Mariachi is Lonely Dance for Mystic Beluga

When wedding guest Bill Kurtz posted his youtube video, Mariachi Connecticut Serenades a Beluga Whale, he probably had no idea that the 1:45 minute piece of footage would become an international sensation.  To date there are nearly 1.4 million views and the internet search engine Google reports as many as 300 news articles on the subject.  Despite this widespread coverage, what seems to be lost in all of the “feel good” posts is the sad truth of the confined existence of “Juno” the dancing beluga and counterparts being held in captivity around the world.

The online inventory of marine mammals, www.ceta-base.com, reports 73 beluga whales in captivity in the United States and Canada.  Of these, 28 are captive born.  Historical records of captive belugas date back over 150 years to 1861 and the time of P.T. Barnum’s American Museum in New York.  The showman is reported to have displayed at least 11 different beluga whales between 1861 and 1868, most lived only days in his  “care” and at least three perishing in two separate building fires.  http://www.ceta-base.com/library/cetabasedocs/captivebelugas_august2010.pdf

Among the many notable characteristics of the beluga whale are its white coloring (beluga means “white” in Russian), the absence of a dorsal fin, the ability to swim backwards, and an oversized melon which facilitates echolation.  Unlike most whales, belugas can move their necks from side to side so as to give the appearance of dancing.  A characteristic singing has also dubbed the beluga as the “sea canary”.

In the wild, belugas are found in pods in arctic and sub-arctic waters.  They swim thousands of miles over the course of just months.  Juno, who is in Mystic on a breeding loan from SeaWorld Orlando, and his pals “Naku” and “Kela” are confined to a one-acre outdoor habitat called the “Arctic Coast”.  Although larger than the some dolphinaria, the confined space of the 750,000 gallon pools is a far cry from the ocean that Naka and Kela once called home.  Unlike his two female companions, Juno was born in captivity and will never know the sheer joy of playfully propelling through icy waters with his podmates.

Instead of migrating through arctic waters, the Mystic Aquarium belugas are subjected to daily  “encounter” programs.  Visitors pay $130 for a 90-minute interactive program in the whales’ habitat.  According to the aquarium’s website, “Participants touch the whale’s back and belly and see how they breathe, spout and "sing."  Aquarium trainers will explain how we care for the whales and demonstrate the way in which contact sessions are beneficial to the whale’s health and well-being.”

Will Ferrell with Nanuq at SeaWorld

Of course Juno wasn’t dancing in the viral wedding video.  He was trained to bob his head in response to certain movements, like the arm movements of the guitar player in the mariachi band.  In return, the animal is rewarded with a prize of dead fish.  Officals from Mystic aquarium report that Juno’s diet consists entirely of dead squid, herring and capelin.  The odds are great that the highly social animal was simply bored and looking for some social interaction.  Migrating belugas have been found in pods with as many as 10,000 whales.

In recent months, celebrity Betty White has been filmed interacting with captive-born Beethoven, the Beluga whale at the Georgia Aquarium and comedian Will Ferrell was seen kissing wild-caught Nanuq at SeaWorld San Diego.

From a conservation perspective, the beluga whale is considered “near threatened”.  Those who live in the Cook Island Inlet of Alaska are reported as critically endangered.  It is believed that the global population of beluga whales is about 100,000.

It is the opinion of Save Misty the Dolphin that beluga whales, as well as all other marine mammals, belong in the open sea.  Captivity is cruel.  It deprives marine mammals like dolphins, orcas and beluga whales of literally every innate activity known to their species:  hunting, migrating and interacting socially as pods in the ocean.  Captive animals suffer from a range of health and mental health issues and live significantly shorter lives compared to their peers in the ocean.  It is time for people of the world to recognize the inherent cruelty of captivity and to simply stop supporting SeaWorld and other captive facilities.  Wild caught marine mammals, who are taken from their pods, experience extreme suffering during the capture process.  In Taiji, Japan, up to 20,000 dolphins are hunted annually between September and March.  A portion of these animals are taken for training and sold into the international captive market.  The rest are slaughtered for food.  For more on the plight of the dolphins of Taiji, visit www.countdowntocove.com.

