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Daily Mirror
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
Coronation Street star slammed over 'cruel' holiday photos - "Open your eyes!"
Coronation Street star Cait Fitton, known for her role as Lauren Bolton, has been on holiday with her boyfriend in the Dominican Republic Coronation Street star Cait Fitton was slammed by PETA after she shared a picture of herself swimming with a dolphin while on holiday. The 23-year-old soap star, who is best known for her role as Lauren Bolton on the long-running ITV soap, recently shared a few posts from her sunny holiday in the Dominican Republic. In one picture shared online, Cait was seen laughing with joy as she appeared to ride a dolphin in the ocean. In one snap taken outside Dolphin Island Park in Punta Cana, the soap star wrote: "Such a surreal experience. Pictures pending …. Swim with dolphins in the wild.' She also kissed a dolphin in one picture shared on her page. What she thought was a wholesome post received criticism from animal rights charity PETA. They released a statement saying: "PETA is rushing Cait a copy of The Cove, as she simply can't be aware that dolphins exploited for these cute-seeming encounters are often violently torn away from their families and ocean homes and have almost no semblance of a real life. "Instead of exploring, raising their young, and swimming vast distances, captive dolphins are forced to spend decades performing confusing tricks in cramped tanks while being fondled by strangers. "We hope PETA's facts will open her eyes to the dolphins' plight and that she'll take down any social media pictures promoting this cruel industry, which imprisons wild animals for profit.' The Mirror have reached out to Cait's representatives for comment. Cait's holiday snaps comes a few weeks after she went Instagram official with her new boyfriend. She teased her new partner for several weeks, telling fans her "boyfriend" had bought her a Jellycat toy. And at the end of June, she took her new romance to the next level, having shared a photo on her story showing some silver '23' balloons, as well as a photo of what appears to be her boyfriend. She sweetly wrote: "A day celebrating you," following her message with a white loveheart emoji. Her previous story post showed a collage of images of her with her partner, with Cait writing: "Happy birthday to my man." She added: "Thank you for blessing my life." The snaps showed them posing for a selfie, as well as a fun photo of them glammed up posing together. Another photo showed them holding hands, but she's still not named her new partner. Cait previously discussed the difficulties of fame, telling the Mirror: "It's taken me a long time to have thick skin, it's not an overnight process. "We are normal people outside of filming, but everyone sees the characters as actual people. That can be really hard, especially with Lauren, who is a complex character."
Scottish Sun
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Scottish Sun
Coronation Street's Cait Fitton SLAMMED for animal cruelty on holiday as she shares snaps RIDING a dolphin
Her posts have sparked outrage online, with animal rights charity PETA slamming the experience as exploitative and cruel HOLIDAY SHAME Coronation Street's Cait Fitton SLAMMED for animal cruelty on holiday as she shares snaps RIDING a dolphin Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) CORONATION Street's Cait Fitton has been slammed for animal cruelty on holiday - after sharing a snap of herself riding a dolphin. Cait, 23, best known for playing Lauren Bolton on the ITV soap, posted a slew of shots from her tropical getaway to the Dominican Republic on Wednesday. Sign up for the Entertainment newsletter Sign up 6 Corrie's Cait Fitton has been slammed for animal cruelty on holiday Credit: Instagram 6 She shared a snap of herself riding a dolphin in the Dominican Republic Credit: Instagram It included an Instagram Story where she was seen in the sea, appearing to ride a dolphin. One of the snaps, from outside Dolphin Island Park in Punta Cana, was captioned: 'Such a surreal experience. Pictures pending …. Swim with dolphins in the wild.' In another, she kissed the mammal - joined by her boyfriend, Tony. But her posts have sparked outrage online, with animal rights charity PETA slamming the experience as exploitative and cruel. In a statement to The Sun, PETA's Vice President of Programmes Elisa Allen said: 'PETA is rushing Cait a copy of The Cove, as she simply can't be aware that dolphins exploited for these cute-seeming