The Last Dolphin King (2022) Movie Script
1
NETFLIX PRESENTS
To be the best dolphin trainer,
you have to be an obsessive person.
Competitive.
You have to have a bigger ego
than ordinary people.
Jos Luis has always liked to win.
Stand out.
Be the best at everything.
But, watch out.
There's a lot of jealousy in this job.
You never know
who might stab you in the back.
It would be extremely unfair
for anyone to draw conclusions
about who Jos Luis Barbero was
by watching a video.
That fateful 99-second video.
The worst seconds of a trainer's life.
A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
The dolphin.
VOICE OF JOS LUIS BARBERO
A creature revered by our ancestors.
In our times,
these beings are victims
of man'sunscrupulousness and ambition.
Despite this,
the dolphin continues to show its trust
and closeness to man.
I have learned many things from dolphins.
That they know us
much better than we know them.
My job? I work with dolphins.
Jos Luis had a special relationship
with the animals.
He was the one who motivated them.
The animals would wait at the door
until he arrived.
When you saw that, you wondered,
"Why won't the dolphins follow me?"
BARBERO'S ASSISTANT TRAINER
I learned almost everything
with Jos Luis.
Who was Jos Luis? The best in the world.
And I was his assistant.
It's one of the most
beautiful jobs in the world.
Sometimes it's better to work
with animals than people.
What happened is a great example of this.
They aren't evil.
They don't have bad intentions.
Every training session is a therapy
session between dolphin and trainer.
It's very similar to a teacher
with a student in school.
You know each one's characteristics
and how to bring out the best in them.
This is exactly the same.
For Jos Luis,
the key is to use a coherent language
that is constant and flawless.
A common language.
The animals had no doubts
about what Jos Luis expected from them.
Now!
Now!
That's a wrap.
Come on, baldy.
Jos Luis has been working with dolphins
for approximately 30 years.
Yes, I started in Majorca
in a dolphinarium called Marineland.
That's where it all began.
VIDEOS
Then I opened adolphinarium in Madrid.
I opened adolphinarium
in Costa Brava, in Barcelona.
There were a few of them.
Hello!
My girl is so beautiful!
Stop messing around, man.
Now I'm helping to open
a dolphinarium in Atlanta, United States.
FORMER CEO OFGEORGIAAQUARIUM
Georgia Aquarium makes Jos Luis
an offer he can't refuse.
When he told me
he was going to the Georgia Aquarium,
that he was offered a position
as vice president,
it was unbelievable.
For me and for us as colleagues,
we took pride in saying,
"Look how far Jos Luis has come."
Jos Luis was already in his late fifties.
He was almost 60.
It was the culmination of his career.
And Jos Luis was over the moon.
But, watch out.
Watch out, because...
you never know what might happen.
He insulted and kicked the dolphins...
Parc Marineland Majorca...
The trainer in question is...
Carla, take three.
It was our responsibility
to publish images of what was happening.
Because, also,
the public just isn't aware, right?
Of what goes on behind the scenes
of the show they're watching...
behind the music, fun and...
and the dolphins are smiling.
The fact that the dolphins were trained
in such an aggressive, violent way,
shocked and hurt me a lot.
Jos Luis Barbero was responsible.
Those events were taking place
under his watch.
It had a big impact in the United States.
And that's when you realize
this could have serious consequences.
When the videos came out here,
Jos Luis was in Georgia.
WIFE
He calls me and says,
"They ruined my life."
KILLER TRAINERS
I HOPE SOMETHING HORRIBLE HAPPENS TO YOU
HIS MOM GAVE BIRTH TO A BASTARD!
I had never seen people get as angry
as they did with Jos Luis
without knowing him at all.
YOU DESERVE TO BE SHOT IN THE FUCKING HEAD
It was a crusade
against Jos Luis Barbero.
Everyone had something to say.
Everyone criticized him blindly.
It's carnage.
What they have done to me is unforgivable.
In my 35-year career,
I have never abused an animal.
Not in Marineland and, as far as I know,
not in any dolphinarium in the world today
are dolphins abused
as theanti-dolphinarium organizations
make it seem.
It was pure fury.It was hatred and rage
against him that I have rarely seen since,
and we see a lot on Twitter.
He must have felt embarrassed, humiliated,
frustrated...
He had to feel a lot of things
that are difficult to manage.
I could tell he was really down.
And I told him,
"Pack your bags and come to Spain."
When Jos Luis arrived home,
he played the videos frame by frame.
You're lazy!
He saw that things didn't match up at all.
The fucking ball!
Hey! Lazy!
It's a few seconds of really ugly clips,
one after another,
and the result is a very violent video.
This was not the norm
for Jos Luis Barbero.
I said, "We have to get a lawyer
and see what they say."
That's when we hired Mateo.
Like any other client
who enters my office,
I told him
that the first thing I do is investigate
to see if what he's telling me is true.
And if it's true,
then I move on and defend him.
The conclusion we reached
was that thosevideos
were indeed tampered with.
We have expert reports
proving the video was edited.
According to the technicians,
it's a botched job.
Even I am not 100% sure that
I'm the person seen there, but...
He looked strong to me.
If you didn't do it,
you don't have to stop working.
And that's what he did.
We had our suspicions.
The editing was weird.
Georgia Aquarium started an investigation
and sent several people here to Majorca
to interview all the members
of the team one by one.
The interview had law enforcement nuances.
They asked us to interpret
what we saw in that video.
I was not completely sincere
in that situation.
Obviously, Jos Luis was my friend and...
And I downplayed the gravity
of many of the situations seen.
We received a call from some people
hired by the Georgia Aquarium.
They said they had been inMajorca
and that they'd done
an exhaustive investigation
because they intended
to hire Jos Luis Barbero
and they had to know if it was real.
Initially, the conversation had
a somewhat intimidating
or threatening tone to it.
They came with an expert report saying
"This does not correspond to that."
"This is not real,
this has been tampered with..."
INVESTIGATOR MEETING
CAMERA - 200 M - PENGUINS -TRAINERS
CAMERA - 200 M - TRAINERS
How do you say it?
I have to ask,
did you manipulate the video?
The video was not manipulated at any time,
it was simply edited.
Around November 2014, approximately,
we received a package
with several hours of footage
saying that they had witnessed violent
and aggressive behavior
towards the animals in Marineland Majorca.
What we did
was edit those images into a short video.
And what we told them is that
we agreed to maintain the anonymity
of the source at all times.
THE PEOPLE WHO RECORDED THE VIDEO
HAVE REMAINED ANONYMOUS FOR SEVEN YEARS
THEY HAVE DECIDED TO SPEAK PUBLICLY
FOR THE FIRST TIME
ACTIVISACTIVISThis story began
one night when I was introduced
to a super nice person.
We talked about activism.
I always end up talking about activism.
And the topic of animal abuse
at Marineland came up.
So, I talked to friends
and we thought about how we could find out
if such abuse really existed.
The only way we could do it
was by getting a camera and recording it.
And so I asked for help.
I was a minor
when I started doing animal activism.
I think it was already common knowledge
that things were happening in Marineland.
We were told that we could
gain access to a neighbor's house
with a good view to install a camera
and record videos.
We weren't even sure
if it was going to work.
We had never set up
a video surveillance system.
I had to borrow money
to buy the cheapest device on the market
and someone lent us a camcorder.
I guess it's recorded everything.
I think it shows it's recorded.
I don't know, at the store
they told me it's a strange model.
We just have to make sure
it's recording every day.
When we were setting up the system,
we wanted to protect it from the rain.
So we put cardboard over it.
Then we just had to wait.
Once we had all the material,
we contacted various associations
to help us spread the word.
It was SOS Delfines that took the material
and made the first edition,
which was not professional at all.
Once he got back from the United States,
from Georgia,
Jos Luis stayed at home,
we would go out for walks...
He kept going to Marineland
to see how things were going,
to see if they needed help.
And he told me,
"Tomorrow morning
I have to get up a little bit early
because I'm going to go get the vet."
"Don't make me breakfast."
CIVIL GUARD
When they started looking for Jos Luis
because he didn't show up,
they sent helicopters
and didn't stop looking for him.
They didn't stop.
And it was a bit distressing.
When the video went viral,
it was like a collective psychosis
and, suddenly,
we were the worst thing in the world.
I received threats
through WhatsApp messages.
They said they knew what I was doing.
I changed my life.
I changed my profession.
I really buried that.
Jos Luis had been a friend,
a boss, a partner...
And it came as a shock.
Talking about Jos Luis Barbero
and what happened
involves opening a lot of boxes.
It means addressing
the issue of captivity,
of the power of social media.
It's talking about
what the old school used to do,
which was harsher.
It's talking about
what elite training is like,
and I say "elite" because Jos Luis
was looking for perfection.
You can't judge everything
that happened only from...
from...
a 90-secondvideo.
The irony of all this
is that Jos Luis fought
hard for the welfare of dolphins.
So, for him to later...
be treated as an abuser...
I can't understand it.
MAJORCA
I fell in love with Majorca
from the first second.
The sea, the people.
There was freedom.
One night, we went to the club
and then Jos Luis showed up.
That's where it all began.
He was nice, he was very...
cocky.
On the coast of Blanes, in Marineland,
the shows run continuously.
Visitors hardly have time
to take in all the surprises.
Marineland was established in 1970.
It was a very innovative thing,
the first dolphinarium in Spain.
It was the most profitable park
per square meter in the world.
Famous people would visit the park.
For example, the royal family,
the Dalai Lama, Diana of Wales...
When I arrived at Marineland,
I took a job washing dishes.
They asked, "Do you know anyone
who wants to come
and work at the restaurant as a waiter?"
I said, "I'll ask Jos Luis."
And that's how it all started.
Jos Luis was very intelligent,
very polite, very efficient.
He learned from others.
When he finished his shift,
instead of rushing off,
he would stand at the gate
looking at the dolphins.
And one day I asked him a casual question,
"Do you like dolphins?"
He surprised me when he said,
"Yes, I'd love to be a dolphin trainer."
I told him, "Look,
to get there, you have to work your way up
from the bottom."
I said, "You make more
in four hours working as a waiter
than what you'll make washing buckets."
He said, "Do you have enough food?"
I said, "I do."
Back then, all trainers were foreigners
because dolphinariums had existed
in their countries for years.
But not here.
They didn't want Spaniards.
It was a static show
on the edge of the pool.
They only did a few tricks in the water.
And that's when Jos Luis got in the pool.
Jos Luis began to clean the buckets,
to prepare the fish, to smell of fish.
He said, "I just wash buckets,
but I pay attention to everything."
Then they gave him a sea lion to train.
He was happy, he worked long hours.
He started to get in the water a bit
and do water tricks,
which was what he liked the most.
When Kees arrived, he helped him a lot
and that's how he got the hang of it.
FORMER HEAD TRAINER OF MARINELAND
FORMER HEAD TRAINER AT MARINELAND
Be careful, Markus.
Markus, please!