Save Misty the Dolphin is a social media campaign committed to ending the slaughter and captivity of vulnerable marine mammals worldwide.  Follow us on facebook at https://www.facebook.com/Savemistythedolphin.

No aquarium, no tank in a marine land, however spacious it may be, can begin to duplicate the conditions of the sea. And no dolphin who inhabits one of those aquariums or one of those marine lands can be considered normal. --Jacques Yves Cousteau

“Non-Releasable”: The Deadly Saga of Stranded Cetaceans in the United States

On May 5, 2011, a large pod of pilot whales stranded themselves in the Florida Keys.  Several died on the scene.  On May 7, two healthy males were released.  The five remaining animals were transported via grocery semi-trailer to the Marine Mammal Conservancy (MMC) in Key Largo.  At the time of this writing, only three of these whales are still alive in the MMC’s rehabilitation pens.  The youngest, known as “301” is about 1-1/2 years old. According to Robert Lingenfelser, MMC director of stranding operations, “If the youngest recovers, she is almost certainly headed for SeaWorld or the Miami Seaquarium because she probably lacks the skills to survive in the ocean.”

The Save Misty the Dolphin (SMTD) team wanted to learn more about what happens to stranded cetaceans in the United States. The SeaWorld Animal Rescue and Rehab website claims that between 600 and 700 bottle-nose dolphins strand in the US every year. Of these, less then 10% survive. Those who live are either released back into the wild or are placed into a marine mammal facility. If an animal is alone or young, it is always held in captivity, for fear of not being able to survive in the wild. Over the years, many marine mammals have been deemed “non-releasable” for these reasons. We wanted to take a close look into the lives of a few of these animals and see exactly how they fared in the hands of humans.  While there are almost countless stranding stories, in the interest of space, we are focusing on four dolphins who stranded as babies and who were taken into captivity.  Their names are Stormy, Lazarus, Nemo and Cayenne.  Here are their stories:

"Stormy"



Stormy
Picture from TMMSN



On September 15 1998, a baby dolphin was found on the beach in Texas. The Texas Marine Mammal Stranding Network (TMMSN) was called in and found the young dolphin bleeding from wounds received by a shark attack. It was assumed that the 18 month old calf, who was named Stormy, had been separated from his mother during Tropical Storm Frances. Stormy received around-the-clock care in Texas for several months. On March 23, 1999, after being deemed non-releasable due to age, Stormy was transferred to Mystic Aquarium in Connecticut.  He was placed into a quarantine pool for two months before being moved to the dolphin exhibit on May 12th. Stormy has a huge hit for Mystic.  They installed a “StormyCAM” for the public to watch him and there was even a book written about him, Stormy The Baby Dolphin, A Gulf Coast Rescue.  Stormy was a star!  Yet, in January 2001, less than two years after being transferred to Mystic, Stormy became ill.  He stopped eating and by January 16, 2002, he was dead.  The official cause of death was Staphylococcal Toxemia.  Two months later, one of Stormy's pool mates, Misty a 24 year old dolphin, also died from the same infection.

 "Lazarus" aka "May Day"

On July 19, 2002, an orphaned bottlenose dolphin calf stranded near Ponce Inlet on Florida's east coast. The young calf had been attacked by a shark. The Harbor Branch Marine Mammal Rescue team responded, transporting the young dolphin, who they called Lazarus, over 140 miles south to their stranding facility in Fort Pierce. Lazarus was bottle-fed around the clock for 8 months and nursed back to health.  At that time, he was deemed non-releasable due to age. On August 18, 2003, Lazarus was sent to SeaWorld of Florida, then on to Discovery Cove. He was renamed "May Day", where he performed and took part in the “Swim With Me” program. On April 12, 2005, Lazarus drowned at Discovery Cove after becoming stuck in a drain box. The official cause of death recorded on the Marine Mammal Inventory Report (MMIR) is pulmonary inhalation of water.