encounters are often violently torn away from their families and ocean homes and have almost no semblance of a real life. "Instead of exploring, raising their young, and swimming vast distances, captive dolphins are forced to spend decades performing confusing tricks in cramped tanks while being fondled by strangers. "We hope PETA's facts will open her eyes to the dolphins' plight and that she'll take down any social media pictures promoting this cruel industry, which imprisons wild animals for profit.' Cait's representatives have been contacted for comment. While dolphin experiences remain popular with tourists, animal welfare groups have long warned that the practice often involves keeping highly intelligent creatures in unnatural, confined environments. It was just two weeks ago that Cait went Instagram official with her new boyfriend, praising her man for "blessing my life". My teacher asked me what I wanted from life when I was five-years-old – I said 'I want to be in Coronation Street' The actress posted a gushing tribute to her other-half in a series of social media slides celebrating his 23th birthday. Cait had teased her mystery man weeks ago, after telling fans she'd received a Jellycat cuddly toy gift from "my boyfriend". She later returned the favour, arranging for a series of 23-shaped silver balloons to fill his room as well as a happy birthday banner. Cait added the sweet caption: "A day celebrating you." Deciding not to name her partner, she then posted a series of snaps showing happy moments together, including them glammed up as well as holding hands. 6 In another, she kissed the mammal Credit: Instagram 6 Cait was joined by her boyfriend, Tony Credit: Instagram 6 The activity was hosted by Dolphin Island Park in Punta Cana Credit: Instagram Cait then wrote: "Happy birthday to my man. "Thank you for blessing my life." The soap star, who joined the show back in 2022, previously decided against revealing her partner's identity. OFF SCREEN Cait's life away from the Weatherfield cobbles recently came to light. She is originally from Lancashire and ventured into performing arts at the age of three. While it's clear Cait has a talent when it comes to acting, having also starred in Doctors, she's also a great singer. She previously wowed her followers online after posting a clip of her singing a rendition of Ben E. King's Stand By Me. Cait always had her sights set on Coronation Street, previously telling us she told her entire class in school how she wanted a role on the ITV soap. She spoke exclusively to The Sun and said: "The teacher asked us, 'What do you want to be when you're older?' Children were saying 'a fireman' or 'a nurse', and I said, 'I want to be in Coronation Street'. "I remember all the teachers were amused, they couldn't believe it. I watched it religiously." Corrie's 15 most popular characters in 2024 Dee-Dee Bailey - 214 episodes - 1st - 214 episodes - 1st Nick Tilsley - 178 episodes - 2nd - 178 episodes - 2nd Toyah Habeeb - 163 episodes - 3rd - 163 episodes - 3rd Leanne Battersby - 156 episodes - 4th - 156 episodes - 4th Carla Connor - 145 episodes - 5th - 145 episodes - 5th Sarah Platt - 144 episodes - Joint 6th - 144 episodes - Joint 6th David Platt - 144 episodes - Joint 6th - 144 episodes - Joint 6th Kit Green - 138 episodes - Joint 8th - 138 episodes - Joint 8th Daniel Osbourne - 138 episodes - Joint 8th - 138 episodes - Joint 8th Bethany Platt - 138 episodes - Joint 8th - 138 episodes - Joint 8th DS Lisa Swain - 128 episodes - 11th - 128 episodes - 11th Steve McDonald - 126 episodes - 12th - 126 episodes - 12th Roy Cropper - 125 episodes - 13th - 125 episodes - 13th Billy Mayhew - 121 episodes - Joint 14th - 121 episodes - Joint 14th Bernie Winter - 121 episodes - Joint 14th When she announced her role on Corrie, Cait paid tribute to the family members she's sadly lost over the years. She wrote: "My younger self is screaming right now!!! I want to say a big thank you to all the cast and crew at @coronationstreet for inviting me in with open arms and making me feel so welcome! "Thank you to my amazing agent Brooke Kinsella at @intertalentactors for constantly supporting me and always pushing me to achieve." Remembering family members who have passed on, she continued: "Also a massive thank you to my family and friends who have supported me throughout this process and been with me along the journey so far! I dedicate this role of achievement to my family who were huge fans of the show but unfortunately are no longer with me, but I know if they were, they'd be bursting at the seams!"