Me?
And now we have something very special.
Here comes Jos Luis.
Bravo!
A round of applause.
The job of a dolphin trainer
is like that of an elite athlete.
It's physically demanding.
And Jos Luis was
a real perfectionist in this regard.
He asked to do the tricks that were the
most physically demanding for the trainer.
Jos Luis became the pool sheriff.
A final round of applause
for the dolphins and their trainers.
IMATA was an international association
of all the trainers in the world.
But it really wasn't.
It was only for Americans.
The Americans were the ones
who invented dolphin shows.
They were what everyone aspired to be.
For European trainers,
going to the IMATA annual conference
was like...
being invited to the Oscars.
And you were a bit of the ugly duckling.
At each conference they give awards.
If you won an IMATA award,
especially for best show,
it was very important.
And Jos Luis got it into his head
that he had to win.
We went on trips to conferences.
To parks.
"Let's visit all the Sea Worlds."
We'd go anywhere to watch shows
and see how their quality
compared to ours.
JOS LUIS BARBERO'S CAMERA
Come on, what a lousy way
to train dolphins.
Look at his eyes, he's blind, man.
Why does the bottom look...?
It's deliberate.
To show depth. It's a trick.
Wow, this is pretty cool,
I have ocean, I have...
What a mess.
Once he knew how they worked
and how he worked,
he decided to put together a show
and present it.
He went there to present the show
and they laughed at him
before they watched the video.
To them, we were rednecks.
"Who are these people?"
When they watched the video,
they were impressed.
They were amazed. "What is this?"
Our show had 42 tricks in 30 minutes.
We had gone to their parks
and the one with the most
had 12 tricks in 45 minutes.
We beat them to a pulp.
And he came back
with the award for best dolphin show
and the trophy
for the world's best trainer that year.
This is the first international award
won in Europe and here in Majorca.
We did it.
It's with great satisfaction
that we'll continue working
and achieving success with these animals.
This is a great way to make people aware
that we should preserve them
in their natural habitat.
The Civil Guard continues searching
for the 59-year-old man who went missing
in the El Toro area,
in Calvi, on Tuesday morning.
The man is Jos Luis Barbero,
the Marineland trainer
who appears in a video
where he allegedly abused dolphins.
The Civil Guard has yet to find
any trace of the missing man.
I kept hoping that Jos Luis
had rented a hotel room and had gone
to meditate, to isolate himself.
And to try to relax
and deal with the psychological pressure
he was under at that moment.
I realized that I had to keep calm.
But I remembered the video
and I wanted to know where it came from.
What I see in this image...
It was recorded from the building
next to Marineland, obviously.
And the image...
it's bad quality, you can see stripes.
The images are from a cell phone
filming a security camera monitor.
You can see things that are different.
The floor has been painted blue,
the sea lion chairs have been changed...
And we know when those changes occurred.
Therefore, we know the videos were shot
over the course
of a couple of years, at least.
If you are so concerned about the animals,
why do you wait to show the videos?
Why don't you show them the next day?
To stop it.
I don't get it.
Lazy!
You must understand
they chose the right moment to publish it,
when Jos Luis had signed
the contract with Georgia Aquarium,
and Jos Luis was already
in the United States.
They calculated how to cause the greatest
possible harm to Jos Luis Barbero.
I have the impression
that part of the team
may have been collecting recordings
from the security cameras.
The same person or people continued
to make those recordings
from the building next to Marineland.
What I see there is hatred and revenge.
With Jos Luis, the tricks we practiced
required a lot of physical preparation.
Otherwise, you couldn't keep up
with the show.
He demanded it of himself and others.
What happened? People didn't like that.
And now, ladies and gentlemen,
something very difficult...
There was this trick we all dreaded.
When Jos Luis said,
": Let's work on double skiing.
We were scared stiff.
You had to focus.
When you saw the dolphins' shadow,
you had to pray.
Pray that you wouldn't slip.
Come on!
Go fuck yourself, you brat!
Come on, for fuck's sake!
He'd say, "You're useless.
Get out of the water."
He'd grab me by the hair.
But we'd laugh about it later
and that's it.
I always asked him, "Isn't it a bit much?"
He'd always answer,
"Ask them if it's too much or not."
If you can do it right the first time,
why should an animal have to do it again
because you weren't focused
or didn't do it right?
That's what really bothered Jos Luis.
When my father was training, he was tough.
He couldn't find the right people
or they didn't last long.
So he was always short-staffed.
I decided to talk to him and said,
"I'll give you a hand."
"If I'm good, fine,
and if I'm not, I'll quit."
I worked with him for three years.
My father was tough on all his staff,
but with my brother...
SON
Four times worse.
You had to pay attention.
If you didn't, he would tell you off.
That's normal.
I remember he'd have the microphone on
and you could hear him all over the park,
not just in the dolphinarium.
You'd hear him telling him off
and calling him names.
More to the left.
Marcos!
You're way ahead, damn it!
You never learn! You're stubborn!
He treated me the same as everyone else.
Fuck, Marcos,
if this is what you're going to do
every time you come, we're in trouble.
I got very involved.
I learned from my father,
but realized that
I'd never manage to do what he's done
because, to me, he's one of the best,
and I couldn't do it.
Let's see, I was...
I was always bragging about it,
that my father worked
with dolphins and so on and...
I wanted to do it when I grew up.
DO YOUNGSTERS
UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER BY TALKING?
He is the son of the general supervisor
of marine animal trainers in Spain.
This is Jordi Barbero,
he's six years old and is from Majorca.
Jordi, tell us. This...
- This one...
- Is this you?
Or is this you? Which one are you?
Why did you swim with them?
Because my dad let me do it.
You're lucky. There aren't many kids
who've played with dolphins.
Hey, tell me one last thing.
What would you say to people
who abuse animals?
They shouldn't misbehave
or else they will be taken to the police.
To the police, yes sir.
CIVIL GUARD
They didn't know where Jos Luis was.
It was a painful time,
to tell you the truth.
The first thing I thought was,
"Keep an eye on Jos Luis."
Because he is a person
who's strong on the outside,
very confident in his work.
But emotionally weak.
And insecure.
The story of what he had endured when he
was fired from Marineland comes to mind.
The Monetary Committee
agreed this afternoon in Brussels
that the peseta should be devalued by 8%.
It is vital at this time of crisis
to adjust labor costs.
The 1990s were times
of tremendous economic ups and downs.
A huge economic crisis hit Spain.
They called me one day and said,
"Look, we're going to sell."
They wanted to get rid
of Marineland Majorca.
They told me, "Why don't you
get your whole team together
and create a cooperative
and buy the park?"
And the idea then was
that a group of people,
including Jos Luis, of course,
would become shareholders.
It was the best thing
that could happen to us.
We were going to "own" the park
in some way.
We all had a small piece of it.
But the owners of the land,
the Blanes, were not informed of that.
When I went to negotiate
the renewal of the lease,
the Blanes told me,
"No, we've already given it to Aspro."
"To whom?" "To Aspro."
Aspro is a limited liability company
made up of four or five partners.
Aspro started with two parks
and now has fifty-something.
INDUSTRY: THEME PARK OPERATOR,
AQUARIUMS, ZOOS
They bought Marineland
like they could have bought
a pizza factory.
It was a money-making machine,
it was good business,
but the concept they had of Marineland
was different from the one we had.
When Aspro bought Marineland,
everything changed.
It changed absolutely everything.
Even the people changed.
20TH ANNIVERSARY
The company started to make cutbacks,
fire people at the end of the year,
everybody out.
Especially those
who'd been there the longest.
I know I had a talk with Jos Luis
advising him not to be cocky,
that he was dealing with bad people.
And that...
it wasn't like before.
It wasn't like before.
Jos Luis had a strong personality
and always said, "I won't do this."
"I won't do that."
Of course,
companies don't tolerate that well.
And they fired him.
He couldn't enter the park.
I thought that was too much.
He'd call me on the phone
and I'd open the beach door entrance
so that, at 7:00 p.m.,
he could come to see the dolphins.
And more than once...
More than once I saw him crying...
because he couldn't be with the dolphins,
He considered them his, not the company's.
"They've taken my dolphins."
As a result of this,
we found out Jos Luis
had tried to commit suicide.
I didn't understand it.
I've never been able to understand it.
I thought he was fine.
But he wasn't.
He was very good at...
hiding it.
When he started talking to me
and telling me about his life,
it changed some of the perceptions
I had of him as a cocky guy.
He warned me, "When you visit
Los Pizarrales, don't be scared."
Because it is a very humble neighborhood
in Salamanca.
Not so much now, but it used to be.
Things were different back then.
We had a different way of making a living.
We spent a lot of time on the street.
Jos Luis had a sixth sense with dogs.
He trained them. They obeyed him.
He told me that he didn't have a mother.
That he was 18 months old when she died.
And I said, "What about your father?"
He said, "My father
married another woman right away."
He said, "But I was raised
by my grandfather and my aunt
and they are my family."
He used to call me "mom" and I'd say,
I am not your mother, I am your aunt.
When he was 10 or 11 years old,
he lost his grandmother
and his father wanted to take him away.
And he didn't want to go.
He never told us
how bad he'd had it at that time.
One day, I was coming home from work
and someone asked me,
"What happened to Jos?"
"He left his bike but he's gone."
"What do you mean, he's gone?"
He got on the train.
The first place the freight train stopped
was where he got off.
He didn't feel comfortable and said,
"Well, look,
I'll get on the train and leave."
He disappeared for a week.
I can perfectly understand Jos Luis.
He sees how his passion,
his life, is falling apart.
The daily work with animals
is therapeutic in itself.
The admiration people project on you,
the applause you receive.
When you lose all that,
you have to be very mentally trained
to avoid suffering negative consequences.
I felt that he cared
more about the animals than...
He had always cared about them,
but it was more than I thought.
Jos Luis had disappeared
and his Facebook wall
was full of accusations.
MAYBE A DOLPHIN ATE HIM.
MAYBE HE WENT TO GEORGIA
AND DIDN'T TELL ANYONE?
I HOPE HE SHOWS UP SOON
SO THAT HE CAN GO TO JAIL.
I don't think anyone
can imagine the pressure
until you experience it.
The problem with that video
is that it was personal.
Because the person who made it,
who planned it,
had something against
Jos Luis Barbero as a person.
The issue isn't Jos Luis
or this trainer or the other one.
The issue is
if you're for or against captivity.
Let's sit down, let's talk.
All right, come on, get up. Let's go.
Jos Luis reaches a point where he says,
"Fuck it, let's go."
And that's it.
- Hold it.
- Watch out for its fin.
Careful with its tail.
He managed to go back
to working with dolphins again.
His joy in life was renewed.
Good, pull this way.
- This way.
- Cross...
Alfonso!
Did you hurt yourself? He hurt himself.
Wait.
Jos Luis contacts me
and tells me about the project
he is involved in.
Okay.
There were two dolphinariums,
one in Alicante and another in Tenerife.
