Accredited centre for dolphin assisted therapy 

Dolphins assisting in treating handicapped children would also attract tourists to western Lithuania.
Among only a few locations in Europe to do so, Lithuania is working to establish an accredited dolphin assisted therapy centre for the treatment of children and adults with a range of handicaps.
Such therapy is very popular in the USA and Israel, where positive results have been achieved in patients with handicaps including brain damage, Down’s syndrome and autism.

Popular in Lithuania

This type of therapy is also popular in Lithuania. But Lithuania’s only dolphinarium, in the city of Klaipëda in the west of the country, lacks the capacity.

to meet the demand at national and international level from parents seeking treatment for their children.

The idea, therefore, is to upgrade and expand the existing dolphinarium, with its seven bottle-nose dolphins, and the adjoining marine museum, sited on a tongue of land that juts out into the Baltic Sea and which since 2000 has been listed on UNESCO's World Heritage List.

Natural beauty
"The project is important to the development of the area,” comments COWI project manager Lars Kjøller Holm. “The long, sandy beaches have for many years been a popular holiday resort for people from eastern Europe. By expanding the activities of the dolphinarium and the Sea Museum, it is hoped to attract more tourists to the area from Latvia, Poland, Germany and elsewhere, which if successful will provide year-round employment opportunities."

COWI is to develop a concept for upgrading and extending the buildings and other water activities to attract people of all ages, and will also assess the potential of the surrounding area. The project, which is being financed by the EU and the Lithuanian government, is scheduled for completion by August 2005.

Published: 22.11.2004
By: Christina Tækker, cht@cowi.com