The Irish Sun
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Irish Sun
Coronation Street's Cait Fitton SLAMMED for animal cruelty on holiday as she shares snaps RIDING a dolphin
CORONATION Street's Cait Fitton has been slammed for animal cruelty on holiday - after sharing a snap of herself riding a dolphin. 6 Corrie's Cait Fitton has been slammed for animal cruelty on holiday Credit: Instagram 6 She shared a snap of herself riding a dolphin in the Dominican Republic Credit: Instagram It included an Instagram Story where she was seen in the sea, appearing to ride a dolphin. One of the snaps, from outside Dolphin Island Park in Punta Cana, was captioned: 'Such a surreal experience. Pictures pending …. Swim with dolphins in the wild.' In another, she kissed the mammal - joined by her boyfriend, Tony. But her posts have sparked outrage online, with animal rights charity PETA slamming the experience as exploitative and cruel. read more on Cait Fitton In a statement to The Sun, PETA's Vice President of Programmes Elisa Allen said: 'PETA is rushing Cait a copy of The Cove, as she simply can't be aware that dolphins exploited for these cute-seeming encounters are often violently torn away from their families and ocean homes and have almost no semblance of a real life . "Instead of exploring, raising their young, and swimming vast distances, captive dolphins are forced to spend decades performing confusing tricks in cramped tanks while being fondled by strangers. "We hope PETA's facts will open her eyes to the dolphins' plight and that she'll take down any social media pictures promoting this cruel industry, which imprisons wild animals for profit.' Cait's representatives have been contacted for comment. Most read in Soaps While dolphin experiences remain popular with tourists, animal welfare groups have long warned that the practice often involves keeping highly intelligent creatures in unnatural, confined environments. It was just two weeks ago that Cait My teacher asked me what I wanted from life when I was five-years-old – I said 'I want to be in Coronation Street' The actress posted a gushing tribute to her other-half in a series of social media slides celebrating his 23th birthday. Cait had teased her mystery man weeks ago, after telling fans she'd received a Jellycat cuddly toy gift from "my boyfriend". She later returned the favour, arranging for a series of 23-shaped silver balloons to fill his room as well as a happy birthday banner. Cait added the sweet caption: "A day celebrating you." Deciding not to name her partner, she then posted a series of snaps showing happy moments together, including them glammed up as well as holding hands. 6 In another, she kissed the mammal Credit: Instagram 6 Cait was joined by her boyfriend, Tony Credit: Instagram 6 The activity was hosted by Dolphin Island Park in Punta Cana Credit: Instagram Cait then wrote: "Happy birthday to my man. "Thank you for blessing my life." The soap star, who joined the show back in 2022, previously decided against revealing her partner's identity. OFF SCREEN Cait's life away from the Weatherfield cobbles She is originally from Lancashire and ventured into performing arts at the age of three. While it's clear Cait has a talent when it comes to acting, having also starred in Doctors, she's also a great singer. She previously wowed her followers online after posting a clip of her singing a rendition of Ben E. King's Stand By Me. Cait always had her sights set on Coronation Street, previously telling us she told her entire class in school how she wanted a role on the ITV soap. She spoke exclusively to The Sun and said: "The teacher asked us, 'What do you want to be when you're older?' Children were saying 'a fireman' or 'a nurse', and I said, 'I want to be in Coronation Street'. "I remember all the teachers were amused, they couldn't believe it. I watched it religiously." Corrie's 15 most popular characters in 2024 Dee-Dee Bailey - 214 episodes - 1st Nick Tilsley - 178 episodes - 2nd Toyah Habeeb - 163 episodes - 3rd Leanne Battersby - 156 episodes - 4th Carla Connor - 145 episodes - 5th Sarah Platt - 144 episodes - Joint 6th David Platt - 144 episodes - Joint 6th Kit Green - 138 episodes - Joint 8th Daniel Osbourne - 138 episodes - Joint 8th Bethany Platt - 138 episodes - Joint 8th DS Lisa Swain - 128 episodes - 11th Steve McDonald - 126 episodes - 12th Roy Cropper - 125 episodes - 13th Billy Mayhew - 121 episodes - Joint 14th Bernie Winter - 121 episodes - Joint 14th When she announced her role on Corrie, Cait paid tribute to the family members she's sadly lost over the years. She wrote: "My younger self is screaming right now!!! I want to say a big thank you to all the cast and crew at @coronationstreet for inviting me in with open arms and making me feel so welcome! "Thank you to my amazing agent Brooke Kinsella at @intertalentactors for constantly supporting me and always pushing me to achieve." Remembering family members who have passed on, she continued: "Also a massive thank you to my family and friends who have supported me throughout this process and been with me along the journey so far! I dedicate this role of achievement to my family who were huge fans of the show but unfortunately are no longer with me, but I know if they were, they'd be bursting at the seams!" 6 She is best known for playing Corrie's Lauren Bolton Credit: ITV