No.
- Are you okay or not?
- Yes.
Holy shit! Fuck.
Let's wait.
Getting dolphins is very difficult.
Okay, out then.
Let's turn it over and draw blood!
It won't take it.
As all dolphinariums in the UK
had been closed,
so there were some dolphins on the market
that could be used and rented.
It's against my chest.
Jos Luis finds out about this
and rents them.
- I bet you can't.
- A bit, man.
- Okay, perfect.
- Careful!
Careful, damn it! Fucking...
- Careful back there!
- Careful, damn it!
Resources? They were scarce.
And Jos Luis paid out of his own pocket
the minimum that would be needed
to take care of the animals.
Even when things were going badly,
I remember that Jos Luis
used his own money
to pay the salaries
of the trainers who were there.
Apply a bit of alcohol here.
That's it. Let's turn it.
We can turn it.
After a few months,
financial difficulties crept in
and we decided to take the three dolphins
in Alicante to the park in Tenerife.
We knew that the financial situation
was better there
and we wouldn't have problems.
Mass tourism is the driving force
behind dolphin shows in Spain.
There are four dolphinariums
in the Canary Islands alone.
For me, it is the Guantnamo
of cetaceans worldwide.
For an animal
that needs to travel long distances,
how can you put it in a pool,
however big it may be?
When Jos Luis
set up the Tenerife dolphinarium,
he already had it well planned out,
he had designed it...
He had measured the blueprints many times.
The dolphinarium designed
by Jos Luis at that time
was the most modern dolphinarium in Spain,
with better facilities,
more water capacity,
especially in terms of animal welfare
and their handling
when providing veterinary care.
He knew how many animals
he was going to have.
He wanted to develop a breeding program.
HAVANA
Cuba was one of the few countries
that traded dolphins at that time.
The country had been in what was called
a "special period" for a few years,
which was when the USSR
ceased to support Cuba financially.
Cuba?
What a disaster.
The dolphinarium was...
If the good ones here were bad,
imagine how they were in Cuba.
It was awful.
I realized that,
for us to have those dolphins,
we had to get in line,
because there were more people interested,
there were more companies
interested in buying dolphins.
So you were put on the waiting list.
And I got a wake-up call.
The reality of seeing animals
that had been recently captured,
and you become...
an accomplice.
It's dirty, they've been there for days.
Come on, boss.
Which one is it?
Move aside. Come on.
Close there, close.
No.
Close it!
- Careful with its fin.
- Its head.
Careful with its tail!
- Its tail!
- There!
- Hold its head.
- Okay.
Celia, now!
- What time is it?
- 9:20 p.m.
Come on, let's move it forward.
- Now.
- Roll, now.
Lift its head!
No, leave its tail alone!
Wait a minute.
Celia, tell me when you're ready.
Take the stick out.
- What stick?
- That one!
That's not a stick.
That plane was scary.
I remember the constant noise.
Annoying. If it was annoying for us,
it was probably annoying for the animals.
And the truth is, they behaved quite well
given the circumstances.
For them, going through
that experience had to be like
if we were abducted by a UFO.
Something like that.
IMATA CONFERENCE 1996
We had three animals
that came from Alicante
and six dolphins were bought in Cuba.
The group dynamics were so good
that after a few months we realized
that four females were pregnant.
Go get yourself laid, motherfucker.
You can see him in full swing now.
The guy is super turned on.
He's hornier than a toad.
He's had quite the month... Wow!
He doesn't care if it's a male or female,
when he sees a hole, he sticks it in.
- Really?
- Yeah, really.
In captivity there are births, but there's
also a very high mortality rate.
And the fact
that four out of four babies survived
was a worldwide milestone.
Not all dolphinaria
could produce offspring.
It was a success for the company,
for the park and for everyone.
The company could profit
from countless opportunities.
When the dolphins are grown and trained,
you can take them to other parks.
You don't have to capture more dolphins.
You don't have to buy another animal,
because they were expensive.
Come on, sweetie.
Yeah, you can do it.
Look!
Come on!
It's mostly out, right?
Yes, come on.
That's it! Done.
A female, it's a female!
Look at her, let's go.
- That's it!
- Let's go!
Come on!
That's it, great!
Let's go up!
Good!
She has a girl's face.
Our family has grown.
With her arrival,
12 dolphins have been born
as part of the Aqualand Costa Adeje
aquatic mammal breeding program
in the last 13 years,
placing the company
among the elite of European dolphinaria.
Few dolphinaria in the world
achieved a 100% success rate.
The dolphins are born and after
two or three months or weeks
they don't make it because of social,
environmental problems, as I said before.
On Tuesday,
Barbero left his house in El Toro
to attend a meeting
to which he never arrived.
The search for him started after that.
You think he might still be alive.
I called his phone several times
and told him to stop whatever he was doing
and come home, that we're on his side.
Until the signal disappeared
because his phone was dead.
We were also very afraid
because of the social media issue.
Because my father had
received death threats,
both him and our family.
So, not hearing from him for so long,
the anguish only grew stronger.
I did think...
that he might be in the sea.
Because if he didn't show up...
the only place he liked was the sea.
Jos Luis went to work for a company
that had no idea about dolphins
and made the water park
the best dolphinarium in Spain.
And I went to see it and it was fantastic.
It made me very happy.
Higher jumps, animals that swam faster...
It was spectacular.
...the farewell of our trainer, Jos Luis.
Evidently, Aspro found out.
Put your hands away!
Adn, put your hands away, not you!
Get on the edge. Put your hand away!
When Jos Luis learned
that Aspro was back in his life again,
he was nervous.
He was very nervous.
Aspro Ocio did it on the sly.
The owner of the park made the big mistake
of selling a 51% share.
So he lost control of his company.
He sold it cheap.
It was as if they'd stolen the park.
Business stuff.
Then Jos came home one day and said,
"Mari, guess who he sold it to?"
When he said that,
I said, "That's it, Aspro."
I said, "Okay, pack your bags
and come home."
Stop right there!
Move back!
Move back!
Training sessions...
Fuck you, man!
...were very tense.
Can you move further away
from the animals?
Will you move further away?
Holy shit. It's just unbelievable, man.
Yes, hello. Feed that animal.
Don't get out until this one's out!
- I thought he was out already!
- Fuck!
You don't start until he comes here.
Don't you fucking ever learn? Fuck.
God! What a fucking idiot!
What a shitty show, dammit!
So, when Aspro arrived,
we were expecting them to fire him, yes.
And... They didn't say anything to him.
He kept on working,
the days went by and so on.
I said, "Jos Luis, this is weird."
They spoke to him and said
they had no intention of firing him.
The dolphinarium was a gold mine.
Firing Jos Luis would be like killing
the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Sure, you could hire another professional.
But, who would you hire?
An untrained dolphin
can cost you 200,000 euros.
A trained one can cost you
a million euros, so...
Jos Luis made the company a lot of money.
He made the company millions.
scar.
- It looks like he threw up.
- He got scared, right?
They're throwing balls,
towels and all that shit...
Cover! God!
Let's see, move it a little bit.
- Inside?
- Yes, inside and now outside.
- Outside.
- Outside?
Don't open that much, Pe.
- I don't want him to bite my hand.
- Don't worry.
Here it is, look at it. Here.
When he breathes,
he fucks everything up. Go up.
Record it!
Fucking camera!
The fucking ball's here,
thank God we found it.
There's the ball. It's down there.
Now we...
Now we need to introduce a lot of water.
Yeah.
Careful now.
Do you want me to choke him again?
Come on...
There it is.
Can you introduce the tube?
Come on!
It's the other way.
You have to bend it that way...
- Okay.
- ...so the animal will turn around.
- Okay.
- This is slippery!
It's very slippery.
Come on, there you go. Pull and see...
Come on, man. Come on.
That's it, now. Try again, Tania.
I think that's enough. Careful.
Got it?
- Yeah!
- Yeah!
Great!
Come on, go! Water!
- Where is he?
- He went to open up.
- Where's the ball?
- In there.
- So I can record it.
- Go check the water.
I don't know
why this shit is taking so long.
Take a look at it.
I want to see if it's intact,
that there are no missing pieces.
That hole is huge.
I LOVE FREE DOLPHINS
I remember back then
there was some animal rights pressure,
but not at the level we have today.
And Jos Luis,
who was a very intelligent guy,
set up a therapy program.
We're here with Jos Luis,
the promoter of dolphin therapy in Spain.
How long have you
been working on this therapy
and what kind of children
it is designed for?
We have been working since 1993
and it consists
of helping kids with issues
by interacting and playing with dolphins.
In an altruistic way...
He didn't mind getting himself
into some spectacular messes.
At first, when we got
into dolphin therapy,
I thought, "But we have
no idea what we're going to do."
We want to develop children's motivation
so they can develop concepts
that might otherwise
take months to develop in a facility.
And, thanks to this exciting
new environment the children experience,
they develop spontaneously.
Do you want to go
see the seals and/or the dolphins?
It was very shocking to see Jos Luis,
who was always so demanding
with both the dolphins and the trainers,
and then the way
he behaved with children in the water,
how he managed things,
how gently he treated them, how patiently...
Dolphin therapy
has already been experienced
by more than 2,500 attendees
with different diagnoses.
I think keeping these animals in captivity
deserves much more respect.
We don't simply do circus tricks,
but we also work on important things.
We did the therapy sessions
during our breaks.
And, in that sense, he spent more time
doing this therapy than anyone else.
He made it clear to the company
from the very beginning,
"I do this because I want to."
"I won't allow you
to charge anyone who wants to come here."
It's dangerous
to give false hopes with these projects.
It's no panacea
and we must not confuse people.
The parents of these children
suffer from tremendous anxiety.
They're eager to find solutions.
We must be realistic.
The dolphin is simply a facilitator,
a bolster,
to regular therapy the children receive.
It is a means, not a remedy.
I think that Jos Luis saw the therapy
as a way to protect himself
from the criticism of animal associations.
But later I think he realized that
he was doing something really very big
and very positive for many families.
The results that Jos Luis
had in Tenerife were great.
Without a doubt,
it was the company's best dolphinarium.
But the situation
in Majorca was different.
MAJORCA
STOP KILLING DOLPHINS
Aspro was not happy
with the results
of the Majorca dolphinarium.
Not just the show but in terms
of other types of parallel income.
When I joined Marineland Majorca,
we wanted everything
to be more educational.
A calmer show where animals
weren't seen interacting with objects,
safeguarding the animals' wellbeing.
We tried not to have so many people
in a pool with dolphins.
Fewer photos.
And, there were always fights
with management
because that was very profitable.
You hold out your hand,
a dolphin touches you
and it's immediate cash, money.
For a dolphin, it's so boring.
Obviously, if the company has
other dolphinaria where this activity
is an important source of income,
they want to do the same thing in Majorca.
So they called Jos Luis to fix it.
He was forced to return.
If he refused, he'd be fired.
