Nicholas is the OTHER dolphin that lives at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. 

   In 1979 The Animal Welfare Act was enacted to protect marine mammals in captivity and states that “Marine mammals, whenever known to be primarily social in the wild, must be housed in their primary enclosure with at least one compatible animal of the same or biologically related species.

  It also states that if the attending veterinarian, in consultation with the husbandry/training staff determines that such housing is not in the best interest of the marine mammal’s health or well-being then they need to be moved away from other animals that may cause them stress, discomfort or interfere with their good health. 

  Most people don’t even know about Nicholas until it is announced that he will be preforming. Every time I have visited, a staff member and I were the only ones there. Another male dolphin named Indy was Nick’s performing partner of six years, Indy, died in 2011. He was 9 years old which is relatively young for a dolphin that can reach forty years in the wild. They performed together daily. One day Indy began to act oddly and within 24 hours he was dead.

 The staff was shocked when they discovered his lifeless body on March 24^th 2011. He had been held at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium since May 3, 2004. Indy was rescued with numerous bites and couldn’t swim.  Although he made a good recovery, he was considered non-releasable because he lacked full hunting and other survival skills. No details were given on what these skills might be.

  I now understand why Nicholas is housed in a small round pool on the second level all by himself and staff keeps telling the public “dolphins prefer to be alone”. As I have previously stated “that is totally false”.  I don’t understand why he has no protection from the sun or other weather related issues and yet the seating where people watch Nick do tricks or paint on canvas is totally protected. 

 I have done an extensive search for Indy’s necropsy (autopsy) with negative results. 

Jennifer Semro