Daily Mirror
30-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
UK's secret dolphin pool of horrors as ex-trainer has warning for holidaymakers
David Holroyd is a former top dolphin trainer-turned-whistleblower - who says as long as the unwitting public keep paying to see dolphins in captivity, the more animals will die painful deaths If you're going on holiday this summer to Europe, Japan or the USA, chances are you'll see signs to theme parks containing captive dolphins that have been trained to perform tricks for crowds. Some may even offer 'swim with dolphins' experiences for an extra fee, allowing a small number of people to get into the pool with the dolphins to be towed by their dorsal fin, hug them and play with them. But the former top dolphin trainer in the UK, who walked away from the industry after witnessing some of its horrors, has begged holidaymakers not to give a penny to these "hellholes" - because of the death, violence and illegal practices he's claimed to have seen first-hand. David Holroyd, now 72, was best known by his stage name David Capello when he worked with dolphins as a young man in the 1970s. He was forced to leave his beloved animals behind when he suffered a mental breakdown after witnessing brutal scenes of cruelty towards the dolphins - a decision that has haunted him for the rest of his life. Now an author and campaigner, David wants to lift the lid on the conditions of places like Gulf World in Florida and Marineland Antibes in southern France are really like for the intelligent mammals kept imprisoned in too-small tanks. Gulf World Marine Park in Panama Beach City has been criticised for a litany of faults and, on May 28, lost its fifth dolphin within the last year. While reports are still unconfirmed, the latest death is rumoured to be that of Soleil, a nine-year-old female bottlenose dolphin. The park's Mexico-based parent company, The Dolphin Company, has not responded to The Mirror's request for comment. Britain experienced a dolphin craze in the 1970s, with many animals imported from America to entertain crowds at dolphinaria like Windsor Safari Park, Blackpool Dolphinarium and Brighton Aquarium, all of which have since closed down. It was at the start of the decade that David, then aged 17, answered a newspaper advert calling for a "young person to present dolphins". Out of 350 applicants, he was picked - and was quickly sent to a secret training pool in the small Yorkshire mining village of South Elmsall, which had been converted from a swimming pool to hold wild dolphins. Most of the animals would have come from the 'Killing Cove', Japan's Taiji, where each year hunters would drive hundreds of dolphins towards the shore and pen them in, slaughtering most for meat and capturing the young ones who had not yet left their pod to sell on to dolphinaria around the world. The horrors of Taiji have been widely reported, including in the 2009 documentary The Cove. Many of the dolphins would arrive at South Elmsall traumatised and terrified, having been ripped from their social structures and crammed into tiny crates to be shipped to the UK. Some would refuse to eat - so David and his fellow trainers would have to force-feed them dead fish. "We had a dolphin called Bubbles come in from the US, and when I checked her over it was like looking in a coffin," David recalls. "She was void. She was so bad. I asked the handler who brought her, 'Why did you bring this dolphin?' He said, 'Because she looks good.'" Bubbles had refused to eat throughout her long journey from Florida to the UK because she had gone into shock when she was caught. "She was in shock for the rest of her short and miserable life," says David. "And that dolphin never took a fish willingly. I force-fed her three times a day." The horrific procedure would mean catching the dolphin manually in the pool, tying gags to her upper and lower jaws to wrench open her mouth, and extra handlers pinning her down so that someone could push fish down her throat, "five at a time". "She was trying to starve herself to death," says David sadly. Bubbles failed to thrive in the UK, and suffered mentally from the treatment she'd endured since being captured. David's mentor warned him that Bubbles had been put on suicide watch because she'd started behaving erratically in her holding pen. "Normally she just swam round and round and round, but one day I walked in and she suddenly started to speed up. I thought she was going to ram the wall, so I jumped in to the pool and grabbed her. She did hit the wall, but I'd taken the sting out because I'd got to her first. And I said to my friends, my colleagues, 'I did the right thing. I saved her.' And the look on their faces told me that I