In
Dolphin Tale #1 it looks as if Winter
finally accepts the tail, it is attached and off she goes. Totally untrue!
This past August, 2014 I was able to
observe Winter in the process of getting ready and then actually swimming with
her prosthetic tail. It took probably 45
minutes of what looked like massage to her lower vertebrae to accept the tail.
Her actual swim was maybe 15 minutes as she was coaxed with fish rewards back
and forth between the two smaller tanks by a trainer. After a few minutes she
looked very uncomfortable and seemed to be almost hopping through the
water.
preparation for tail attachment
Tail removal after about 15 minutes
Comparing Winter’s tail to human’s
wearing prosthetics is very unrealistic being that human’s wear prosthetics
most of the time. Winter does not wear hers every day and when she does it is
only for a few minutes.
After the tail was removed Winter
exhibited another behavior I have never seen before by any dolphin, but then I
don’t see many captive dolphins so maybe this is normal behavior but I found it
distressing. She began to submerge her body to the bottom of the tank and stay
there until she needed to breathe. She did this continually almost as if she
didn’t want to be seen or maybe didn’t want to see all the people watching
her.
Winter beginning to submerge
Winter on the bottom of the tank
Winter stays on the bottom, not swimming
Winter preparing to surface after about 7 minutes to breathe
This brings me to comment on the
first Dolphin Tale movie. These movies are geared toward children. Putting false information out there and calling it truth is shameful. The movie begins by
showing wild dolphins swimming freely. Strange being that the whole movie is
based on dolphins in captivity.
The water scenes are filmed almost
at water level to make the Clearwater Marine Aquarium small tank look much
larger than it really is.
At the end of the movie it portrays
Winter being transferred to an open waterway to swim a relay race. This never
happened! If you look closely you can see that this is all done with
animatronics. Unfortunately,Winter has never been in a waterway other than
Clearwater’s tanks. First of all moving
a dolphin involves high stress for the dolphin being moved and great care has
to be taken due to the fact that when dolphins are in the water they are
gravity free. Once removed from the water and placed on land the weight of
their body will crush their internal organs. This is what kills many stranded
dolphins along with the fact that they have no way to cool their bodies. One of
the most important things someone can do for a stranded dolphin is to
continually pour water over their body but taking great care to make sure no
water gets into the blowhole, or they will drown.
Next post will will deal with Dolphin Tale #2 and will complete the blog on this issue
If you are against exploiting dolphins please pass this on.
Jennifer Semro
Winters tail is for rehab and exercise she can’t wear it all the time. Winter is also healthy and through unfortunate events that us humans placed in her home she wound up with a severally infected fluke. She was rescued by these angels at Clearwater and treated aggressively for her wounds which ended in the loss of her fluke. She has adapted well and is a testimony of hope to is humans that have suffered from loss of limbs.
ReplyDeleteThe dolphin tale movie has added parts that may be unrealistic or impossible for this dolphin to do but that’s Hollywood for you. The main point is how things can be overcome through great adversity and winter has given many young to old disabled people hope and encouragement.
All of your comments on the scene enhancement of the aquariums are again what Hollywood does in all there movies. They did not harm there residents or place them in a harmful situation you are really not any better than what you are saying about this movie. Believe me I don’t want to exploit or bring harm to any animal marine or other species and I believe in release after they are able; however the 3 dolphin residents there are unable to be released so they use this as education and I feel they do a wonderful job of it.