The murky world of dolphin training is the subject of a new Netflix documentary, focusing in on the 2015 death of one of the industry’s most established trainers.

Any fans of Netflix’s hugely popular My Octopus Teacher and Blackfish won’t want to miss The Last Dolphin King, which examines the downfall of a Spanish dolphin trainer called Jose Luis Barbero.

The film, directed by Luis Ansorena Herves and Ernest Riera (and which premiered at the International Documentary Film Festival in Amsterdam earlier in 2022) investigates the fate of Barbero amid a wider story of the controversial practice.

As the trailer tells us, “there’s a lot of jealousy in this job… you never know who might stab you in the back”. So what actually happened to Barbero?

Netflix

Barbero’s back story

At the beginning of March 2015, 59-year-old Barbero was working at Marineland Mallorca, ahead of a big move to the US. For almost four decades, he had worked as a dolphin trainer at various aquariums and water parks, and had finally landed a job as vice-president of the Georgia Aquarium.

But just days before he was due to leave the Balearic island, a 99-second long video was released by the animal activist group SOSdelfines, with hidden-camera blurry footage of what was purported to be Barbero hitting and kicking the dolphins he was training. There was a huge outcry on social media and he reportedly started getting death threats.

Posting on his Facebook page, Barbero denied that it was him in the video, and said it was the work of revenge from some former employees: “I believe a response is needed to this brutal and cowardly campaign against my profession. I can only say from my lawyers' recommendations that this video is a montage created to provoke a campaign challenging my professionalism over 35 years.”

Speaking to The Dodo, a spokesperson for SOSdelfines said that the footage had been acquired by “disturbed neighbours” of the theme park and was released to highlighted how the captive animals were being mistreated: “Our answer is to ban shows and breeding of animals immediately and then for them to be taken to a sanctuary - semi-freedom in the ocean - and maybe considered for release - although we are aware this is a complex and not always possible objective."

However, tensions continued to run high, with abuse being sent to Barbero, while others debated the ethics of animal theme parks itself.

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The Georgia Aquarium brought in experts to examine the content of the video, and to ascertain if it was indeed Barbero or not. The company also brought in a former FBI agent to investigate the case, who travelled to Spain for his thorough research. A spokesperson at the time said: “Until our investigation is complete, we will not make any decisions regarding his employment, so at this time, Mr. Barbero remains in Spain. We are committed to making decisions based on factual information and very thorough analysis. We have a zero tolerance policy against the mistreatment of animals and continue to investigate every aspect of this matter.”

However, a few days later, Barbero went missing. On March 7, his body was found in Spain; he had died by suicide.

Georgia Aquarium released a statement: “Sadly, he and his family received death threats, and groups and individuals rushed to judge him. He was not given the right or the privilege to be considered innocent until proven guilty, a principle I hold dear. His death is untimely, unnecessary and unjust…some in our own community tortured him with enough hatred to cause him to allegedly take his own life. I hope the death of Jose Luis Barbero teaches those who were quick to condemn him a lesson about being hasty to charge and indict.”

Whether he abused the dolphins or not was never established, and now the documentary – through interviews with Barbero’s former colleagues, friends and family – attempts to reveal more about a man who was at the centre of a very dubious industry.

The Last Dolphin King streams on Netflix from November 25.

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