Chained ‘Dolphins’ From PETA to Rally Outside National Aquarium Over Broken Sanctuary Promise

For Immediate Release:
June 22, 2026

Contact:
Alex Payne 202-483-7382

On Wednesday, PETA supporters body-painted as dolphins and restrained by chains to symbolize their continued imprisonment at the National Aquarium will assemble outside to demand that the facility keep its promise to release the dolphins in its tanks to a seaside sanctuary. Ten years ago, the aquarium pledged to move the dolphins by 2020—and accepted a $10,000 donation from PETA toward the effort—but the sanctuary has yet to be built and there has been no progress to date.

“The National Aquarium acknowledged a decade ago that dolphins deserve better than a life in a tank, yet these animals are still waiting for the freedom they were promised,” says PETA President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is calling on the aquarium to stop dragging its feet and take real, substantive action toward their release to a seaside sanctuary where they could dive deep beneath the ocean’s surface, swim for miles rather than in circles, and live in an environment that better meets their complex needs.

Where: National Aquarium, 501 E. Pratt St. (at the intersection of E. Pratt Street and S. Gay Street), Baltimore

When: Wednesday, June 24, 12 noon

Why:  PETA protested dolphin captivity at the National Aquarium starting in the 1990s, but agreed to pause the campaign after then-CEO John Racanelli announced the move. In a 2016 op-ed, Racanelli declared that the transfer is “right for the dolphins,” acknowledging that they “thrive when they can form social groups, have opportunities to express natural behaviors and live in a habitat as similar as possible to that for which nature so superbly designed them”—all behaviors which are thwarted in captivity.

PETA—whose motto reads, in part, that “animals are not ours to use for entertainment”—points out that when it comes to the ability to feel pain, hunger, and fear, a dolphin is a dog is a boy. For more information, please visit PETA.org or follow PETA on X, Facebook, or Instagram.