hadn't done the right thing at all," he remembers. "I should have let her kill herself because she was in so much torment." Another dolphin called Scouse was packed into the same cargo hold as Bubbles and suffered horribly when he was unloaded in the UK. "The handler tried to reach Scouse, who was laying in a sling inside his transport. Scouse started to thrash around and fight, and then his sling tore and took out both of his eyes. He was instantly blinded," says David. While animal welfare legislation has been tightened in the UK since David's time, dolphins kept in captivity in other countries still face brutal and cruel mistreatment. One now-closed theme park in a country visited by millions of British tourists removed all the teeth from a dolphin who had nipped a child during a swimming with dolphins session, in a case that is still going through the courts. "Of course, the dolphin continually got infection after infection because it was kept in rotten water," says David. "And it died. This happened less than two years ago." In any theme park that features captive dolphins, the water will be treated with chlorine to kill off bacteria. But the very act of bleaching the water causes untold damage to the animals - and one giveaway sign of poor health is the colour of their skin. "In captivity they're almost silver, they look gorgeous," says David. "But that's not their true colour. In the wild they're slate-grey to almost black. That beautiful colouring is due to chlorine bleaching, it bleaches the skin. So if it's doing that on the outside, what do you think it's doing on the inside? It's poison. As soon as they're brought into captivity, it's poison." Because most marine parks have tanks that are too small for their captive dolphins - who in the wild can swim up to 100 miles a day - more chlorine is dumped in their pools to keep the water germ-free. "The higher the chlorine levels, the more it starts to burn," says David. "You can only do that for so long before your dolphins won't perform and will start vomiting. You'll start to see their skin peeling. And once the chlorine dies, the water becomes a toxic mix of spent chlorine, faeces and urine." The only way to save the dolphins at that point is to drain the pool entirely and fill it with clean, fresh water - but as that is expensive, David claims management teams are loathe to let it happen. "I was constantly fighting the management about water," he says. "I used to sneak in at midnight with a friend, move my dolphins to a holding pen and drain their tank. The problem was you could never re-fill a pool quick enough. So when the managers all came in the next morning, they only had half a pool. I was threatened so many times with the sack. But I wouldn't leave my charges in filth-ridden cesspools." But it was David's skill with the dolphins that kept him in a job, he believes. The very first animals he trained, Duchess and Herb'e, became known as the Perfect Pair, because they could move in perfect harmony - even performing a complex somersault routine dubbed the Shadow Ballet at their home in Knowsley Safari Park - which at that time was managed by the BBC naturist Terry Nutkins. "They were phenomenal," says David. "And yet you won't find them in the history books because every one of my dolphins died within six months after I walked." It was, claims David, company policy to destroy the records of any captive dolphin after their death at that time in the UK, which he alleges was to cover up the high rate of casualties. "In my day, a commercial dolphin's lifespan was three to four years. In the wild, they can live 50, 60, even up to 70 years. But in captivity they had the stress of the transports, chlorinated water and so on." On his last day in the job, David witnessed the tragic death of Herb'e - also known as Flippa - the dolphin he had trained from scratch and shared a special connection with. Herb'e and Duchess were being transported from Knowsley, Merseyside, to Rhyl in North Wales on Terry Nutkins' instruction, and were loaded onto canvas slings so they would stay in place during the van journey. But the slings were too small, so the accompanying vet said he would cut them to make more room for the dolphins, despite David's protests. "I had alarm bells ringing... I put my hand into their box and I could see Duchess' blue eye looking at me. I put my hand over her eye as I knew what was going to happen - the vet's scalpel went through the sling and into my hand," David recalls. The vet insisted David go straight to hospital for stitches, and against his better judgement he left his beloved dolphins to get treated. The animals were put outside in a van on a cold November day and caught pneumonia. "Herb'e never recovered," David says starkly. "When I got to Rhyl he was already unloaded into the pool. I remember how he died to this day: I was in the water and I heard people screaming because Herb'e had disappeared below the water. "I dived down to get him and all I could see was Herb'e looking at me sinking tail-first. When dolphins