He had been living in Tenerife
for 20-odd years
and he had his life there,
his house, his family.
Hey, let me film her!
To be honest, the fact that Aspro
asked him and forced him
to move to Majorca...
I love dolphins.
They totally
screwed him over.
What I have in my hands
is a report that Jos Luis wrote...
to Aspro when he was sent
to Majorca.
So you can understand
a little more about what happened.
And what Jos Luis was like.
He said, "After analyzing the general
aspects of the two dolphinaria,
we're going to face
big problems in Tenerife
if we try to bring
the same kind or quality show to Majorca,
which is out of line
with the current times at Marineland."
A show like the one we did
25 years ago in Majorca
will probably increase the interest
of a certain type of customer.
But we have to consider the consequences
and problems this will cause.
I can create a circus-type show,
like the one we did 25 years ago,
as long as certain things and practices
are changed in that dolphinarium.
"But the question is:
Is that what Marineland needs?"
"I don't think so."
The truth is, he didn't want to come.
He wouldn't have come,
even if he'd be fired.
And that's where I messed things up.
I told him,
"Our friends are there
and you're not far from retirement..."
And so on.
"Let's not create any problems.
You've been through enough."
And he agreed.
When they told us that
Jos Luis Barbero was coming,
we all kind of
braced ourselves, right?
His fame preceded him.
We knew he was a very demanding person
and they hired him to come
and put everything in order there, right?
Training was tough
and there was a lot of tension in the air.
He yelled a lot.
Come on, close, damn it!
We repeated things multiple times.
- Why?
- Is he going to repeat it?
He brings back the hoops,
the referee whistle.
He starts using objects...
For us, it was like,
"Wow, wait, we're kind of going backward."
"We're going back to the old school."
The Marineland show in Majorca
has always been special.
It was an award-winning show,
not only here in Spain but also in the US.
That's what we want to achieve again.
Jos Luis' results were already noticeable
when the park reopened for the new season
four months later.
And that's when we decided
to talk to management
and say that we weren't comfortable
as a team,
that we were getting into a routine
that wasn't what we wanted.
A lot of the people working there
didn't like Jos Luis.
I know how Jos Luis could be.
He was blunt.
And, well...
Some people accepted him and some didn't.
There was this girl.
Her dream was to become a dolphin trainer.
She would suffocate during training,
she almost fainted.
Jos Luis told her,
"Train, go to the gym."
And she didn't...
Well, she wasn't all that into sports.
She didn't feel like it or I don't know.
She didn't want to train.
For the attention of
Marineland Majorca management.
I want to put
the following facts in writing.
For fuck's sake! Damn it!
I've never seen anyone
treat team members and dolphins
in such a humiliating and uncivilized way
as Jos Luis Barbero does.
See how we aren't being clear? Fuck!
He's humiliated me with phrases like,
"Go to a fucking gym!"
"You're lazy! Dumb! Useless!"
Stand on the edge!
Put your hand away!
He hit and kicked the dolphins.
Fuck you!
Let them fall, you'll see how
they won't let themselves fall again.
FOR THE ATTENTION OF MANAGEMENThis employee wrote
what was happening in a letter.
It was hand-delivered
with acknowledgment of receipt.
The manager signed it.
That means the manager knew about it
and instead of trying
to change these practices,
he fired her.
...one of his dolphin shows for visitors.
We are with the director of the zoo.
Hello, Rafa.
You have changed a lot
and the dolphin show has also changed,
which is spectacular.
Yes, that's true.
Jos Luis is the technical director
of the dolphinarium
and he's improved everything.
Not only the show, but also
the living environment of these animals,
which will give us a quality boost
here on the island,
and in our dolphinarium.
We were in the locker room.
This girl who had talked to management
had been fired just that day
and she said
that this wasn't the end and that...
She wanted to put an end
to Jos Luis Barbero.
I don't think anyone
really knows what happened.
This person I met
and who warned us about this abuse
was a Marineland employee.
- Ex-employee: It's him, right?
- Woman: Sure.
Ex-employee: That man disgusts me.
Let's see.
Do something.
That had to hurt.
Woman: It makes me laugh, okay?
Ex-employee: He's fat
but I think he doesn't know it.
FEBRUARY 4TH, 2015
Hey!
A trainer has allegedly abused dolphins.
This person has been
training dolphins for 35 years.
SOS Delfines posted the undercover video,
which it claims
shows trainer Jos Luis Barbero of...
Our objective was not reflected
in the SOS Delfines publication.
The captivity problem
was personalized in Jos Luis Barbero.
And it focused exclusively on him.
I was shocked when he jumped
and kicked a dolphin in the ribs.
But it wasn't him, I think it was a woman.
When we refer to the industry,
we mean a collective of professionals.
We never target an individual,
on a personal level or any other level.
Was Jos Luis Barbero like that?
It was a part of him.
He gave 100% or 120%
and he wanted all of us to give that 120%,
even the animals.
Can you ask that of an animal
that hasn't chosen to be there?
Or maybe we should think differently.
I wish this video
could be used to end captivity.
But that video was created to destroy him.
This must have been a revenge plot,
by some ex-employees of Marineland.
SOS and FAADA have made a terrible mistake
because they've been used
for a vendetta, but for...
We were surprised that Jos Luis Barbero
appeared alone in the media.
I didn't get the feeling
that Marineland Majorca
backed Jos Luis Barbero,
rather it seemed
that they were interested in...
that separation, right?
Obviously, Aspro...
wanted to stay out of it
and remain unaffected.
But it couldn't do that.
WE ARE SHOCKED AND EMBARRASSED
Aspro behaved very badly with him,
because keeping silent
is like admitting guilt.
If you keep quiet,
you are saying, "Well, yes."
He must have been abusing
and torturing animals.
Which is outrageous
because he's your employee.
You can't wash your hands
and play Pontius Pilate at the same time.
Truth be told,
Aspro issued several press releases
and Jos Luis was no longer
an employee of the company.
That is a really,
really poor, technicality.
Don't make me laugh.
IMATA wanted to expel him
from the association because of the video.
He had lectured,
taught problem-solving techniques,
educated trainers, taught his methods.
To be paid back like that
must've been hard for him.
Jos Luis must have felt
immensely lonely at that moment.
Who knows what was going on
in that man's head?
In the 80s and 90s,
saying you were a dolphin trainer
was fascinating to everyone.
Today it is practically frowned upon.
I sincerely believe that Jos Luis felt
that the world he knew was slipping away
like sand between his fingers.
FEBRUARY 28, 2015
SOS DOLFINES MEETS WITH
GEORGIA AQUARIUM INVESTIGATORS
After a long meeting,
they told us
that the video was manipulated
and the audio did not match the video.
But of course, we remained calm
because we knew we had everything we had.
RECORDING OF THE MEETING
Get the fucking ball!
Hey! Lazy!
Stop whistling and touch the fucking ball!
Lazy!
Are you dumb or what?
Huh? Are you dumb?
Hey! You're dumb!
15 DAYS
30 DAYS
And we told them
that we had many hours of footage
that proved that the facts were real,
that it happened not only once,
but over a long period of time.
And, well, when we showed them
the images, they were stunned.
RECORDING OF THE MEETING
Then they committed to giving it
to the Georgia Aquarium.
They asked us not to publish
that second video,
but to wait because they wanted
to take a public position
on hiring or not hiring Mr. Barbero.
THREE DAYS AFTER THE MEETING,
JOS LUIS BARBERO DISAPPEARS
They told us they found my father
at the Palma de Majorca airport.
He committed suicide.
I don't know how long he had been dead
there at the airport...
one or two days?
They didn't tell us the cause
or how he did it, either.
And that's it.
My father was always strong,
you know what I mean?
The truth is,
I never meddled in his affairs.
I regret that now.
Now I regret not calling him to say...
Because I always thought my father
was the toughest person there is,
mentally speaking.
Because he always acted that way.
ONE BASTARD LESS IN THE WORLD
FUCK HIM FOR BEING A RETARD
ONE THING IS FOR SURE: GOD IS SLOW...
BUT HE DOESN'T MAKE MISTAKES.
I HOPE YOU SUFFERED IN YOUR DEATH
I'M GLAD. AND HIS FUCKING FAMILY TOO
When Jos Luis passed away, well...
I was left alone.
I don't know, it's...
like your support system is gone.
So...
I lost it.
My friends tried to help me.
They succeeded.
It took me a long time to leave the house,
almost two years.
I didn't feel like going out...
I didn't want to.
Because I was...
I was ashamed.
And because I thought that...
people would go after me.
That didn't happen, it was the opposite.
After a year or so,
I quit working with animals.
Because I didn't feel the same anymore.
And I realized that... No.
I wasn't performing at work and...
I was still in my head about it.
I didn't feel the same way
about animals anymore.
Once Jos Luis Barbero passed away,
we didn't hear from any association again,
not from SOS Delfines
or FAADA or anyone else.
They chose to disassociate themselves.
I was in shock, but...
I can't feel something
for someone I didn't know.
I can't feel bad about it either.
I didn't do anything wrong
to feel bad about.
If I felt bad, that would mean
I feel guilty about something.
And all I've done is
film dolphins being abused.
That's all I did.
And those dolphins
are still in Marineland.
When Jos Luis Barbero left us
and I was left in charge
of the Majorca dolphinarium,
difficulties arose
when I started to resent
decisions being made in Madrid,
which did not favor the animals at all.
All they took into account was...
financial profit.
At the beginning of 2017,
Aspro Ocio stopped trusting me
and...
You know what?
I felt very relieved.
I don't think I'd work
with dolphins in captivity again.
I'd like to work with dolphins again,
but in a different way.
Maybe in...
thirty years all the captive dolphins
in Spain, in Europe,
will be released
and relocated to sanctuaries
or whatever you want to call them.
Of course I would like to get involved
in that kind of work.
Maybe it's utopian,
but I have always dreamed about that.
- What?
- It's nice. It's cool.
Let's go to the beach like this tomorrow.
It looks like I'm wearing a curtain here.
Let's see, blink.
Wink at me.
Jos Luis was always making jokes.
When we were with friends and we talked
about dying or about that kind of stuff,
he'd say,
"I'll come down and check on you."
Say hi to the audience, Mari.
- Crap, I almost fell.
- Fall down, come on.
Look at that body.
Those clouds are beautiful.
Now I often tell him,
"Come down, I really want to see you now."
But he doesn't come down.
FOLLOWING THE RELEASE OF THE VIDEO,
MARINELAND INSTALLED PANELS
TO REDUCE VISIBILITY
THERE ARE ABOUT 330 DOLPHINARIA
IN THE WORLD
SPAIN HAS MORE
THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN EUROPE
ASPRO OCIO REPRESENTATIVES
REFUSED TO TAKE PART IN THIS FILM
THE FORMER EMPLOYEE OF MARINELAND
REFUSED TO TAKE PART IN THIS MOVIE
Subtitle translation by: Molly Yurick
NETFLIX PRESENTS
To be the best dolphin trainer,
you have to be an obsessive person.