"Nemo"



Nemo
Picture by SMSea



On May 15, 2003, two dolphins, a mother and calf, washed ashore on Ossabaw Island, Georgia. The mother dolphin did not survive.  Her male calf was taken to Gulf World in Florida for care. The calf, named Nemo, was less then two months old, weighing in at only 45 pounds and 3-1/2 feet long.  Nemo was bottle-fed around the clock.  Medical tests reported that the calf had an infection.  He was treated with antibiotics. Admitting that the survival rates for stranded dolphins are low, facility staff gave him a 50/50 chance to live.  With the help and treatment he received, Nemo did survive. He was deemed non-releasable due to age, and on February 9, 2004, Nemo became a permanent resident of Gulf World, joining the rest of the dolphins at the facility.  A little over a month later, on March 21, 2004, Nemo died. Gulf World's MMIR was never updated, and the cause of death is still “Pathology Pending”. However, according to a March 25, 2004 news article by the Associated Press, the cause of Nemo's death could have been Red Tide. The article stated that the area had seen numerous wild dolphin deaths in the area due to red tide and two young dolphins, Ripley and Nemo, has just died from what appeared to be Red Tide.  Both were to have shown signs of neurological issues, including twitching of the body.  The article further stated that there were two other dolphins at the facility who were sick.

"Cayenne"



Cayenne
Picture from IMMS



On March 3, 2004, a dolphin calf was found in DuLarge, LA, where she had been separated from her mother following the construction of a levee. Residents had spotted the young calf swimming around for several days, but did not call for aid until she had beached herself. It is not known how long she had been beached when staff from the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas from New Orleans arrived.  She was taken back to their facility for treatment, and was moved to the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IMMS) on April 14, 2004. Deemed non-releasable due to her age, Cayenne was then moved to Marine Life Oceanarium, which was owned by IMMS Director Moby Solangi. On Aug. 28, 2005, with a category 5 hurricane heading straight towards them, Solangi ordered four of Marine Life's dolphins to be moved 6 miles inland to local hotel salt water swimming pools. Cayenne was among those dolphins moved. The next day Hurricane Katrina tore through Gulfport, destroying Marine Life. Cayenne was moved to Gulfarium in Florida, along with the other Marine Life dolphins. On Oct 9, 2005, just months after the storm, Cayenne died. According to the MMIR for Gulfarium, Cayenne died of "Presumed Pneumonia". Cayenne was about 2 years old, and lived in captivity for approximately one year and a half.

At Save Misty the Dolphin, we believe that when a decision is made to place a stranded mammal into captivity, the guidelines “first do no harm” must be observed.  Time and time again we have seen rescued dolphins survive being stranded only to die at the hands of their captives.  Placing wild animals in captivity and forcing them live in unnatural conditions is NOT acceptable.  Placing them in disease ridden or unsafe public displays is NOT acceptable.  Forcing them to entertain the public, as if they "owe" it to their human rescuers, is NOT acceptable!

The SMTD team is very concerned about the future of baby pilot whale 301. She, like so many others before her, appears to be sentenced to captivity. While we may not be able to save her, we believe that better regulations must be put into place to help save other young dolphins and whales who become stranded. The Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) regulates policies and programs associated with stranded marine mammals.  As written, the law allows for the present scenario in which "non-releasable" animals are sentenced to captivity.  


There must be alternatives! Why must the price for being saved be their freedom? Why not have ample bay or sea pens set up for these non-releasable animals? This should be a place where they do not have to perform stupid tricks, and where they can live a somewhat normal life as they are rehabilitated with the singular goal of being released.  Why not help them build new pods and then release those pods in time?  Captive facilities claim that the dolphins in their facilities are bonded like pods in the wild.  If that is the case, why would it not be the same for stranded animals? And, considering that it is okay for Lolita, the captive orca at Miami Seaqurium to be housed with dolphins, then it shouldn't matter if a pod is comprised of different types of dolphins. If a facility or government agency claims otherwise, then maybe they should look at the regulations they themselves put into place.  


