource. Both St. Lucia, Dominica and the islands to the north and south have thriving whale and dolphin watching operations, generating income for many. These animals are large, wild and free ranging and it is wrong to confine them to enclosures, however "large" or "deep". They can never be as large or deep as the ocean which is their home.

The proposed St. Lucia facility is in an inlet at the entrance to Castries harbour which is not only extremely polluted, but is directly in the path of low flying aircraft coming in to land at the airport, and yards away from large cargo and cruise ships entering the harbour. In times of heavy rain, the bay fills up with plastic rubbish from the Castries river. Plastic is extremely dangerous to marine mammals.

The Dominica facility is in a quieter area, but the irony is striking - Dominica, the Nature Island of the Caribbean, pioneers of the whale and dolphin watching industry, promoting swimming with captive dolphins?

This will be a blow to the images of both islands and any others which chose to go this route. We are hoping that the recipients of this petition will reconsider their positions and follow the example of so many countries in South and Central America whose authorities have come to realize that cetaceans are totally unsuited to captivity.

Please help us stop this development by signing our petition at www.gopetition.com