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5. THE GLOBAL INDUSTRY

5.4   Germany

Zoo-Agentur in Hohenstadt, West Germany, already in disgrace for its unscrupulous dealing in exotic species for the circus, zoo and pet trade, gained further notoriety in 1984. In the May edition of the Geflügelbörse it began advertising for sale an undisclosed number of rare Commerson dolphins from Patagonia, at a cost of DM 40,000 each, complete with what were claimed to be authentic CITES papers. Zoo-Agentur is owned by the international animal dealer Walter Sensen, who is described by one former dolphin trainer as a "tough and shadowy figure purely interested in profits." Reached by telephone, Sensen declared irritably: "We have a man in South America who offered us these dolphins and we're trying to find clients for them, but I'm not the right man for you to write about." Sensen then hung-up, obviously refusing to answer any more questions concerning his involvement in the dolphin trade. As far as the Federal authorities are concerned, Sensen already seems to be virtually a persona non grata when it comes to importing endangered species, though this has hardly cramped his lucrative dealing activities. Declares an emphatic Dr Rainer Blanke, Head of the Scientific Authority for CITES at the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry: "This animal dealer will never obtain an import license to bring dolphins into Germany."

Dr Wolfgang Gewalt, the bearded and self-assured director of the Duisburg Zoo, considers himself to be a "pioneer" of keeping cetaceans in captivity, partly because he has been catching dolphins and whales since 1965, including rare Orinoco river dolphins.

Writing of his catching expedition to the Orinoco, Gewalt seems to display the same kind of sensitivity for local culture as he did for the lives of the dolphins he destroyed there. Styling himself as the intrepid, jungle-slashing explorer, and raising the suspense of his adventures notch by notch, he remarks that the natives' beliefs prohibit them from catching or hunting the river dolphins. Their reluctance, Gewalt explains, "seems to lie in legends. . . which speak of all kinds of secretive powers of Inia geoffrensis. It is said, for example, that whoever looks at a lamp fuelled with oil from an Inia will go blind." But, being the 'rational, objective scientist' above such primitive superstition, the hunt for the Orinoco dolphins continued, led by an ironically myopic Gewalt. After days of frustration and fruitless waiting, he relates, finally an Orinoco dolphin was captured in shallow water. "River dolphin No. 1 is on board!" Gewalt exclaimed ecstatically. "One can almost bet on it: he who has once caught an Orinoco river dolphin will soon get a few more. The method is rather more sneaky than Christian. We bind our freshwater dolphin. . . with a towel around its tail and then anchor it in the middle of the river onto a vine." The dolphin then transmits "S.O.S. signals" with its ultrasound and "it is only a matter of time before the first dolphin approaches the 'scene of the accident'", with 2 or 3 others following behind. A net was then thrown across the river, and we are told that Gewalt managed to catch one of the dolphins in his own arms, which was immediately injected with sedatives and antibiotics. By the end of the expedition, two other dolphins, including a mother and calf had been captured using the same method.

His menagerie collection, which also includes Beluga whales and Commerson dolphins, as well as the habitual bottlenose, is regarded as one of the most exotic in Europe. "What is so special about these wonder-animals?" Gewalt is quoted as saying by journalist Udo Tschimmel. "It is just not understandable why they shouldn't be kept in a zoo." On the other hand, Gewalt's touchiness is understandable. His name hit the headlines in 1979, 1980 and 1984, when, as the result of three catching expeditions to the Magellan Straits of Patagonia, 14 out of 17 Commerson dolphins died. Furthermore, not only did his self-proclaimed "zoo" have no breeding success with its exotic cetaceans, but it also lost several of its inhabitants during those years due to disease and cramped conditions.

