Leaping dolphins collide; one dies

[lily]

Link (http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24360996/)
Leaping dolphins collide; one dies
30-year-old Sharky dies after accident at Discovery Cove lagoon


updated 11:24 a.m. ET, Tues., April. 29, 2008
ORLANDO, Fla. - A dolphin died over the weekend at a SeaWorld sister park
after colliding with another dolphin during a guest interaction program.

About 32 visitors were in the lagoon Saturday afternoon when the two
dolphins swam into the deeper center and leapt from the water, Discovery
Cove spokeswoman Becca Bides said Monday.

They collided and Sharky, a 30-year-old dolphin, died, she said. The other
dolphin appears to be uninjured but is being monitored.



"This is a very unfortunate and very rare incident," Bides said.

It was the first accidental death of a dolphin since the park opened eight
years ago. Located across from SeaWorld, Discovery Cove offers visitors the
opportunity to swim with dolphins, rays and tropical fish.

Guests were gathered along the perimeter about 50 feet away in hip-deep
water when the dolphins collided in the center, which is about 9 feet deep,
Bides said.


A necropsy was performed on Sunday, and an exact cause of death was not
immediately known.

Park officials were reviewing their dolphin training protocol "to ensure
that even such a random incident like this can't occur again," Bides said.

[PostmodernProphet]

okay, now we are left with a burning question.....if a speedboat with a woman standing in it is traveling west at 30 miles per hour.....and a stingray is traveling north at 35 miles per hour.....and a dolphin is traveling east at 28 miles per hour......and they all end up at the same place at the same time, how many die......

[Alonzo]

This is why I'd never go to seaworld, and avoid any place that holds similar displays.

I've censored out every other comment I could think of.

[PostmodernProphet]

This is why I'd never go to seaworld, and avoid any place that holds similar displays.


????...because you are afraid two dolphins are going to collide?......on a per/dolphin-mile comparison, it's probably safer for them to participate in displays at seaworld than it is for them to travel by air.....

[Alonzo]

????...because you are afraid two dolphins are going to collide?......on a per/dolphin-mile comparison, it's probably safer for them to participate in displays at seaworld than it is for them to travel by air.....

Because the animals welfare is secondary to profit. There's a reason many aquarium, such as the New England Aquarium in Boston, refuse to train dolphins to do tricks such as this. They only train then to do relatively simple behaviors, that they already do, on command. They avoid stressful or dangerous things, and if the dolphins don't perform during the show (which happened when I went) they simply move on.

The point is more to educate, and they use entertainment to that end. Seaworld, and places like that, is primarily entertainment, education is secondary. Many aquariums, such as NE, use dolphins that are either being rehabilitated or can't be released. Seaworld actively breeds, or purchases captured ones from hunts, for use in shows. And, as has been pointed out by multiple organizations, the housing of them is not what it should be.

It's the difference between seeing elephants in the ringling brothers circus versus seeing them at a zoo doing simple tricks, in between attempts to educate you, but nothing stressful or dangerous.

[cronic]

accidents are going to happen....
It's sad about the dolphin..

In defense to sea world tho ZO.. maybe the dolphin enjoyed doing the tricks for the public?

[Alonzo]

accidents are going to happen....
It's sad about the dolphin..

My point is that Seaworld itself is a problem. It's like having poor working conditions and, when something goes wrong, using "accidents happen" as an excuse. Even though a place with better conditions would never have had that occur.

In defense to sea world tho ZO.. maybe the dolphin enjoyed doing the tricks for the public?

Dolphins have higher rate of aggression, shorter life expectancy, and higher rates of stress and stress related diseases in captivity.

And they don't do the type of tricks seaworld has them do unless you reward them. Stop rewarding them and those high level tricks cease.

[ViolaLee]

I agree with you Alonzo. I think it's cruel.

Innocent animals, not guilty of a crime, locked up for life, made to entertain humans.

[micfranklin]

Poor dolphins.