Of course, releasing stranded dolphins and whales doesn’t bring revenue into captive facilities.  In 2009, SeaWorld’s combined properties hosted approximately 23.5 million guests.  Revenue reports from 2006 show a net of $144.3 million.  It seems as though there should be funds available for rescue, rehabilitation and release of these stranded dolphins, but when it comes right down to it, profits always seem to take priority over “first do no harm”.

Sources:

SeaWorld Fl MMIR 2010  MayDay is listed as SWF-TT-0307, on pg 56

Gulfarium MMIR 2009
Gulf World MMIR 2009

Lazarus/MayDay
Cayenne's Story...Told by IMMS
Nemo
Nemo Newsherald.com
Nemo Death
Stormy
Stormy dies
Misty dies~ Stormy's pool mate.

Swimming in Sorrow: The Story Behind the Captive Dolphin Breeding Program in the U.S.

* In loving memory of Tique's calf, who died on June 10, 2011, at the Shedd Aquarium in Illinois.  She was six days old.  Also in loving memory of Nova's calf, who died on June 23, 2011, at the Indianapolis Zoo.  He was twenty days old.


Nova and new calf 2011
Photo by: Mike Crowther



Probably the most stressful and anxiety-provoking act in human existence is the separation of a woman from her newborn infant. The response to this, which humans share with most of the animal kingdom, is an overwhelming combination of panic, rage, and distress.  (Ruskin in Horchler and Morris, 1994)

When a mother loses a child, the psychological impact can exact a toll that goes well beyond grief and into a range of mental health disorders including anxiety, clinical depression and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.   A recent study in the British Journal of Psychiatry found that these symptoms can last for years - even following the birth of a healthy child. (Blackmore, E.R., Cote-Arsenault, D., Tang, W., Glover, V., Evans, J., Golding, J., and O’Connor, T.G., 2011)

In his 2007 book, In Defense of Dolphins: The New Frontier, Thomas White proposed that dolphins be considered as “non-human persons”.  White and other researchers describe these marine mammals as highly intelligent, self-conscious, unique individuals with personalities, memories and a sense of self. They are also vulnerable to pain and suffering and experience emotions we know as fear, dread and grief.  This notion of dolphins experiencing grief is poignantly documented in a 2008 you tube video of a wild mother dolphin carrying her dead baby with her in Laguna Madre Bay, South Padre, Texas: 

Captive dolphins also exhibit grief reactions to the loss of a child.  In February  2000, the Chicago Tribune reported:

Like any desperate mom, Tapeko made every attempt to save her child.  In a tank that Brookfield Zoo officials had isolated for the mother and baby, the 17-year-old Atlantic bottlenose dolphin patiently stayed with her calf late Saturday, following it up to the surface when it needed to breathe more frequently and slowing down when the newborn fell out of her "slipstream," a formation in which the calf is kept at its mother's side by a current of water.  After 45 minutes, the calf sank to the bottom of the tank and rolled onto its side. Tapeko swam after it, lifting the baby with her snout and bringing it to the surface, where she handed it over to trainers. She then watched at the deck as they tried to revive the 12-day-old dolphin by breathing into the blowhole atop its head, in a technique similar to mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, and performing chest compressions.  But the mom's and zookeepers' best efforts failed: Brookfield Zoo's newest baby dolphin died at 12:15 a.m. Sunday. 

Since 1992, wild caught Tapeko has witnessed the deaths of four of her six children.  She lost calves in 1992, 2000, and 2001.  Daughter Kaylee died in 2009 at the age of 15 due to a tear in her stomach.

