1/10/2018
In 1968, at age 20, Rector answered a newspaper ad for a “porpoise show assistant” at Fort Lauderdale's Ocean World. During the eight years he worked there, the captivity of dolphins became unreasonable to him, but it would be several years before he decided to do something about it. He left the park ...
1/9/2018
He once navigated into a bomb testing range to stop the government from igniting underwater explosives off the Florida Keys, staged a 34-day hunger strike to hasten the closing of a theme park and made it his life's mission to end the “abusement” industry that mistreated his beloved dolphins.
He once navigated into a bomb testing range to stop the government from igniting underwater explosives off the Florida Keys, staged a 34-day hunger strike to hasten the closing of a theme park and made it his life's mission to end the “abusement” industry that mistreated his beloved dolphins.
Rector, 68, was an indefatigable critic of marine-mammal captivity and founder of the Dolphin Freedom Foundation. After working for seven years as a dolphin trainer at Fort Lauderdale's Ocean World marine park until 1975, he quit over concerns about marine-mammal captivity and protested against the ...
1/8/2018
FORT LAUDERDALE, FLA. (WSVN) - A prominent South Florida figure in marine mammal rights has died. Russ Rector, a former dolphin trainer who became an activist, died in his sleep at his Fort Lauderdale home on Sunday. He was 69. Rector, known for his eye patch and his polarizing personality, ...