Following his 1984 expedition to Patagonia, Gewalt was even fined DM 4000 for contravening EEC import regulations. During the winter of 1983/84 Gewalt travelled to Cape Horn and caught six Commerson dolphins with the intention of bringing them to Duisburg. Of these six, only one survived the ordeal of capture and transportation, yet Gewalt, with typical disdain for such inconvenient details, imported it without any form of approval from the German authorities. According to Gewalt, the Duisburg Zoo did not set out to obtain its Commerson dolphins from a dealer in Chile, but "through our association with Sea World," in Santiago. "There were 4000 Jacobitas in the small area where we captured the four for Duisburg Zoo," Dr Gewalt told me - inexplicably reducing the number caught - "so we hardly endangered the species with our small operation. Okay, we did have traffic problems with them. The Chilean Air Force promised to airlift them for us, but at the last minute they backed-out and other arrangements had to be made - which unfortunately caused many delays and included an unexpected stop-over in Santiago where the dolphins had to be put in a temporary holding pool, and it was very, very hot. In the end, all but one died. It's a pity, but it's not dramatic, despite the outcry in the press." He then added, almost as an afterthought: "I had hoped to obtain some females for the other three males I have here in Duisburg, but I ended up with three males. Such is life I suppose."

According to press reports at the time, the Commerson dolphins, a species discovered barely a century ago, died of stress-induced heart attacks and immune deficiency. Writing in Das Tier, Gewalt justified the death toll of the Jacobitas on the grounds that it was all part of the zoological learning process. "The problems we currently experience with some marine mammals, our grandfathers had with orang-utans or okapis, but we have learnt such a lot about these animals that we breed them now almost as domestic animals". Indeed, there seemed nothing at all to complain about, even in the breaking of the law, since Gewalt couldn't find time to fill-out the necessary applications for an import permit, but merely informed the authorities after the event by phone, presenting them with a fait accompli. A sardonic Gewalt remarked that "even the government and the ministers became active because of our import of six Jacobitas." Indeed, according to the annoyed and embarrassed German CITES authority at the time, "the case will create waves." Ripples would probably have been a better word. Even though EEC regulations demand that smuggled species should be confiscated by the authorities, these rules were not applied in the case of Dr Gewalt. Explains Dr Rainer Blanke: "That was a big problem for us. Only one of the Commerson dolphins was left alive and it was in bad condition - and so the question was, what were we to do with it? We considered many different possibilities, including bringing the dolphin back to Chile, but we thought it doubtful that it could survive another journey. In the end we thought it best for the animal to stay in Duisburg, but we gave orders to Dr Gewalt to improve the dolphinarium's facilities, including making the pool bigger." But later, says Blanke, "Gewalt came with his lawyers and told us that there was a danger the dolphin might die from noise if they were forced to reconstruct the pool. We finally had to agree but made it clear that he would never legally import one of these dolphins again. . . I must confess that the fine was negligible."

Also in Germany, based in Münich, is the veteran American dealer James "Captain Jim" Tiebor, operator of the Florida Dolphin Show, which continues to provide a number of European amusement parks with dolphins. It was Tiebor who organised Europe's first itinerant dolphin and whale shows at fairs and carnivals, including those appallingly-primitive spectacles staged at the Münich Beer Festival. Apart from the ill-fated orca whale which he flew in to exhibit at the Beer Festival in 1971, Tiebor also supplied killer whales to other establishments including an individual leased to the distinguished Hagenbeck Zoo in 1981, for an annual rent reputed to have been in the region of a quarter of a million Deutschmarks. He also provided dolphin, sea lion and parrot shows to various establishments, including Knie's Kinderzoo in Switzerland and Adriatic Sea World at Riccione in Italy. More recently, he has supplied dolphins under lease to Germany's giant Europa Park in Baden-Württemberg, to Heide-Park - at a price of 300,000 Deutschmarks per year for two animals - and Safaripark in Gänserndorf near Vienna. About the only remorse Tiebor can muster for the dead dolphins that brought him a fortune is his admission that "we finally realised that this wasn't okay. We had more sick animals and more losses than today." But, like most of his compatriots, Tiebor won't specify those losses simply because too much truth is bad for the make-believe business. He refuses to comment on his present business dealings, although it is known that he continues to sell his own dolphin shows to the highest bidder, has business connections with dolphinariums in Spain, is reputed to utilise non-EEC Austria as a conduit for dolphin supplies from South America, and is also the European representative of Ferndale's International Animal Exchange.