Competitive.
You have to have a bigger ego
than ordinary people.
Jos Luis has always liked to win.
Stand out.
Be the best at everything.
But, watch out.
There's a lot of jealousy in this job.
You never know
who might stab you in the back.
It would be extremely unfair
for anyone to draw conclusions
about who Jos Luis Barbero was
by watching a video.
That fateful 99-second video.
The worst seconds of a trainer's life.
A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY
The dolphin.
VOICE OF JOS LUIS BARBERO
A creature revered by our ancestors.
In our times,
these beings are victims
of man'sunscrupulousness and ambition.
Despite this,
the dolphin continues to show its trust
and closeness to man.
I have learned many things from dolphins.
That they know us
much better than we know them.
My job? I work with dolphins.
Jos Luis had a special relationship
with the animals.
He was the one who motivated them.
The animals would wait at the door
until he arrived.
When you saw that, you wondered,
"Why won't the dolphins follow me?"
BARBERO'S ASSISTANT TRAINER
I learned almost everything
with Jos Luis.
Who was Jos Luis? The best in the world.
And I was his assistant.
It's one of the most
beautiful jobs in the world.
Sometimes it's better to work
with animals than people.
What happened is a great example of this.
They aren't evil.
They don't have bad intentions.
Every training session is a therapy
session between dolphin and trainer.
It's very similar to a teacher
with a student in school.
You know each one's characteristics
and how to bring out the best in them.
This is exactly the same.
For Jos Luis,
the key is to use a coherent language
that is constant and flawless.
A common language.
The animals had no doubts
about what Jos Luis expected from them.
Now!
Now!
That's a wrap.
Come on, baldy.
Jos Luis has been working with dolphins
for approximately 30 years.
Yes, I started in Majorca
in a dolphinarium called Marineland.
That's where it all began.
VIDEOS
Then I opened adolphinarium in Madrid.
I opened adolphinarium
in Costa Brava, in Barcelona.
There were a few of them.
Hello!
My girl is so beautiful!
Stop messing around, man.
Now I'm helping to open
a dolphinarium in Atlanta, United States.
FORMER CEO OFGEORGIAAQUARIUM
Georgia Aquarium makes Jos Luis
an offer he can't refuse.
When he told me
he was going to the Georgia Aquarium,
that he was offered a position
as vice president,
it was unbelievable.
For me and for us as colleagues,
we took pride in saying,
"Look how far Jos Luis has come."
Jos Luis was already in his late fifties.
He was almost 60.
It was the culmination of his career.
And Jos Luis was over the moon.
But, watch out.
Watch out, because...
you never know what might happen.
He insulted and kicked the dolphins...
Parc Marineland Majorca...
The trainer in question is...
Carla, take three.
It was our responsibility
to publish images of what was happening.
Because, also,
the public just isn't aware, right?
Of what goes on behind the scenes
of the show they're watching...
behind the music, fun and...
and the dolphins are smiling.
The fact that the dolphins were trained
in such an aggressive, violent way,
shocked and hurt me a lot.
Jos Luis Barbero was responsible.
Those events were taking place
under his watch.
It had a big impact in the United States.
And that's when you realize
this could have serious consequences.
When the videos came out here,
Jos Luis was in Georgia.
WIFE
He calls me and says,
"They ruined my life."
KILLER TRAINERS
I HOPE SOMETHING HORRIBLE HAPPENS TO YOU
HIS MOM GAVE BIRTH TO A BASTARD!
I had never seen people get as angry
as they did with Jos Luis
without knowing him at all.
YOU DESERVE TO BE SHOT IN THE FUCKING HEAD
It was a crusade
against Jos Luis Barbero.
Everyone had something to say.
Everyone criticized him blindly.
It's carnage.
What they have done to me is unforgivable.
In my 35-year career,
I have never abused an animal.
Not in Marineland and, as far as I know,
not in any dolphinarium in the world today
are dolphins abused
as theanti-dolphinarium organizations
make it seem.
It was pure fury.It was hatred and rage
against him that I have rarely seen since,
and we see a lot on Twitter.
He must have felt embarrassed, humiliated,
frustrated...
He had to feel a lot of things
that are difficult to manage.
I could tell he was really down.
And I told him,
"Pack your bags and come to Spain."
When Jos Luis arrived home,
he played the videos frame by frame.
You're lazy!
He saw that things didn't match up at all.
The fucking ball!
Hey! Lazy!
It's a few seconds of really ugly clips,
one after another,
and the result is a very violent video.
This was not the norm
for Jos Luis Barbero.
I said, "We have to get a lawyer
and see what they say."
That's when we hired Mateo.
Like any other client
who enters my office,
I told him
that the first thing I do is investigate
to see if what he's telling me is true.
And if it's true,
then I move on and defend him.
The conclusion we reached
was that thosevideos
were indeed tampered with.
We have expert reports
proving the video was edited.
According to the technicians,
it's a botched job.
Even I am not 100% sure that
I'm the person seen there, but...
He looked strong to me.
If you didn't do it,
you don't have to stop working.
And that's what he did.
We had our suspicions.
The editing was weird.
Georgia Aquarium started an investigation
and sent several people here to Majorca
to interview all the members
of the team one by one.
The interview had law enforcement nuances.
They asked us to interpret
what we saw in that video.
I was not completely sincere
in that situation.
Obviously, Jos Luis was my friend and...
And I downplayed the gravity
of many of the situations seen.
We received a call from some people
hired by the Georgia Aquarium.
They said they had been inMajorca
and that they'd done
an exhaustive investigation
because they intended
to hire Jos Luis Barbero
and they had to know if it was real.
Initially, the conversation had
a somewhat intimidating
or threatening tone to it.
They came with an expert report saying
"This does not correspond to that."
"This is not real,
this has been tampered with..."
INVESTIGATOR MEETING
CAMERA - 200 M - PENGUINS -TRAINERS
CAMERA - 200 M - TRAINERS
How do you say it?
I have to ask,
did you manipulate the video?
The video was not manipulated at any time,
it was simply edited.
Around November 2014, approximately,
we received a package
with several hours of footage
saying that they had witnessed violent
and aggressive behavior
towards the animals in Marineland Majorca.
What we did
was edit those images into a short video.
And what we told them is that
we agreed to maintain the anonymity
of the source at all times.
THE PEOPLE WHO RECORDED THE VIDEO
HAVE REMAINED ANONYMOUS FOR SEVEN YEARS
THEY HAVE DECIDED TO SPEAK PUBLICLY
FOR THE FIRST TIME
ACTIVISACTIVISThis story began
one night when I was introduced
to a super nice person.
We talked about activism.
I always end up talking about activism.
And the topic of animal abuse
at Marineland came up.
So, I talked to friends
and we thought about how we could find out
if such abuse really existed.
The only way we could do it
was by getting a camera and recording it.
And so I asked for help.
I was a minor
when I started doing animal activism.
I think it was already common knowledge
that things were happening in Marineland.
We were told that we could
gain access to a neighbor's house
with a good view to install a camera
and record videos.
We weren't even sure
if it was going to work.
We had never set up
a video surveillance system.
I had to borrow money
to buy the cheapest device on the market
and someone lent us a camcorder.
I guess it's recorded everything.
I think it shows it's recorded.
I don't know, at the store
they told me it's a strange model.
We just have to make sure
it's recording every day.
When we were setting up the system,
we wanted to protect it from the rain.
So we put cardboard over it.
Then we just had to wait.
Once we had all the material,
we contacted various associations
to help us spread the word.
It was SOS Delfines that took the material
and made the first edition,
which was not professional at all.
Once he got back from the United States,
from Georgia,
Jos Luis stayed at home,
we would go out for walks...
He kept going to Marineland
to see how things were going,
to see if they needed help.
And he told me,
"Tomorrow morning
I have to get up a little bit early
because I'm going to go get the vet."
"Don't make me breakfast."
CIVIL GUARD
When they started looking for Jos Luis
because he didn't show up,
they sent helicopters
and didn't stop looking for him.
They didn't stop.
And it was a bit distressing.
When the video went viral,
it was like a collective psychosis
and, suddenly,
we were the worst thing in the world.
I received threats
through WhatsApp messages.
They said they knew what I was doing.
I changed my life.
I changed my profession.
I really buried that.
Jos Luis had been a friend,
a boss, a partner...
And it came as a shock.
Talking about Jos Luis Barbero
and what happened
involves opening a lot of boxes.
It means addressing
the issue of captivity,
of the power of social media.
It's talking about
what the old school used to do,
which was harsher.
It's talking about
what elite training is like,
and I say "elite" because Jos Luis
was looking for perfection.
You can't judge everything
that happened only from...
from...
a 90-secondvideo.
The irony of all this
is that Jos Luis fought
hard for the welfare of dolphins.
So, for him to later...
be treated as an abuser...
I can't understand it.
MAJORCA
I fell in love with Majorca
from the first second.
The sea, the people.
There was freedom.
One night, we went to the club
and then Jos Luis showed up.
That's where it all began.
He was nice, he was very...
cocky.
On the coast of Blanes, in Marineland,
the shows run continuously.
Visitors hardly have time
to take in all the surprises.
Marineland was established in 1970.
It was a very innovative thing,
the first dolphinarium in Spain.
It was the most profitable park
per square meter in the world.
Famous people would visit the park.
For example, the royal family,
the Dalai Lama, Diana of Wales...
When I arrived at Marineland,
I took a job washing dishes.
They asked, "Do you know anyone
who wants to come
and work at the restaurant as a waiter?"
I said, "I'll ask Jos Luis."
And that's how it all started.
Jos Luis was very intelligent,
very polite, very efficient.
He learned from others.
When he finished his shift,
instead of rushing off,
he would stand at the gate
looking at the dolphins.
And one day I asked him a casual question,
"Do you like dolphins?"
He surprised me when he said,
"Yes, I'd love to be a dolphin trainer."
I told him, "Look,
to get there, you have to work your way up
from the bottom."
I said, "You make more
in four hours working as a waiter
than what you'll make washing buckets."
He said, "Do you have enough food?"
I said, "I do."
Back then, all trainers were foreigners
because dolphinariums had existed
in their countries for years.
But not here.
They didn't want Spaniards.
It was a static show
on the edge of the pool.
They only did a few tricks in the water.
And that's when Jos Luis got in the pool.
Jos Luis began to clean the buckets,
to prepare the fish, to smell of fish.
He said, "I just wash buckets,
but I pay attention to everything."
Then they gave him a sea lion to train.
He was happy, he worked long hours.
He started to get in the water a bit
and do water tricks,
which was what he liked the most.
When Kees arrived, he helped him a lot
and that's how he got the hang of it.
FORMER HEAD TRAINER OF MARINELAND
FORMER HEAD TRAINER AT MARINELAND
Be careful, Markus.
Markus, please!
Me?
And now we have something very special.
Here comes Jos Luis.
