DUBAI (AlArabiya.net)
A $4 million gig at the star-studded launch party for Dubai's Atlantis hotel cost Aussie pop star Kylie Minogue her name on the celebrity friends list of a London-based charity dedicated to the protection of dolphins and whales worldwide, press reports said.
The Marine Connection charity said Minogue's performance at the $20 million bash on Nov. 21 was hypocritical because of the hotel's Dolphin Bay attraction--a facility Atlantis management boasts as the first rescue rehabilitation centre for injured dolphins in Dubai, the UAE daily 7Days reported.
Atlantis says its dolphins were bred in captivity but others dispute this (Courtesy of Atlantis) The charity claimed that its purpose was for entertainment and that the dolphins were taken from the wild, which the hotel denies, saying they were bred in captivity, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS).
The WDCS's claimed on its website to have exposed the resort's dolphin trade a day before opening night.
"It's outrageous and hypocritical that Atlantis is claiming to be committed to conservation and to have a rescue and rehabilitation centre when they have supported the trade in dolphins by buying these animals," WDCS captivity campaigner Cathy Williamson was quoted as saying. |
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Dolphins in luxurious captivity " Because Miss Minogue supported a facility that has captive dolphins captured from the wild, we can no longer be associated with her " Margaux Dodds, Marine Connection The Dolphin Bay in Atlantis houses about 24 bottlenose dolphins, which members of the public can pay to swim with.
A spokesperson for Marine Connection, Margaux Dodds, contacted Kylie's management in an effort to convince the pop diva to pull out of the show, the paper reported.
“Because Miss Minogue supported a facility that has captive dolphins captured from the wild, we can no longer be associated with her,” Dodds was quoted as saying.
Dodds expressed her disappointment in Kylie's decision adding that she "find[s] it difficult to believe that her management company had not heard of the furor over the dolphins, which was well covered.”
Kylie's contributions to Marine Connection were valuable, according to Dodds, since the pop star provided signed memorabilia for auctions. “It was disappointing to drop her," Dodds said.
The Atlantis resort has come under fire from environmentalists who have petitioned for the release of the aquarium’s whale and claimed that the owners of the hotel ignored international permit laws after capturing a shark off the Gulf coast in August and using it for entertainment and display. |
