A dolphin swims with a calf after being released into the wild.[Yonhap Photo]
A female dolphin has apparently given birth to a baby, three years after being released back into the wild from human captivity for a forced show at an entertainment park, scientists said Monday.
The Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphin called "Sampal" has been seen swimming and playing often with a one-meter-long calf which appeared to be less than six months old, off the southern resort island of Jeju, a college animal research team said, hailing it as a rare case of birth from dolphins released from captivity.
Sampal was among the five dolphins that had been released over the last three years after being captured illegally. The release followed an active campaign by animal right activists that prompted South Korea's supreme court to make a landmark decision ordering the release of captive dolphins used for entertainment.
Before being set free, they had been kept in an open ocean cage in Jeju for adjustment training.
Aju News Lim Chang-won = cwlim34@ajunews.com
reporter
Park Sae-jin
swatchsjp@ajunews.com