Based alternately in Germany, Italy, Spain and Mexico is the Ocean Life Company, owned by the Swiss dolphin dealer and showman René Duss, a former trainer for 'Captain Jim' Tiebor. Other animals in his repertoire include sea lions, fur seals, parrots and chimpanzees. According to reports of former trainers, Duss used to operate the dilapidated Ocean World dolphinarium in Viareggio, near Pisa, but cut his losses when all five of his dolphins died of some mysterious illness which covered their bodies in pus-filled blisters. Rather than submit the carcasses to autopsy, it is alleged, Duss rapidly had them incinerated. Asked to comment on the fate of the Viareggio dolphins, Mr Duss said, "I know where you're leading to, and I don't like it. I'm not prepared to give any information over the telephone." However, when pressed further, the Swiss showman declared: "Like everyone else, we make mistakes, and we learn by our mistakes. I lost five dolphins at Viareggio, that is true. But autopsies were performed. The first dolphin that died was sent to the University of Pisa." Duss characterised the allegations as "an act of revenge by a disgruntled former employee." Asked to comment on why the five dolphins had been kept in such squalid conditions, he replied: "In our business nobody is an angel. When you first start out you don't make compromises. But I didn't just put the dolphins there to exploit them. We had no other possibility because our pool in Germany was broken."

In 1984, Duss obtained two dolphins from Peter Bössenecker, the owner of Société Biologique des Caraibes, a company which, until recently, was based in a caravan at a local zoo in Rhenen, Holland, and its South American dolphin-catching operations in one of the Caribbean Antilles islands. Earlier in the same year, Bössenecker had caught at least ten dolphins in Guatemala where, despite CITES controls, international export papers are still easily obtainable. Indeed, at this point, it is interesting to see in practice, just how the spirit of CITES is repeatedly violated, not only by the animal dealers themselves, but also those petty bureaucrats who process catching and export applications. A letter dated the 4th February 1983 from the Guatemalan Ministry of Agriculture refers to Peter Bössenecker's original request for permission to catch and export 20 Tursiops truncatus.

Bössenecker, then director of the Ouwehand dolphinarium in Rhenen, Holland, attached four testimonials in support of his application, as required by law. All attested to his impeccability of character and his competence as a dolphin catcher. But just where did these glowing references originate? Quite simply, Bössenecker's own clients within the dolphin industry. Testimonial No. 1, for example, comes from the Koninklijke Maatschappij voor Dierkunde van Antwerpen, Belgium. This respected institution, the Royal Zoological Society of Antwerp, confirms that Bössenecker is an experienced dolphin-catcher, and a member of the EAAM. As principal dolphin catcher for the Société Biologique des Caraibes, the letter continues, Bössenecker has already delivered many dolphins to "renowned zoos and dolphinaria," which are members of the EAAM. "Our Society received in 1977 three Guyana dolphins and in March four bottlenose dolphins which were caught by Bössenecker and which are still all very healthy." The testimonial was signed by Pieter De Block, curator of the Royal Zoological Society's dolphinarium. Reference No. 2 comes from the Ouwehand Animal Park, Aquarium, Dolphin Show, and Caravan Site in Rhenen, Holland. "We are pleased to confirm that Mr. Bössenecker has been working for our dolphinarium for many years," the letter states. "Amongst others, he provided us with tursiops gilli, tursiops truncatus and sotalia guianensis. All the animals he delivered were excellently provided and cared for, including during the flights from Japan, South America and the Mexican Gulf. Furthermore, we would continue to make use of the services of Mr. Bössenecker, and we know from the annual symposiums of the EAAM that all its members like to make use of his knowledge and skill." The signature on this reference is unreadable. The third testimonial originates from the Dolphinarium Harderwijk which also features an "underwater panorama" a sea lion show, and a "Sea Mammals Scientific Research Department". It confirms that "Mr. Bössenecker delivered dolphins - namely Sotalia - several times to the dolphinarium Harderwijk. Those deliveries were always accomplished to our complete satisfaction and we also hope to be able to use his services in the future." The letter was signed by the dolphinarium's director, F. B. den Herder. Last but not least, the fourth glowing character reference comes from the Nürnberg Tiergarten. It confirms that during a six-year period, "several, partly complicated and extensive animal deals" were conducted through Bössenecker who provided, "amongst others, bottlenose dolphins, Guyana dolphins, sea-cows and tapirs". Bössenecker, the testimonial continued, "proved during all transactions to be a reliable business partner, with whom cooperation was always trustful. As we discovered for ourselves in South America, Mr Bössenecker has acquired a considerable specialised knowledge about sea mammals, which stands him in very good stead for the catching and transport of those species. Mr. Bössenecker is also a member of the EAAM and regularly takes part in its meetings. We are convinced that Mr. Bössenecker has gained a great deal of experience during his far-ranging catching expeditions. . ." Signed, Dr. Manfred Kraus, Director.

