Introduction
I needed to know the conditions of captivity in a dolphinarium. To be able to really talk about it. I had organized myself so that the team would not realize anything while gaining their trust.
In order to tell the reality of such an undertaking, I worked in complementarity on the acoustics and sonar of dolphins. The work done and the data discovered during my internship for the observation of killer whales in British Columbia in the summer of 1997 motivated me to continue in this field. That was my cover. Now, everything I am going to say about Cindy and the other dolphins is proven and verified. You be the judge.
Presentation of the dolphins of the Parc Astérix
The 7 dolphins of the dolphinarium are 5 females and two males:
MAYA
She is the dominant female of the group because she has no marks on her body. She arrived from Cuba on June 18th 1988 and seems to be 13 years old. She gave birth to 2 females ATHENA and AYA.
ATHENA
She was born on July 28, 1993. She looks a lot like her mother and has no markings.
AYA
She was born on July 4, 1996. Her size is small and at the age of 6 months, she started to eat fish. She is still suckling her mother and does not participate in shows yet.
BEAUTY
She was born on July 4, 1996. Her size is small and at the age of 6 months, she started to eat fish. She is still suckling her mother and does not participate in shows yet.
CINDY
She was in the same dolphinarium as BEAUTY and was also affected by skin fungus that made her skin raw around the vent.
PICHI
He arrived at the Park on June 18, 1988 from Cuba and his age is about 14 years. Very recently he received a mark of teeth of a dolphin (probably GUAMA) on a length of 30 cm. It is very visible and located behind the skull and on the side. Like what the shocks and the blows of teeth are very violent!
GUAMA
It is the second male arrived from Cuba on June 13, 1988 and is about 14 years old. He is the dominated dolphin of the whole group. His whole body is scarred and his caudal is cut everywhere.
DESCRIPTION OF THE DOLPHINARIUM
The total area of the basins (main basin, hospital basin and quarantine basins) is 1044.5 m2 for a volume of water of 34,000 hectoliters. The quantity of salt to obtain a salinity equivalent to that of the marine environment is 100 tons.
The length of the pool is 45 meters for a width of 17.5 meters. Its depth is 4.5 meters at the deepest points and 2.5 meters at the narrowest points. The water temperature is 12° in winter and 26° in summer. This difference in temperature is explained by an energy saving desired by the staff.
THE DIFFERENT CHEMICALS USED
At the output of the filters, we will add the following products:
NACL or Sodium Chloride
ALSO4 or alumina sulfate, as a flocculant and to lower the PH
NAOH or soda to increase PH
HCL or hydrochloric acid to regulate the PH
NAOCL or sodium hypochlorite CUSO4 or copper sulfate, as an algaecide, to control the growth of algae.
FOOD AND ENTERTAINMENT
We can see that it takes a lot of toxic products to reach a good water quality or at least to come close to it. But what strikes me most is the amount of chlorine used against bacteria that can harm dolphins. It is very easy to notice when you are close to the pool because the chlorine has a particular smell. Not to mention the liters used every day to clean the kitchen and the main beaches. When I think that it is pure chlorine, a study of the underground would show an extraordinary level of chemical pollution.
Dolphins eat defrosted fish: capelin, herring, mackerel (sometimes in a deplorable state). Since thawing causes the loss of vitamins essential to the health of the dolphins, the first fish of the day is enriched with vitamins. A day without a show includes four meals per day with two free meals and two dressings. When the park is open, shows range from two to six per day, plus a morning training class.
So, for a full day, there can be six shows and a "pedagogical" class: a total of 7 clown acts. The show is really ridiculous. The presenter speaks very loudly into the microphone and asks the audience to shout and clap their hands. During one act, balloons are thrown into the water for the dolphins to play "soccer".
And the public loves it...
It is often said that dolphins are free to behave as they please, but this is not true. If they do not perform the desired exercise during a show, they are not fed. This is the reality.
