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 submerges

 

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

 

This video is featuring Nicholas from Clearwater Marine Aquarium with staff telling me how dolphins prefer to be alone. This is the same dolphin that was partnered with Indy for six years. I wonder what staff told the public then. They seem to have an answer for everything whether it is true or not doesn’t seem to matter.

       This video is dedicated to all the dolphins that have lost their freedom

The beginning is a little hard to understand but CMA staff is saying after my question of dolphins getting bored, "Absolutely not, they have toys and a trainer comes every thirty minutes and after a while he will show signs of wanting to be alone" From there he goes on to say how dolphins in the wild prefer to be alone.

Also please notice that all seating is covered unlike Nicholas' pool. In the video one other person can be seen visiting Nicholas while I was there.

 

Jeff Bilyeau pronounced (billyou), my friend, fellow photographer and great editor put this together. I am very grateful for his time and expertise.

 

If you are against the exploitation of dolphins please pass this blog on.

Jennifer Semro

 

 

 

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

This is a video of Winter that I took on August 18, 2014 at Clearwater Marine Aquarium. My suggestion is to keep the volume down as it is distracting. 

The video capsulizes the behavior of Winter over a period of two hours. She rarely changed position except to go by the door to the divided tank where she hangs out a lot.

 It looked to me like Hope was trying to encourage her to swim the small parimeter but to no avail. It is one of the saddest times I have watched her. At the end of the first dolphin movie the caption was that Winter was a healthy, happy dolphin. Does this look like a happy dolphin?