The infant mortality rate among captive dolphins is extraordinarily high, but this seems to have little impact on captive breeding practices.  If a mother loses a child, she is just impregnated once again.  A review of the website www.ceta-base.com  uncovers the excessive nature of dolphin breeding programs in zoos and aquariums across the United States.  At the John G. Shedd Aquarium in Illinois, Tique, a white-sided dolphin has lost three calves since 1995.  Her most recent calf, a female born on June 3, 2011, died yesterday after struggling to nurse.  At the Indianapolis Zoo, Nova, a bottlenose dolphin who was taken from the wild in 1988, has had eight pregnancies since  1993.  Six of her calves have died.  Two are living, including Kalei and one also born on June 3, 2011.  Likewise, at SeaWorld San Antonio, bottlenose dolphin Yoyo has lost five calves since 1998 and has no living offspring.  At the Miami Seaquarium, Cathi, a wild caught bottlenose dolphin, has lost five calves since 1976.  She has three living offspring:  Samantha, Ripley and Abaco.  The list goes on and on and on.  Female dolphins in aquariums are used like brood bitches in puppy mills.  Although their surviving calves aren’t sold to pet shops in the manner that puppies are, they are in a manner of speaking, sold into slavery.  These dolphins will never know the sheer joy of swimming in the open sea as they will live out their lives in captivity.

The captive breeding program (a.k.a. stud service) at several United States aquariums literally involves transporting male studs from aquarium to aquarium to impregnate female dolphins.  The practice is described in the June 2010 issue of the National Aquarium Blog as the facility bid farewell to Chinook, a stud who had been on “breeding loan” for three years:

Chinook was loaded into a specially made transport carrier and taken by truck to the airport. He was flown to Chicago with an Aquarium vet and trainer by his side. Upon arrival at Brookfield, he looked great and began to eat fish right away.  We heard that he is already showing interest in the female dolphins at Brookfield Zoo!

As part of a dolphin breeding consortium, we work with seven other zoos/aquariums to cooperatively manage and breed our dolphins.  Male dolphins are commonly moved from place to place to breed with different female groups.

With the wonders of modern science, some dolphin moms don’t even get the luxury of courtship, but rather are artificially inseminated.  In 2005, SeaWorld San Diego proudly announced that it had successfully selected the gender of a calf via artificial insemination.  The technology allowing the gender selection was developed by a company called XY Inc.  Tom Gilligan, a representative of the company, was quoted in a Reuter’s article describing the birth as “a real breakthrough that would lessen the need for new captures to vary the gene pool of captive marine mammals.”  At Save Misty the Dolphin, we wonder if it is really a breakthrough, or if it is just bad science that completely fails to consider the mental and emotional impact of captive breeding on the mother dolphins?  It appears that captive breeding, either via natural or artificial means, is largely unregulated.  Inquiries by our team to the Association of Zoos and Aquariums pointed us to individual facilities.  Calls to the United States Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS), charged with implementing the Animal Welfare Act, directed us to the National Marine Fisheries Service.  Calls to the National Marine Fisheries Service sent us back to APHIS.  That being the case, there seem to be no protections in place specific to the wellbeing of captive mother dolphins used in breeding programs.  The reproductive future of these animals relies solely on the whims of the captive facilities, the very same facilities that profit from “showing” captive dolphins.

Ric O’Barry, former dolphin trainer turned activist and star of  the Academy-Award winning documentary, The Cove refers to the range of mental health problems demonstrated by captive dolphins as “captive dolphin depression syndrome”.  They may perform for the crowd, but outside of the show arena, they hover listlessly in small concrete tanks.  In the worst cases, some appear catatonic.  We wonder how many of these dolphins with captive dolphin syndrome are mothers who have experienced the loss of one or more children?  Perhaps the “captive dolphin depression syndrome” concept needs to be expanded to cover postpartum depression and complicated grief?  Perhaps it is simply time for the captive breeding program, and all captivity for that matter, to end!