The dolphinarium can accommodate 3000 people. It is a profitable and essential activity because 80% of the visitors come to see the dolphins. During an educational show, PICHI, AMAYA and GUAMA did not want to work. The animator said that the males were in the middle of a love parade (good idea because dolphins make love all the time!) and preferred to court the females than to "play". Obviously, this is not true.
The day before, the vets gave vaccinations and warned that they needed a few days to recover. Nice lie isn't it - To finish about the show, it's a real shame to treat animals like this and to deceive the public so much. You have to see such a show and realize how stupid humans are in relation to dolphins.
VETERINARIANS AND MEDICAL CONTROLS
Three veterinarians take care of the dolphins. The head of the team is Mr. TAYLOR. He is known all over the world for his experience with dolphins. Precisely, his "professional" background must be closely analyzed.
Every month or so, the veterinarians take blood samples. The usual and desired method of this veterinarian is to isolate a few dolphins in the "hospital tank" and empty it of water. Then the trainers hold the tail and the whole body firmly. The dolphin must not move anymore.
They are released when all the dolphins have passed the medical examination. I have witnessed one of these practices and I can assure you that the dolphins are totally stressed. One involuntary (or voluntary) movement pushes the dolphin next to it and so on.
There is no chance of escape. It takes about 20 minutes for the vet to finish and then some time for the tank to fill up. I heard a dolphin make a horrible sound from its blowhole and slap its tail violently to express its desire to escape. It was horrible.
I managed to get some pictures of this method despite the prohibition of the team. Mr. TAYLOR has always practiced this method because the dolphins have been used to it. But what a habit!
If after years the dolphins seem calmer (confirmed by a member of the team!), then what must it have been like at the beginning!
The second veterinarian is more of the same opinion. Indeed, he has been proposing for years to accustom the dolphins to "medical training". That is to say, to present the tail at the edge of the tank, belly up, in order to take the blood sample. It is obvious that this method is less stressful than the first one. The park is gradually adopting this method (4 dolphins in all: PICHI, GUAMA, CINDY and BEAUTY) but it has happened that a dolphin does not want to show its tail and is forced to undergo the "hospital tank".
In any case the dolphin will have no choice.
There was a serious discussion between the dolphinarium manager and the two veterinarians on how to proceed. In the meantime everyone does what they want. The third vet was an assistant. About the three deaths of the dolphinarium, I managed to make photocopies of the autopsies done by Mr. TAYLOR.
You will see that the lie and the lack of details about these dolphins are largely explained by the "great veterinarian". The results are striking!
THE CASE OF CINDY
His case is horrible.
She came from Germany (with BEAUTY) with infections carried "in" and "around" the vent. These are the skin fungi that give the vent a pink color. The staff assured me that she already had them before she came here. Captive for 14 years in Germany in a dolphinarium in deplorable conditions and a ridiculous tank (I've seen the pictures), it's quite possible she got them there.
Now she doesn't have any, fortunately. Her behavior is indicative of stress caused by isolation. She circles around the pool jumping violently and nobody knows why. The most dramatic thing is that she often stays alone in a corner of the pool, isolated from the others (or with BEAUTY), emitting a sound from her vent.
It's a horrible, shrill cry that makes everyone sad. No vet knows exactly what is wrong with her. She seems to be physically and psychologically damaged.
Recently she had to be isolated for 4 months in a row for an injection to increase her red blood cell count: she is suffering from anemia. Everyone is used to see her like this for years and the vets are trying in vain to find out what is wrong with her. No answer has been found yet. In conclusion, I would ask for the pure and simple rehabilitation of CINDY with her friend since the beginning: BEAUTY.
I don't know if we can find her original group, but in spite of her age and her behavior (everything seems normal during the show), we have to realize that she needs outside help and a first step in a semi-captive tank would help her psychologically.