die they disembowel, so I was swimming through all of this muck with bits of him stuck to me as I was going down. He fell very slowly to the bottom of the pool, and it was like having an out-of-body experience, I was watching myself on the bottom of a pool cradling a dead eight-foot dolphin. "I pushed him up to the top, all I could hear was the echo of screams under 13 foot of water. All these hands came and dragged him out of the water. I never saw Herb'e again. I got out of that pool. I walked downstairs to the changing rooms and I stole five log books relating to Herb'e's life, walked to my car and I never set foot on the dolphin stage again." Traumatised by what he'd seen and been part of, David had a mental breakdown and turned down the opportunity to become head trainer of Ramu III, who was then Europe's only captive orca, held by Billy Smart's Circus at Windsor Safari Park. Within six months of his decision to quit his high-flying career, all six of the dolphins David had formed a bond with died. Scouse, the young dolphin who had lost his eyes during his transport, was killed when he ingested a razor blade. Duchess was taken back to Knowsley, where the vet said she died of a broken heart. "It always tortures me because I always said to her I would never leave her, and I did," says David. "I want to put my wrongs right if I can. They all escaped the dolphinarium when they died. I never did. It's haunted me throughout my life." Now David, who co-wrote The Perfect Pair dolphin trilogy with his sister Tracy, campaigns to close down the marine zoos that still keep dolphins and whales captive. "These animals weren't meant to be captive. In the wild they swim and ride waves for hundreds of miles They can't do that in a concrete fishbowl," he says. "If you want to see dolphins or whales, take a boat trip. Go and see them in their natural environment, as they should be seen, in the wild. Because while the public are still paying money to feed this vile industry, this isn't going to stop."
Daily Mirror
22-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mirror
'World's loneliest dolphin' dies alone in tiny tank in abandoned theme park
Honey, a female bottlenose dolphin, spent the last two years of her life in a small pool at the Marine Park Aquarium in Choshi, Japan, before she heartbreakingly died alone The "world's lonelist dolphin" who spent her life in captivity died after spending two years alone in a tiny tank at an abandoned aquarium. Honey, a female bottlenose dolphin, died alone in a small pool at the Marine Park Aquarium in Choshi, Japan, where she had spent the last two years of her life. Her death occurred on March 29, 2020 and was confirmed by the US-based charity, the Dolphin Project. The bottlenose dolphin was captured in Taiji's brutal drive hunts in 2005 before spending the rest of her life in captivity. Honey first made international headlines after it was revealed that she had been abandoned at the aquarium, along with 46 penguins, in January 2018. The facility closed due to a drop in visitors following the 2011 earthquake and the Fukushima nuclear crisis. While an employee continued to feed the animals, they were otherwise left to fend for themselves in unsanitary conditions. Honey had lived a troubling existence. She was taken from the wild in 2005, and the world became familiar with her story after it was featured in the 2009 Oscar-winning documentary The Cove. The Dolphin Project attempted to intervene, reaching out to rescue Honey and the other abandoned animals. They even explored purchasing her from the new owners of the facility in an effort to offer Honey a peaceful retirement. However, by March 2020, it became clear that her health had deteriorated beyond recovery. In the final years of her life, photos and videos showed Honey floating in a small, dirty pool in an abandoned facility. The images of her and other neglected animals, including dust-covered penguins, quickly spread on social media, with calls for their rescue under hashtags like #SaveHoney. Despite the charity's efforts and public outcry, Honey's life ended in isolation, leaving many to question the treatment of marine animals in captivity. Elsewhere, fears have been raised for a number of other dolphins trapped in filthy tanks after their marine park's company went bankrupt. The bottlenose dolphins, who are still performing tricks for crowds, have no choice but to endure human encounters with customers who pay $130 (£97) to swim in their enclosure and hug the mammals. And now campaigners are concerned they are going blind after they were filmed swimming with their eyes "jammed shut" in the murky water. Green algae has started growing in the crumbling tanks at Gulf World, in Florida's Panama City Beach, and inspectors from the US Department of Agriculture scraped nearly six inches of algae off the step of one of the pools. Four of the dolphins have died in mysterious circumstances within six months, including one in March that landed on its head in front of children in a shallow part of the pool.
