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The Operatives “The Dolphin Rescue” Post Mortem with Pete Bethune 

Photo Credit: Pivot
Photo Credit: Pivot

That was intense and emotional. To see what horrible conditions, not only the dolphins, but all those animals from the traveling zoo were living in was just heartbreaking. The team knew it was going to be a very dangerous mission because they’d heard protestors had been hurt. So going in, they knew they’d have to be smart about surveillance. The fact that those dolphins were in such a small, unsanitary pool took a toll on the group. The fact that they were all willing to risk time in jail speaks volumes and I’m glad it all worked out in the end.

When I spoke to Pete Bethune earlier this week, I asked him about this most rewarding experience on the show and it was saving this dolphin.

Pete Bethune: “The most rewarding would probably be the dolphin. There was a dolphin that was held illegally in a resort in Asia in the most appalling conditions. It was this tiny little swimming pool that- you wouldn’t put a kid in this pool, it was that small. We ran a mission to go in and get this dolphin out of this resort, rehabilitate it and set it back in the wild. When we got this dolphin [out] and it realized it was actually gonna be free, we saw it lift it’s head up and sort of look around at this large, expansive water, flap it’s tail and swim off, it was the most extraordinary experience. I’m pretty lucky with the work I do now. I have so many extraordinary experiences, not all of them good.”

Check out the rest of my Q&A with Pete here.

The Operatives airs Sundays at 10/9c on Pivot.

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