THE CICATRICES
When I started in mid-September, I never thought I would see an increase in scars in two months. Indeed, CINDY, GUAMA, and PICHI are the ones with the most marks. GUAMA, in addition to his totally cut caudal and his numerous scars caused by PICHI, has just made a strong deep cut, just in front of his caudal, and on his belly (a scar of 10cm wide by 30cm long, like "claws"). He received a huge quantity of anti-infection pills for several days.
PICHI had in the middle of my internship, a huge scar on the back side of her skull. CINDY, already unhappy, has a scar on her sex. All these scars are treated with "TERRAMYCIN" in blue aerosol spray to soothe the wound. But this is useless. As soon as the dolphin dives again, the blue color disappears and nothing seems to heal. A team member and a veterinarian confirmed to me that the spray was useless but could not find anything else. The dolphins have experienced a rise in scars in 2 months without being able to heal them. You be the judge!
It is obvious that the increase in stress due to captivity is a very good reason, but don't say that it is the proof of the hierarchy of the group.
Other examples
In this paragraph, I will cite other highlights that I have known:
Some time after AYA was born, her mother, AMAYA, did not feed her for ten days.
AMAYA was not well at all, she was becoming thin and physically weak. A tube should have been inserted to feed her but this was not done.
The blood tests did not detect anything and the veterinarians never knew what she had had. During these ten days, BEAUTY fed AYA with her milk which had become useless since the death of her baby.
In season, countless people pass by the gangway to watch the dolphins. The hands sliding on the windows and the banging (coupled with the constant screaming) create a real stress for the dolphins. The proof is in the report of evaluation of the sound and ultrasound levels in the dolphin pool by Dr. CLAUDY and Dr. Albi DZIEDZIC. (not attached on this site, please ask the author).
This report shows very clearly the noise outside the tank and the authors believe that the internal pumps do not affect the dolphins. Moreover, during the show, high-pitched whistles are used every day even when the park is closed. The 3000 people present at the dolphinarium do not soften the noise either!
Fortunately, the park is closed 5 months of the year, unlike Marineland d'Antibes which remains open all year long. I have already seen the dolphins move away from the secondary basins, under the stands, away from the public to stay calm (except AYA who is afraid to go under there).
The dolphinarium had organized a conference with all the dolphinarium managers from Europe and some far away countries. Unfortunately, I could not attend, but I knew that they were going to continuously exchange information about the care of dolphins in front of anti-captivity associations.
All of them are under the SEAWORLD image and proudly carry the brand.
The premises of the dolphinarium are in a deplorable state: the paint is peeling, cracks everywhere, holes in the ceiling, rust that progresses slowly, in short, no work is planned to date despite the protests of the team.
We often forget the two sea lions that are in a tank next to the dolphins. There is a real national and international traffic of these animals because they are not protected. I find this shameful. At the dolphinarium, the fins of the sea lions were burned by the abuse of chlorine used to clean the beaches. No improvement of the fins is in sight.
Conclusion
I'm not going to deny it, CINDY hurt my heart, along with everything else. To soothe her vent infection, we have to introduce ointment with our fingers. Recently, the blood test did not give any results of increased red blood cells. Every night, toys are thrown into the tank to keep the dolphins from getting bored and CINDY keeps a black hoop with her that she never separates from. It is her "doudou".
Everyone here criticizes rehabilitation for various reasons. The dolphin has little chance of finding its original group, it risks transmitting bacteria, it is dependent on humans, etc. All this to justify captivity. But we must not forget the evil of the dolphins. I saw a dolphin hit its rostrum on the window of the corridor. Not to mention the circus acts that are constantly changing for the new season (we'll see in the appendix what GUAMA is obliged to do).
But for sure, the conditions are not as terrible as other dolphinariums and the tank does not seem so small.
When you realize that the only vacations for dolphins are Christmas Day and New Year's Day, I can assure you that I will fight against this reality all my life. I hope I have made it clear what this dolphinarium is really all about.
In spite of everything, the children who witnessed the show and the letters sent to the dolphinarium are slowly realizing the truth. I hope so with all my heart.
A study conducted from September to November 1997
by Julien Marchal
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