Activistas por el cuidado de los animales piden cierre del Miami Seaquarium / Miami Seaquarium Tried Putting Dolphins on a Diet and It Went Really Badly

Varios miembros de la organización PETA (Personas por un trato ético para los animales) estuvieron este sábado frente a las instalaciones del Miami Seaquarium, de Florida (EE.UU.), un centro de atracciones donde, según los activistas, los animales están “estresados”.

En un comunicado, PETA señaló que los animales “continúan sufriendo, incluso después de que funcionarios del condado se comprometieran a hacer una mayor supervisión de las instalaciones”.

Esto sucedió, añade, tras un “informe condenatorio” del año pasado que reveló una gran cantidad de violaciones al bienestar animal.

El informe referido fue realizado por el Servicio de Inspección de Sanidad Animal y Vegetal del Departamento de Agricultura de los Estados Unidos, y tiene fecha del 8 de junio de 2021.

Las violaciones señaladas por PETA al citar el informe incluyen alimentar a los animales con peces podridos, forzar a la orca Lolita a realizar trucos que probablemente lesionaron su mandíbula y alojar juntos a delfines incompatibles, que terminaron muertos, de acuerdo con el comunicado.

EFE

Miami Seaquarium Tried Putting Dolphins on a Diet and It Went Really Badly

Miami Seaquarium has faced criticism after putting nine of its captive dolphins on diets, which—according to a USDA report—caused them to become aggressive, to swim over ledges and sinking during line-ups.

A leaked U.S. government report based on a July inspection of the park found that the diets of nine dolphins at the Dolphin Harbor attraction were cut earlier this year “for the purpose of ensuring the animals performed for the guest interactions.”

This led to some of the dolphins losing a lot of weight and to an increase in aggressive behavior, according to the 10-page report by the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which was shared online by animal rights activists PETA. Newsweek has contacted the USDA for comment.

Miami Seaquarium has rejected allegations by government inspectors that it cut back on food given to dolphins at the park to make them perform better for visitors, leading to the animals becoming aggressive, but their report has outraged animal rights activists, who are calling for the dolphins to be set free.

Animal rights groups sharply criticized the Seaquarium over the report, with PETA [People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals] calling for the dolphins to be released and the Seaquarium closed down.

The oceanarium, in Virginia Key, Biscayne Bay in Florida, is one of the oldest in the United States. Dolphins living at the park perform in shows and interact with visitors in a “swimming with dolphins” experience. The park is also home to Lolita—also known as Tokitae—one of the oldest orca in captivity.

The diets of nine of 12 dolphins at the Dolphin Harbor attraction were cut by 60 percent without consulting the facility’s veterinarian, according to the USDA report. This resulted in “very thin” animals. For example, one dolphin named Star—a 23-year-old female—was being fed 12 pounds of fish daily in January 2022. Her diet was then cut abruptly in March to four pounds daily, the report said.

The cut in the diet of some of the dolphins “led to increased incidents of unwanted behaviors such as splitting or breaking from sessions, swimming over ledges where guests may stand, sinking during line-ups and aggressing against trainers,” the USDA report added.

Miami Seaquarium said in a statement emailed to Newsweek that the cuts in diet were due to the dolphins being overweight. It said there had been a “miscommunication” between staff and the veterinarian but this had been corrected.

The park said that “at no time were adjustments, dietary or otherwise, made with the purpose of enhancing animal behavior during guest interactions.” The aquarium also said that at no time were signs of “potential risk” to workers or guests from the dolphins overlooked.

The aquarium said no recommendations from the veterinarian were ignored but said there “were some gaps in communication between departments” which were corrected before the USDA inspection.

Miami Seaquarium came under new management in March, with The Dolphin Company taking over as operator of the park, which gets 600,000 visitors a year.

The park charges $219 for its Dolphin Odyssey, according to its website, which promises visitors “approximately 30 minutes to share exciting interactive behaviors with your new dolphin friend, such as a kiss, handshakes, rubs, or learning hand signals and training techniques.”

Patrick Pearson, general manager of Miami Seaquarium, said in the statement that the Seaquarium was committed to providing “the best possible environment for the health and well-being of the animals in our care.”

“When we assumed management earlier this year, we set out to correct decades of difficult circumstances. We know the world is watching and we welcome that attention because in addition to providing the highest level of care for these animals, we want to be advocates for animal well-being around the world,” he said.

Shelby Loos, attending veterinarian at the aquarium, stressed in the statement that gaps in communication were addressed before the inspection took place.

“With any change in ownership comes a learning curve between previous operations and new operations,” Loos said. “The Dolphin Company understands the importance of animal well-being, they listened to concerns from the animal care and veterinary teams, and supported changes needed to improve communication.”

“Even after officials promised greater oversight, this damning new federal inspection report reveals that Miami Seaquarium staff starved dolphins in order to force them to perform and made the emaciated animals perform more often than usual, causing them to attack trainers,” General Counsel for Animal Law at PETA Foundation, Jared Goodman, told Newsweek.

“PETA is calling on everyone to steer clear of the park, for the Seaquarium to release the dolphins along with the lonely orca Lolita, and for Miami-Dade County to shut this hellhole down,” he said.

A USDA report conducted in June 2021 previously raised concerns about the living conditions for animals at the park, in particular, for Lolita. This report said that the Seaquarium’s management had been ignoring the recommendations of its in-house veterinarian.

Miami Seaquarium said in June that two prominent marine mammal experts had spent two days with the orca and her care team, providing an independent evaluation of her recent medical history and the way she was being looked after.

Naomi A. Rose, a marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute, said in a blog post that for two years running, Miami Seaquarium’s management team has “egregiously violated” standards of the Animal Welfare Act.

Dolphins are highly intelligent, complex animals. Animal welfare groups argue that keeping them in captivity is cruel, as they cannot do half of the things they would be able to do in the wild.

“We can’t know what it feels like to be a whale or dolphin, but when you see the behavior of individuals who have spent years in captivity, you can imagine the boredom and even despair that they may be feeling,” Danny Groves, communications manager at the Whale and Dolphin Conservation, told Newsweek.

“In confinement, they may swim endlessly in circles, lie on the floor of the tank for many hours, chew on the sides of the pool and repeat the same patterns of behavior over and over. The stress and frustration of a life like this can cause captive whales and dolphins to attack each other and sometimes trainers and members of the public. This is why the keeping of whales and dolphins in captivity must be phased out for good.’

BY ROBYN WHITE