KARACHI: A select group of people provided with an opportunity to be at the preparatory session of the forthcoming Dolphin Show were thrilled to see marine mammals in action at the Maritime Museum on Friday.

With music playing in the background, a dolphin and a sea lion carried out different tasks and acrobatic movements amid applause from the crowd.

The much-appreciated performance was that of the dolphin as it attracted public attention with its frequent jumps, tail-walking and perfect acts of balancing a big ball on its nose and, then, carrying a small ball in its flippers and bringing it to its trainer, who rewarded it with fish on every action.

“It’s simply wonderful to see such a show being held for the first time in Karachi. It’s indeed a good initiative on the part of the organisers. I think the show will help educate people about marine species and will bring us closer to these beautiful creatures,” said a student attending the practice session.

The dolphin and the sea lion have recently been brought from Moscow via Bahrain for the show which is being planned in the first week of January. The animals had been transported by a chartered plane in which they were kept in large containers. They are now under the care of three foreign trainers.

Earlier, a beluga (meaning white one in Russian) whale was brought here from Moscow more than a month ago. The toothed-whale (Delphinapterus leucas) weighing about one-and-a-half tonnes is currently at the museum where a facility comprising a large pond and a seating area has been built at a cost of Rs10 million.

“It’s a bottlenose dolphin and a Patagonian sea lion (also called the South American sea lion with the scientific name Otaria flavescens) and both are male. The former, named Bauris, is 16 years old whereas the latter, called Memo, is 12 years old,” said Ahmed Mehmood, manager of the Dolphin and Gulf, an Egyptian company collaborating in organising the show.

Regarding concerns of environmentalists who are opposing the show on the grounds that it puts stress on animals and gives a wrong message to the public that keeping wild animals in captivity is right, Mr Mehmood said: “These animals were born in static water. They were not caught from the wild. We give them frozen fish to eat because live fish will scare them off. The pond is large enough to facilitate their free movement,” he explained.

Speaking to Dawn, Fouad Sharif, an Egyptian trainer who has come to Pakistan for the first time, said that the animals were absolutely friendly and playful and people would enjoy their performance.

“They are highly intelligent species. I am sure people will love their moves,” he remarked.