Douglas Dean "Ted" Hammond (1936? – 25 November 2012) was an American veterinarian and amusement park consultant based in Asia.
Before graduating from veterinary school in 1968, Ted Hammond worked with the Navy Marine Mammal Program near Point Mugu.[1] He was a founding and honorary life member of the International Association for Aquatic Animal Medicine.[1][2] Hammond was credited with research leading to a potential vaccine for melioidosis, caused by Burkholderia pseudomallei, based on his work as the park curator of Ocean Park Hong Kong.[3] He had been recruited by Dr. Ken Norris to work at Ocean Park.[1]
The relationships between the veterinarian, oceanariums, marine life and the general public have always been in flux but never so much as in the last few years. Oceanariums now find it necessary to react to the public awareness which they, themselves, originally fostered. They are no longer merely a facility for recreation. Now, more than ever before, oceanariums are becoming a source of vital scientific information and a positive influence on youth and conservation organizations.
— Dr. Douglas D. Hammond, The Orient: Information — the Key to Our Future[4]
Hammond was instrumental in brokering the sales of live dolphins caught in the Taiji dolphin drive[3] to many places around the world including Turkey, Mexico,[5] and the Dominican Republic.[6]
He was a primary witness in a lawsuit between one of his clients and dolphin activist Ric O'Barry.[7]
Hammond grew up in Ventura County, California, and graduated from Oxnard High School. He received his Doctor of Veterinary Medicine from the University of California, Davis in 1968. Hammond died in 2012 following complications from heart valve surgery in Las Vegas, Nevada.[1]
[Ric O'Barry]: One of the things is for people to stop buying tickets for dolphin shows, because it's the dolphin captures … I have a contract in my hand here, you can see that dolphins are being sold …
[Salon/Andrew O'Hehir]: "Dolphin Purchase Provisional Agreement," it's called.
R.O.: From Ted Hammond, who's an American veterinarian, he sold these 10 dolphins to an amusement park in Turkey for $28,000 apiece. OK? Other dolphins, we know for sure, were sold from Taiji by the same guy for $156,000 each. A group went last week, just before I came here, to Mexico.
The Save Japan Dolphins Coalition denounces the proposed sale and transfer of twelve bottlenose dolphins from the secret Japanese killing coves to the Ocean World Adventure Park, a Dominican Republic amusement park. Two American aquarium specialists -- Dr. Michael Briggs and Dr. Ted Hammond -- are brokering the sale and transfer of the twelve dolphins with the park's vice-president, Stephan Meister -- a German National.
Hammond has been instrumental in brokering Taiji sales and has consulted for the Solomon Islands capture operations. But he remains a member in good standing of major international organizations. ... [H]e later declined [to comment for this article] saying, "As you probably know, there is an active lawsuit between one of my clients and Ric O'Barry of which I am a primary witness. My legal counsel has requested I do not respond to any outside questions or volunteer any information regarding Taiji or any associated activities at this time."
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