Bravo!
A round of applause.
The job of a dolphin trainer
is like that of an elite athlete.
It's physically demanding.
And Jos Luis was
a real perfectionist in this regard.
He asked to do the tricks that were the
most physically demanding for the trainer.
Jos Luis became the pool sheriff.
A final round of applause
for the dolphins and their trainers.
IMATA was an international association
of all the trainers in the world.
But it really wasn't.
It was only for Americans.
The Americans were the ones
who invented dolphin shows.
They were what everyone aspired to be.
For European trainers,
going to the IMATA annual conference
was like...
being invited to the Oscars.
And you were a bit of the ugly duckling.
At each conference they give awards.
If you won an IMATA award,
especially for best show,
it was very important.
And Jos Luis got it into his head
that he had to win.
We went on trips to conferences.
To parks.
"Let's visit all the Sea Worlds."
We'd go anywhere to watch shows
and see how their quality
compared to ours.
JOS LUIS BARBERO'S CAMERA
Come on, what a lousy way
to train dolphins.
Look at his eyes, he's blind, man.
Why does the bottom look...?
It's deliberate.
To show depth. It's a trick.
Wow, this is pretty cool,
I have ocean, I have...
What a mess.
Once he knew how they worked
and how he worked,
he decided to put together a show
and present it.
He went there to present the show
and they laughed at him
before they watched the video.
To them, we were rednecks.
"Who are these people?"
When they watched the video,
they were impressed.
They were amazed. "What is this?"
Our show had 42 tricks in 30 minutes.
We had gone to their parks
and the one with the most
had 12 tricks in 45 minutes.
We beat them to a pulp.
And he came back
with the award for best dolphin show
and the trophy
for the world's best trainer that year.
This is the first international award
won in Europe and here in Majorca.
We did it.
It's with great satisfaction
that we'll continue working
and achieving success with these animals.
This is a great way to make people aware
that we should preserve them
in their natural habitat.
The Civil Guard continues searching
for the 59-year-old man who went missing
in the El Toro area,
in Calvi, on Tuesday morning.
The man is Jos Luis Barbero,
the Marineland trainer
who appears in a video
where he allegedly abused dolphins.
The Civil Guard has yet to find
any trace of the missing man.
I kept hoping that Jos Luis
had rented a hotel room and had gone
to meditate, to isolate himself.
And to try to relax
and deal with the psychological pressure
he was under at that moment.
I realized that I had to keep calm.
But I remembered the video
and I wanted to know where it came from.
What I see in this image...
It was recorded from the building
next to Marineland, obviously.
And the image...
it's bad quality, you can see stripes.
The images are from a cell phone
filming a security camera monitor.
You can see things that are different.
The floor has been painted blue,
the sea lion chairs have been changed...
And we know when those changes occurred.
Therefore, we know the videos were shot
over the course
of a couple of years, at least.
If you are so concerned about the animals,
why do you wait to show the videos?
Why don't you show them the next day?
To stop it.
I don't get it.
Lazy!
You must understand
they chose the right moment to publish it,
when Jos Luis had signed
the contract with Georgia Aquarium,
and Jos Luis was already
in the United States.
They calculated how to cause the greatest
possible harm to Jos Luis Barbero.
I have the impression
that part of the team
may have been collecting recordings
from the security cameras.
The same person or people continued
to make those recordings
from the building next to Marineland.
What I see there is hatred and revenge.
With Jos Luis, the tricks we practiced
required a lot of physical preparation.
Otherwise, you couldn't keep up
with the show.
He demanded it of himself and others.
What happened? People didn't like that.
And now, ladies and gentlemen,
something very difficult...
There was this trick we all dreaded.
When Jos Luis said,
": Let's work on double skiing.
We were scared stiff.
You had to focus.
When you saw the dolphins' shadow,
you had to pray.
Pray that you wouldn't slip.
Come on!
Go fuck yourself, you brat!
Come on, for fuck's sake!
He'd say, "You're useless.
Get out of the water."
He'd grab me by the hair.
But we'd laugh about it later
and that's it.
I always asked him, "Isn't it a bit much?"
He'd always answer,
"Ask them if it's too much or not."
If you can do it right the first time,
why should an animal have to do it again
because you weren't focused
or didn't do it right?
That's what really bothered Jos Luis.
When my father was training, he was tough.
He couldn't find the right people
or they didn't last long.
So he was always short-staffed.
I decided to talk to him and said,
"I'll give you a hand."
"If I'm good, fine,
and if I'm not, I'll quit."
I worked with him for three years.
My father was tough on all his staff,
but with my brother...
SON
Four times worse.
You had to pay attention.
If you didn't, he would tell you off.
That's normal.
I remember he'd have the microphone on
and you could hear him all over the park,
not just in the dolphinarium.
You'd hear him telling him off
and calling him names.
More to the left.
Marcos!
You're way ahead, damn it!
You never learn! You're stubborn!
He treated me the same as everyone else.
Fuck, Marcos,
if this is what you're going to do
every time you come, we're in trouble.
I got very involved.
I learned from my father,
but realized that
I'd never manage to do what he's done
because, to me, he's one of the best,
and I couldn't do it.
Let's see, I was...
I was always bragging about it,
that my father worked
with dolphins and so on and...
I wanted to do it when I grew up.
DO YOUNGSTERS
UNDERSTAND EACH OTHER BY TALKING?
He is the son of the general supervisor
of marine animal trainers in Spain.
This is Jordi Barbero,
he's six years old and is from Majorca.
Jordi, tell us. This...
- This one...
- Is this you?
Or is this you? Which one are you?
Why did you swim with them?
Because my dad let me do it.
You're lucky. There aren't many kids
who've played with dolphins.
Hey, tell me one last thing.
What would you say to people
who abuse animals?
They shouldn't misbehave
or else they will be taken to the police.
To the police, yes sir.
CIVIL GUARD
They didn't know where Jos Luis was.
It was a painful time,
to tell you the truth.
The first thing I thought was,
"Keep an eye on Jos Luis."
Because he is a person
who's strong on the outside,
very confident in his work.
But emotionally weak.
And insecure.
The story of what he had endured when he
was fired from Marineland comes to mind.
The Monetary Committee
agreed this afternoon in Brussels
that the peseta should be devalued by 8%.
It is vital at this time of crisis
to adjust labor costs.
The 1990s were times
of tremendous economic ups and downs.
A huge economic crisis hit Spain.
They called me one day and said,
"Look, we're going to sell."
They wanted to get rid
of Marineland Majorca.
They told me, "Why don't you
get your whole team together
and create a cooperative
and buy the park?"
And the idea then was
that a group of people,
including Jos Luis, of course,
would become shareholders.
It was the best thing
that could happen to us.
We were going to "own" the park
in some way.
We all had a small piece of it.
But the owners of the land,
the Blanes, were not informed of that.
When I went to negotiate
the renewal of the lease,
the Blanes told me,
"No, we've already given it to Aspro."
"To whom?" "To Aspro."
Aspro is a limited liability company
made up of four or five partners.
Aspro started with two parks
and now has fifty-something.
INDUSTRY: THEME PARK OPERATOR,
AQUARIUMS, ZOOS
They bought Marineland
like they could have bought
a pizza factory.
It was a money-making machine,
it was good business,
but the concept they had of Marineland
was different from the one we had.
When Aspro bought Marineland,
everything changed.
It changed absolutely everything.
Even the people changed.
20TH ANNIVERSARY
The company started to make cutbacks,
fire people at the end of the year,
everybody out.
Especially those
who'd been there the longest.
I know I had a talk with Jos Luis
advising him not to be cocky,
that he was dealing with bad people.
And that...
it wasn't like before.
It wasn't like before.
Jos Luis had a strong personality
and always said, "I won't do this."
"I won't do that."
Of course,
companies don't tolerate that well.
And they fired him.
He couldn't enter the park.
I thought that was too much.
He'd call me on the phone
and I'd open the beach door entrance
so that, at 7:00 p.m.,
he could come to see the dolphins.
And more than once...
More than once I saw him crying...
because he couldn't be with the dolphins,
He considered them his, not the company's.
"They've taken my dolphins."
As a result of this,
we found out Jos Luis
had tried to commit suicide.
I didn't understand it.
I've never been able to understand it.
I thought he was fine.
But he wasn't.
He was very good at...
hiding it.
When he started talking to me
and telling me about his life,
it changed some of the perceptions
I had of him as a cocky guy.
He warned me, "When you visit
Los Pizarrales, don't be scared."
Because it is a very humble neighborhood
in Salamanca.
Not so much now, but it used to be.
Things were different back then.
We had a different way of making a living.
We spent a lot of time on the street.
Jos Luis had a sixth sense with dogs.
He trained them. They obeyed him.
He told me that he didn't have a mother.
That he was 18 months old when she died.
And I said, "What about your father?"
He said, "My father
married another woman right away."
He said, "But I was raised
by my grandfather and my aunt
and they are my family."
He used to call me "mom" and I'd say,
I am not your mother, I am your aunt.
When he was 10 or 11 years old,
he lost his grandmother
and his father wanted to take him away.
And he didn't want to go.
He never told us
how bad he'd had it at that time.
One day, I was coming home from work
and someone asked me,
"What happened to Jos?"
"He left his bike but he's gone."
"What do you mean, he's gone?"
He got on the train.
The first place the freight train stopped
was where he got off.
He didn't feel comfortable and said,
"Well, look,
I'll get on the train and leave."
He disappeared for a week.
I can perfectly understand Jos Luis.
He sees how his passion,
his life, is falling apart.
The daily work with animals
is therapeutic in itself.
The admiration people project on you,
the applause you receive.
When you lose all that,
you have to be very mentally trained
to avoid suffering negative consequences.
I felt that he cared
more about the animals than...
He had always cared about them,
but it was more than I thought.
Jos Luis had disappeared
and his Facebook wall
was full of accusations.
MAYBE A DOLPHIN ATE HIM.
MAYBE HE WENT TO GEORGIA
AND DIDN'T TELL ANYONE?
I HOPE HE SHOWS UP SOON
SO THAT HE CAN GO TO JAIL.
I don't think anyone
can imagine the pressure
until you experience it.
The problem with that video
is that it was personal.
Because the person who made it,
who planned it,
had something against
Jos Luis Barbero as a person.
The issue isn't Jos Luis
or this trainer or the other one.
The issue is
if you're for or against captivity.
Let's sit down, let's talk.
All right, come on, get up. Let's go.
Jos Luis reaches a point where he says,
"Fuck it, let's go."
And that's it.
- Hold it.
- Watch out for its fin.
Careful with its tail.
He managed to go back
to working with dolphins again.
His joy in life was renewed.
Good, pull this way.
- This way.
- Cross...
Alfonso!
Did you hurt yourself? He hurt himself.
Wait.
Jos Luis contacts me
and tells me about the project
he is involved in.
Okay.
There were two dolphinariums,
one in Alicante and another in Tenerife.
No.