Evidently the CITES authority in Guatemala regarded such testimonials as more than sufficient to expedite Bössenecker's application. A subsequent document prepared by the Ministry of Agriculture states that in view of the favourable response of the Guatemalan Fisheries Directorate, and the Guatemalan Natural History Association to his application, Bössenecker and the Société Biologique des Caraibes would be entitled to catch 20 Tursiops truncatus in Atlantic waters. How many were actually caught is unknown, though ten were later exported to Europe.

René Duss had the intention of importing two of these animals for a new dolphinarium called Hansaland near Lübeck in Germany, which he then operated under a leasing arrangement together with his wife, Julia. But when all ten dolphins arrived at Luxembourg airport, they were refused entry by customs authorities. They were then re-routed to Spain. It was on Sunday, 22 April at 3 a.m. that a small transport plane landed at Valencia airport with a cargo of bottlenose dolphins. Customs authorities had not been informed of their arrival and hence no arrangements had been made to receive them. Though they possessed no CITES import papers, the animals were nevertheless unloaded and taken into the customs building. The illegal import put customs officials in an unenviable predicament; it was obvious that the dolphins, after the long journey from Guatemala and the stop-over in Luxembourg, would soon die if they were not put into water. For humanitarian reasons they decided to waive existing rules, and the dolphins were granted temporary asylum in Spain, even though Spanish officials apparently harboured doubts as to the authenticity of the Guatemalan export permits. Even so, after hours of tangled discussion and argument, the dolphins were at last released from customs and were driven to two of the nearest dolphinaria, both in the province of Alicante, where they were stored in temporary holding pools. By this time, the long and arduous journey had taken its inevitable toll: one dolphin died the following day at René Duss' Safari Park in Vergel, while another died a few weeks later in Walter Moser's dolphinarium in Elche. Moser, yet another Swiss, used to own the company Sea Artist Enterprises in Rapperswil, and was contracted by Switzerland's famous Knie circus to arrange their dolphin shows - until the dolphins threatened Knie's hallowed image by dying.

Despite the mortalities in Spain, there were still enough surviving dolphins for Bössenecker to turn a modest profit on the ill-starred venture. While two were disposed of at a bargain-basement price to Walter Moser, reflecting a new trend in the dolphin business to bypass more stringent regulations in western countries, four of the remaining Guatemalan dolphins were sold-off to a Bulgarian amusement park on the Black Sea. That left Bössenecker with two dolphins with which to fulfil his contractual obligations to Duss. Ironically, these animals were actually replacements for yet another pair of dolphins purchased by the Ocean Life Company the previous year, but which died before the one-month warranty expired. As the two new Guatemalan dolphins passed automatically into Duss' ownership in Spain, Bössenecker considered his part of the contract satisfied Duss however desperately needed those dolphins in Hansaland, Germany. Despite the refusal of the German authorities to countenance the import, several months later it was discovered that two young dolphins had suddenly appeared at Hansaland. Customs officials, it was reported, suspected that Duss had smuggled the animals into Germany by private plane, quite prepared to face the insignificant penalties of the law and the negligible risk of confiscation.

