Business View Caribbean | September 2019

37 BUSINESS VIEW CARIBBEAN SEPTEMBER 2019 DOLPHIN COVE JAMA I CA Albor, the Group operates 22 other parks in the Caribbean. In total, Dolphin Cove Jamaica has about 350 employees, with its head office at the Ocho Rios location. In broadest terms, Dolphin Cove Ocho Rios is a marine park. According to Marilyn Burrowes, “It’s our first and biggest park, and offers people the opportunity for swimming with dolphins and sharks and stingrays. They are in different areas, so it’s safe. That’s the marine part of it. Then we have a nature walk where you can interact with animals, like rabbits, macaws, iguanas. And we have a beach, a water slide, kayaking - it’s actually a family park for the day. Admission to the parks includes the nature trails, the bird aviary, the water slide, the beach, the kayaking – but you have to pay extra to swim with the dolphins or the sharks; any interacting program.” One of the most important aspects of the Dolphin Cove brand is that all the dolphins are in their natural habitat in the ocean. As part of the Dolphin Group, Dolphin Cove offers an Environmental Education Program as part of its curriculum to all who visit the parks, including a vast number of school children. The Program teaches various topics, such as Animal Care, Recycling, Care of the Oceans, and the impact that humans have on the welfare of the planet. Burrowes explains, “Visitors see firsthand the habitat of our mammals; the bond, love, respect, and care of our mammals and our environment. To date, we have had more than 36,000 children and 160,000 guests benefit from our ongoing education program. Our Reproduction Program called ‘Miracle’ has been catalogued as one of the most successful in the world. Our veterinarians and specialists in marine mammals are trained in reproduction, gestation, childbirth, and lactation to be able to accompany the mother and the calf throughout this process. More than 150 marine mammals have been born in our family.” The Dolphin Group also has a group called “Rescue Team” that assists the authorities in rescuing stranded mammals and returning them into the wild. All this is possible because of the knowledge and training acquired by the Marine Mammal