- Are you okay or not?
- Yes.
Holy shit! Fuck.
Let's wait.
Getting dolphins is very difficult.
Okay, out then.
Let's turn it over and draw blood!
It won't take it.
As all dolphinariums in the UK
had been closed,
so there were some dolphins on the market
that could be used and rented.
It's against my chest.
Jos Luis finds out about this
and rents them.
- I bet you can't.
- A bit, man.
- Okay, perfect.
- Careful!
Careful, damn it! Fucking...
- Careful back there!
- Careful, damn it!
Resources? They were scarce.
And Jos Luis paid out of his own pocket
the minimum that would be needed
to take care of the animals.
Even when things were going badly,
I remember that Jos Luis
used his own money
to pay the salaries
of the trainers who were there.
Apply a bit of alcohol here.
That's it. Let's turn it.
We can turn it.
After a few months,
financial difficulties crept in
and we decided to take the three dolphins
in Alicante to the park in Tenerife.
We knew that the financial situation
was better there
and we wouldn't have problems.
Mass tourism is the driving force
behind dolphin shows in Spain.
There are four dolphinariums
in the Canary Islands alone.
For me, it is the Guantnamo
of cetaceans worldwide.
For an animal
that needs to travel long distances,
how can you put it in a pool,
however big it may be?
When Jos Luis
set up the Tenerife dolphinarium,
he already had it well planned out,
he had designed it...
He had measured the blueprints many times.
The dolphinarium designed
by Jos Luis at that time
was the most modern dolphinarium in Spain,
with better facilities,
more water capacity,
especially in terms of animal welfare
and their handling
when providing veterinary care.
He knew how many animals
he was going to have.
He wanted to develop a breeding program.
HAVANA
Cuba was one of the few countries
that traded dolphins at that time.
The country had been in what was called
a "special period" for a few years,
which was when the USSR
ceased to support Cuba financially.
Cuba?
What a disaster.
The dolphinarium was...
If the good ones here were bad,
imagine how they were in Cuba.
It was awful.
I realized that,
for us to have those dolphins,
we had to get in line,
because there were more people interested,
there were more companies
interested in buying dolphins.
So you were put on the waiting list.
And I got a wake-up call.
The reality of seeing animals
that had been recently captured,
and you become...
an accomplice.
It's dirty, they've been there for days.
Come on, boss.
Which one is it?
Move aside. Come on.
Close there, close.
No.
Close it!
- Careful with its fin.
- Its head.
Careful with its tail!
- Its tail!
- There!
- Hold its head.
- Okay.
Celia, now!
- What time is it?
- 9:20 p.m.
Come on, let's move it forward.
- Now.
- Roll, now.
Lift its head!
No, leave its tail alone!
Wait a minute.
Celia, tell me when you're ready.
Take the stick out.
- What stick?
- That one!
That's not a stick.
That plane was scary.
I remember the constant noise.
Annoying. If it was annoying for us,
it was probably annoying for the animals.
And the truth is, they behaved quite well
given the circumstances.
For them, going through
that experience had to be like
if we were abducted by a UFO.
Something like that.
IMATA CONFERENCE 1996
We had three animals
that came from Alicante
and six dolphins were bought in Cuba.
The group dynamics were so good
that after a few months we realized
that four females were pregnant.
Go get yourself laid, motherfucker.
You can see him in full swing now.
The guy is super turned on.
He's hornier than a toad.
He's had quite the month... Wow!
He doesn't care if it's a male or female,
when he sees a hole, he sticks it in.
- Really?
- Yeah, really.
In captivity there are births, but there's
also a very high mortality rate.
And the fact
that four out of four babies survived
was a worldwide milestone.
Not all dolphinaria
could produce offspring.
It was a success for the company,
for the park and for everyone.
The company could profit
from countless opportunities.
When the dolphins are grown and trained,
you can take them to other parks.
You don't have to capture more dolphins.
You don't have to buy another animal,
because they were expensive.
Come on, sweetie.
Yeah, you can do it.
Look!
Come on!
It's mostly out, right?
Yes, come on.
That's it! Done.
A female, it's a female!
Look at her, let's go.
- That's it!
- Let's go!
Come on!
That's it, great!
Let's go up!
Good!
She has a girl's face.
Our family has grown.
With her arrival,
12 dolphins have been born
as part of the Aqualand Costa Adeje
aquatic mammal breeding program
in the last 13 years,
placing the company
among the elite of European dolphinaria.
Few dolphinaria in the world
achieved a 100% success rate.
The dolphins are born and after
two or three months or weeks
they don't make it because of social,
environmental problems, as I said before.
On Tuesday,
Barbero left his house in El Toro
to attend a meeting
to which he never arrived.
The search for him started after that.
You think he might still be alive.
I called his phone several times
and told him to stop whatever he was doing
and come home, that we're on his side.
Until the signal disappeared
because his phone was dead.
We were also very afraid
because of the social media issue.
Because my father had
received death threats,
both him and our family.
So, not hearing from him for so long,
the anguish only grew stronger.
I did think...
that he might be in the sea.
Because if he didn't show up...
the only place he liked was the sea.
Jos Luis went to work for a company
that had no idea about dolphins
and made the water park
the best dolphinarium in Spain.
And I went to see it and it was fantastic.
It made me very happy.
Higher jumps, animals that swam faster...
It was spectacular.
...the farewell of our trainer, Jos Luis.
Evidently, Aspro found out.
Put your hands away!
Adn, put your hands away, not you!
Get on the edge. Put your hand away!
When Jos Luis learned
that Aspro was back in his life again,
he was nervous.
He was very nervous.
Aspro Ocio did it on the sly.
The owner of the park made the big mistake
of selling a 51% share.
So he lost control of his company.
He sold it cheap.
It was as if they'd stolen the park.
Business stuff.
Then Jos came home one day and said,
"Mari, guess who he sold it to?"
When he said that,
I said, "That's it, Aspro."
I said, "Okay, pack your bags
and come home."
Stop right there!
Move back!
Move back!
Training sessions...
Fuck you, man!
...were very tense.
Can you move further away
from the animals?
Will you move further away?
Holy shit. It's just unbelievable, man.
Yes, hello. Feed that animal.
Don't get out until this one's out!
- I thought he was out already!
- Fuck!
You don't start until he comes here.
Don't you fucking ever learn? Fuck.
God! What a fucking idiot!
What a shitty show, dammit!
So, when Aspro arrived,
we were expecting them to fire him, yes.
And... They didn't say anything to him.
He kept on working,
the days went by and so on.
I said, "Jos Luis, this is weird."
They spoke to him and said
they had no intention of firing him.
The dolphinarium was a gold mine.
Firing Jos Luis would be like killing
the goose that lays the golden eggs.
Sure, you could hire another professional.
But, who would you hire?
An untrained dolphin
can cost you 200,000 euros.
A trained one can cost you
a million euros, so...
Jos Luis made the company a lot of money.
He made the company millions.
scar.
- It looks like he threw up.
- He got scared, right?
They're throwing balls,
towels and all that shit...
Cover! God!
Let's see, move it a little bit.
- Inside?
- Yes, inside and now outside.
- Outside.
- Outside?
Don't open that much, Pe.
- I don't want him to bite my hand.
- Don't worry.
Here it is, look at it. Here.
When he breathes,
he fucks everything up. Go up.
Record it!
Fucking camera!
The fucking ball's here,
thank God we found it.
There's the ball. It's down there.
Now we...
Now we need to introduce a lot of water.
Yeah.
Careful now.
Do you want me to choke him again?
Come on...
There it is.
Can you introduce the tube?
Come on!
It's the other way.
You have to bend it that way...
- Okay.
- ...so the animal will turn around.
- Okay.
- This is slippery!
It's very slippery.
Come on, there you go. Pull and see...
Come on, man. Come on.
That's it, now. Try again, Tania.
I think that's enough. Careful.
Got it?
- Yeah!
- Yeah!
Great!
Come on, go! Water!
- Where is he?
- He went to open up.
- Where's the ball?
- In there.
- So I can record it.
- Go check the water.
I don't know
why this shit is taking so long.
Take a look at it.
I want to see if it's intact,
that there are no missing pieces.
That hole is huge.
I LOVE FREE DOLPHINS
I remember back then
there was some animal rights pressure,
but not at the level we have today.
And Jos Luis,
who was a very intelligent guy,
set up a therapy program.
We're here with Jos Luis,
the promoter of dolphin therapy in Spain.
How long have you
been working on this therapy
and what kind of children
it is designed for?
We have been working since 1993
and it consists
of helping kids with issues
by interacting and playing with dolphins.
In an altruistic way...
He didn't mind getting himself
into some spectacular messes.
At first, when we got
into dolphin therapy,
I thought, "But we have
no idea what we're going to do."
We want to develop children's motivation
so they can develop concepts
that might otherwise
take months to develop in a facility.
And, thanks to this exciting
new environment the children experience,
they develop spontaneously.
Do you want to go
see the seals and/or the dolphins?
It was very shocking to see Jos Luis,
who was always so demanding
with both the dolphins and the trainers,
and then the way
he behaved with children in the water,
how he managed things,
how gently he treated them, how patiently...
Dolphin therapy
has already been experienced
by more than 2,500 attendees
with different diagnoses.
I think keeping these animals in captivity
deserves much more respect.
We don't simply do circus tricks,
but we also work on important things.
We did the therapy sessions
during our breaks.
And, in that sense, he spent more time
doing this therapy than anyone else.
He made it clear to the company
from the very beginning,
"I do this because I want to."
"I won't allow you
to charge anyone who wants to come here."
It's dangerous
to give false hopes with these projects.
It's no panacea
and we must not confuse people.
The parents of these children
suffer from tremendous anxiety.
They're eager to find solutions.
We must be realistic.
The dolphin is simply a facilitator,
a bolster,
to regular therapy the children receive.
It is a means, not a remedy.
I think that Jos Luis saw the therapy
as a way to protect himself
from the criticism of animal associations.
But later I think he realized that
he was doing something really very big
and very positive for many families.
The results that Jos Luis
had in Tenerife were great.
Without a doubt,
it was the company's best dolphinarium.
But the situation
in Majorca was different.
MAJORCA
STOP KILLING DOLPHINS
Aspro was not happy
with the results
of the Majorca dolphinarium.
Not just the show but in terms
of other types of parallel income.
When I joined Marineland Majorca,
we wanted everything
to be more educational.
A calmer show where animals
weren't seen interacting with objects,
safeguarding the animals' wellbeing.
We tried not to have so many people
in a pool with dolphins.
Fewer photos.
And, there were always fights
with management
because that was very profitable.
You hold out your hand,
a dolphin touches you
and it's immediate cash, money.
For a dolphin, it's so boring.
Obviously, if the company has
other dolphinaria where this activity
is an important source of income,
they want to do the same thing in Majorca.
So they called Jos Luis to fix it.
He was forced to return.
If he refused, he'd be fired.