Duss, reached by telephone, vigorously denied that the dolphins had been imported into Germany illegally. "To say that I smuggled two dolphins into Germany by private plane is absolutely slanderous," he asserted. "The official documentation is all in order. It is the press which have lied and have distorted things out of all proportion." Yet Duss consistently refused to divulge any information that might conceivably have served to dispel suspicions as to the identity and origin of the Hansaland dolphins. Indeed, the controversy surrounding the allegations of smuggling was destined to become more intense in the months that followed, with the German CITES Authority announcing "a thorough investigation of the affair to be conducted by the Customs Police." Ultimately, that investigation simply petered-out for lack of evidence. Explains Dr Rainer Blanke: "We never discovered where these dolphins came from. As far as we know 10 arrived in Luxembourg, some of which were sent on to Spain. There was a suspicion that Duss smuggled 2 into Germany by private plane but the result of the Customs investigation was inconclusive." Indeed, it might well be surmised that inadequacy in the law and its application was at least partly to blame for the confusion. In 1988, Bössenecker's old haunt, the Ouwehand Zoo and dolphinarium in Rhenen, Holland, inexplicably attempted to reclaim one of the dolphins at Hansaland. In litigation with Duss, the Zoo claimed that they were owed back-payments for the dolphin which had been provided on a rental basis to Hansaland; they also accused Duss of failing to return the dolphin once the contract had expired. Explained the director of Ouwehand: "We originally had a contract in 1983 to lease a dolphin to Duss temporarily - for 10 months - until he could replace it with one of his own animals. The contract expired and it was shipped back to Rhenen. Then the same animal was rented to Duss again for 8 months so it went back to Germany. It was supposed to be back by October 1984, but he didn't return the animal and he also stopped paying us."

The Zoo, despite its previously glowing testimonials for Peter Bössenecker, had by this time parted company with the dolphin-dealing showman. "We are a scientific zoo and we now have no dealings with Bössenecker," declared Ouwehand's director. "We dislike this kind of animal dealing." Although winning the first stage of their legal battle in the courts, Duss promptly appealed against the verdict. At the same time, although he was still under contract to provide dolphin shows to Hansaland for the 1989 season, Duss inexplicably failed to reappear. It was soon discovered that two dolphins were also missing, prompting renewed allegations of smuggling. This time, Duss had illegally made-off with two dolphins to Spain - including the individual owned by Ouwehand Zoo. A veterinary official in the State of Schleswig-Holstein, where Hansaland is located, declared: "Because it was an internal movement within the EEC, no export permit was required, but what was necessary was a CITES document testifying that Duss is the legal owner of these dolphins. This export was therefore illegal because Duss absconded with a dolphin that is not his property."

Duss however, continues to insist that he was the legal owner of the dolphin, under the terms of a disputed agreement between himself and Ouwehand that the zoo provide him with a replacement animal for one which died before its warranty expired. "I think it was in 1985 that Peter Bössenecker sold us three dolphins which came through Luxembourg," Duss recalls. "One of the dolphins that arrived was a baby - I mean no more than a few months' old. It died in my arms one or two hours after it arrived. It was completely criminal dolphin selling. This is the reason that the Ouwehand Zoo got rid of Bössenecker - the catching, export and transport documents for these dolphins all had the name of Ouwehand on them. But the agreement was that if they couldn't provide us with a replacement dolphin, then under the terms of the guarantee the hired one would belong to us." Though conceding that the German courts failed to agree with his interpretation, Duss refuses to admit that he stole the dolphin - which he later sold in Spain - and accuses both Ouwehand and Bössenecker of deceit.

Apart from the three "scientifically-led" establishments - Gewalt's Duisburg, Hagenbeck's Tierpark in Hamburg, and the Tiergarten Nürnberg which is one of the few establishments to obtain its dolphins from Guyana - Germany also boasts six other dolphinaria which are regarded as purely commercially orientated, despite the usual haphazard educational disguise: Holiday Park, near Hassloch, Pfalz, with five dolphins in two small pools giving six shows a day to a million visitors a year; Phantasialand at Brühl near Köln; Hansaland at Sierksdorf, on the Baltic Sea now operated by Edi van Stijn of Phantasialand fame; Heide-Park in Soltau; Europa Park, near Lahr in the Black Forest, and last but not least, the Allwetterzoo in Münster.

Sometimes, 'education', 'breeding' and 'entertainment' in such establishments may go hand in hand. In his 1984 article in the German magazine Natur, Udo Tschimmel reports that during show time at Holiday Park, a soft voice from the loudspeaker announced: "In the Hassloch dolphinarium Germany's first dolphin baby was conceived and born. We are very proud of that, because it proves that our keeping of dolphins is exemplary." What they didn't say, Tschimmel wryly remarked, was that the calf died within just a few days of its "historic birth".

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