A Captured Dolphin

July 21, 2003 — A furor over plans to illegally sell up to 200 Solomon Islands dolphins to Mexico intensified Monday when Solomon Islands security clashed with media trying to photograph the penned animals.

Australian public radio said a Sydney journalist and photographer were briefly detained after they argued with security staff, while a New Zealand television crew was reportedly kicked and chased.

The Australian government and animal welfare groups have called for urgent action to stop trade in dolphins.

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Villagers in the near-bankrupt Pacific state who captured the dolphins are reported to have sold them to an international syndicate for about $400 ($265 U.S.) each.

Animal welfare group Australians for Animals claimed the dolphins were being sent to Parque Nizuc in Cancun.

Australian Environment Minister David Kemp failed in his bid last week to have Mexican authorities ban imports of dolphins, even though the Latin American nation is already banned by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) from doing so.

Australia also expressed concern to the Solomon Islands government, currently preoccupied with efforts to maintain law and order in the restive nation.

A Brazil Air cargo plane expected to transport the mammals to Mexico landed in the capital Honiara on Monday, even as a large media contingent arrived to document the deployment of an Australia-led intervention force to restore order in the islands.

Humane Society International campaigner Nicola Beynon said the group was concerned for the welfare of the mammals, which suffer stress and often refuse to eat after capture.

"Such a massive capture of dolphins is unprecedented and will inevitably lead to debilitated and dying animals," she said.