He had been living in Tenerife
for 20-odd years
and he had his life there,
his house, his family.
Hey, let me film her!
To be honest, the fact that Aspro
asked him and forced him
to move to Majorca...
I love dolphins.
They totally
screwed him over.
What I have in my hands
is a report that Jos Luis wrote...
to Aspro when he was sent
to Majorca.
So you can understand
a little more about what happened.
And what Jos Luis was like.
He said, "After analyzing the general
aspects of the two dolphinaria,
we're going to face
big problems in Tenerife
if we try to bring
the same kind or quality show to Majorca,
which is out of line
with the current times at Marineland."
A show like the one we did
25 years ago in Majorca
will probably increase the interest
of a certain type of customer.
But we have to consider the consequences
and problems this will cause.
I can create a circus-type show,
like the one we did 25 years ago,
as long as certain things and practices
are changed in that dolphinarium.
"But the question is:
Is that what Marineland needs?"
"I don't think so."
The truth is, he didn't want to come.
He wouldn't have come,
even if he'd be fired.
And that's where I messed things up.
I told him,
"Our friends are there
and you're not far from retirement..."
And so on.
"Let's not create any problems.
You've been through enough."
And he agreed.
When they told us that
Jos Luis Barbero was coming,
we all kind of
braced ourselves, right?
His fame preceded him.
We knew he was a very demanding person
and they hired him to come
and put everything in order there, right?
Training was tough
and there was a lot of tension in the air.
He yelled a lot.
Come on, close, damn it!
We repeated things multiple times.
- Why?
- Is he going to repeat it?
He brings back the hoops,
the referee whistle.
He starts using objects...
For us, it was like,
"Wow, wait, we're kind of going backward."
"We're going back to the old school."
The Marineland show in Majorca
has always been special.
It was an award-winning show,
not only here in Spain but also in the US.
That's what we want to achieve again.
Jos Luis' results were already noticeable
when the park reopened for the new season
four months later.
And that's when we decided
to talk to management
and say that we weren't comfortable
as a team,
that we were getting into a routine
that wasn't what we wanted.
A lot of the people working there
didn't like Jos Luis.
I know how Jos Luis could be.
He was blunt.
And, well...
Some people accepted him and some didn't.
There was this girl.
Her dream was to become a dolphin trainer.
She would suffocate during training,
she almost fainted.
Jos Luis told her,
"Train, go to the gym."
And she didn't...
Well, she wasn't all that into sports.
She didn't feel like it or I don't know.
She didn't want to train.
For the attention of
Marineland Majorca management.
I want to put
the following facts in writing.
For fuck's sake! Damn it!
I've never seen anyone
treat team members and dolphins
in such a humiliating and uncivilized way
as Jos Luis Barbero does.
See how we aren't being clear? Fuck!
He's humiliated me with phrases like,
"Go to a fucking gym!"
"You're lazy! Dumb! Useless!"
Stand on the edge!
Put your hand away!
He hit and kicked the dolphins.
Fuck you!
Let them fall, you'll see how
they won't let themselves fall again.
FOR THE ATTENTION OF MANAGEMENThis employee wrote
what was happening in a letter.
It was hand-delivered
with acknowledgment of receipt.
The manager signed it.
That means the manager knew about it
and instead of trying
to change these practices,
he fired her.
...one of his dolphin shows for visitors.
We are with the director of the zoo.
Hello, Rafa.
You have changed a lot
and the dolphin show has also changed,
which is spectacular.
Yes, that's true.
Jos Luis is the technical director
of the dolphinarium
and he's improved everything.
Not only the show, but also
the living environment of these animals,
which will give us a quality boost
here on the island,
and in our dolphinarium.
We were in the locker room.
This girl who had talked to management
had been fired just that day
and she said
that this wasn't the end and that...
She wanted to put an end
to Jos Luis Barbero.
I don't think anyone
really knows what happened.
This person I met
and who warned us about this abuse
was a Marineland employee.
- Ex-employee: It's him, right?
- Woman: Sure.
Ex-employee: That man disgusts me.
Let's see.
Do something.
That had to hurt.
Woman: It makes me laugh, okay?
Ex-employee: He's fat
but I think he doesn't know it.
FEBRUARY 4TH, 2015
Hey!
A trainer has allegedly abused dolphins.
This person has been
training dolphins for 35 years.
SOS Delfines posted the undercover video,
which it claims
shows trainer Jos Luis Barbero of...
Our objective was not reflected
in the SOS Delfines publication.
The captivity problem
was personalized in Jos Luis Barbero.
And it focused exclusively on him.
I was shocked when he jumped
and kicked a dolphin in the ribs.
But it wasn't him, I think it was a woman.
When we refer to the industry,
we mean a collective of professionals.
We never target an individual,
on a personal level or any other level.
Was Jos Luis Barbero like that?
It was a part of him.
He gave 100% or 120%
and he wanted all of us to give that 120%,
even the animals.
Can you ask that of an animal
that hasn't chosen to be there?
Or maybe we should think differently.
I wish this video
could be used to end captivity.
But that video was created to destroy him.
This must have been a revenge plot,
by some ex-employees of Marineland.
SOS and FAADA have made a terrible mistake
because they've been used
for a vendetta, but for...
We were surprised that Jos Luis Barbero
appeared alone in the media.
I didn't get the feeling
that Marineland Majorca
backed Jos Luis Barbero,
rather it seemed
that they were interested in...
that separation, right?
Obviously, Aspro...
wanted to stay out of it
and remain unaffected.
But it couldn't do that.
WE ARE SHOCKED AND EMBARRASSED
Aspro behaved very badly with him,
because keeping silent
is like admitting guilt.
If you keep quiet,
you are saying, "Well, yes."
He must have been abusing
and torturing animals.
Which is outrageous
because he's your employee.
You can't wash your hands
and play Pontius Pilate at the same time.
Truth be told,
Aspro issued several press releases
and Jos Luis was no longer
an employee of the company.
That is a really,
really poor, technicality.
Don't make me laugh.
IMATA wanted to expel him
from the association because of the video.
He had lectured,
taught problem-solving techniques,
educated trainers, taught his methods.
To be paid back like that
must've been hard for him.
Jos Luis must have felt
immensely lonely at that moment.
Who knows what was going on
in that man's head?
In the 80s and 90s,
saying you were a dolphin trainer
was fascinating to everyone.
Today it is practically frowned upon.
I sincerely believe that Jos Luis felt
that the world he knew was slipping away
like sand between his fingers.
FEBRUARY 28, 2015
SOS DOLFINES MEETS WITH
GEORGIA AQUARIUM INVESTIGATORS
After a long meeting,
they told us
that the video was manipulated
and the audio did not match the video.
But of course, we remained calm
because we knew we had everything we had.
RECORDING OF THE MEETING
Get the fucking ball!
Hey! Lazy!
Stop whistling and touch the fucking ball!
Lazy!
Are you dumb or what?
Huh? Are you dumb?
Hey! You're dumb!
15 DAYS
30 DAYS
And we told them
that we had many hours of footage
that proved that the facts were real,
that it happened not only once,
but over a long period of time.
And, well, when we showed them
the images, they were stunned.
RECORDING OF THE MEETING
Then they committed to giving it
to the Georgia Aquarium.
They asked us not to publish
that second video,
but to wait because they wanted
to take a public position
on hiring or not hiring Mr. Barbero.
THREE DAYS AFTER THE MEETING,
JOS LUIS BARBERO DISAPPEARS
They told us they found my father
at the Palma de Majorca airport.
He committed suicide.
I don't know how long he had been dead
there at the airport...
one or two days?
They didn't tell us the cause
or how he did it, either.
And that's it.
My father was always strong,
you know what I mean?
The truth is,
I never meddled in his affairs.
I regret that now.
Now I regret not calling him to say...
Because I always thought my father
was the toughest person there is,
mentally speaking.
Because he always acted that way.
ONE BASTARD LESS IN THE WORLD
FUCK HIM FOR BEING A RETARD
ONE THING IS FOR SURE: GOD IS SLOW...
BUT HE DOESN'T MAKE MISTAKES.
I HOPE YOU SUFFERED IN YOUR DEATH
I'M GLAD. AND HIS FUCKING FAMILY TOO
When Jos Luis passed away, well...
I was left alone.
I don't know, it's...
like your support system is gone.
So...
I lost it.
My friends tried to help me.
They succeeded.
It took me a long time to leave the house,
almost two years.
I didn't feel like going out...
I didn't want to.
Because I was...
I was ashamed.
And because I thought that...
people would go after me.
That didn't happen, it was the opposite.
After a year or so,
I quit working with animals.
Because I didn't feel the same anymore.
And I realized that... No.
I wasn't performing at work and...
I was still in my head about it.
I didn't feel the same way
about animals anymore.
Once Jos Luis Barbero passed away,
we didn't hear from any association again,
not from SOS Delfines
or FAADA or anyone else.
They chose to disassociate themselves.
I was in shock, but...
I can't feel something
for someone I didn't know.
I can't feel bad about it either.
I didn't do anything wrong
to feel bad about.
If I felt bad, that would mean
I feel guilty about something.
And all I've done is
film dolphins being abused.
That's all I did.
And those dolphins
are still in Marineland.
When Jos Luis Barbero left us
and I was left in charge
of the Majorca dolphinarium,
difficulties arose
when I started to resent
decisions being made in Madrid,
which did not favor the animals at all.
All they took into account was...
financial profit.
At the beginning of 2017,
Aspro Ocio stopped trusting me
and...
You know what?
I felt very relieved.
I don't think I'd work
with dolphins in captivity again.
I'd like to work with dolphins again,
but in a different way.
Maybe in...
thirty years all the captive dolphins
in Spain, in Europe,
will be released
and relocated to sanctuaries
or whatever you want to call them.
Of course I would like to get involved
in that kind of work.
Maybe it's utopian,
but I have always dreamed about that.
- What?
- It's nice. It's cool.
Let's go to the beach like this tomorrow.
It looks like I'm wearing a curtain here.
Let's see, blink.
Wink at me.
Jos Luis was always making jokes.
When we were with friends and we talked
about dying or about that kind of stuff,
he'd say,
"I'll come down and check on you."
Say hi to the audience, Mari.
- Crap, I almost fell.
- Fall down, come on.
Look at that body.
Those clouds are beautiful.
Now I often tell him,
"Come down, I really want to see you now."
But he doesn't come down.
FOLLOWING THE RELEASE OF THE VIDEO,
MARINELAND INSTALLED PANELS
TO REDUCE VISIBILITY
THERE ARE ABOUT 330 DOLPHINARIA
IN THE WORLD
SPAIN HAS MORE
THAN ANY OTHER COUNTRY IN EUROPE
ASPRO OCIO REPRESENTATIVES
REFUSED TO TAKE PART IN THIS FILM
THE FORMER EMPLOYEE OF MARINELAND
REFUSED TO TAKE PART IN THIS MOVIE
Subtitle translation by: Molly Yurick