The National Aquarium in Baltimore is planning to move their bottlenose dolphins from their facility to an oceanside sanctuary by the year 2020.
The Aquarium stopped shows with the dolphins years ago after the public’s attitudes shifted toward these and orca shows. After years of research, the nation’s first dolphin reservation could be built either in Florida or the Caribbean- two places where they are currently searching. It will be the only one of its kind in North America.
“Up until now, the alternatives did not include having an oceanside seawater facility that dolphins could go to and not be engaged in something like a swim program or some other kind of revenue-producing model,” said John Racanelli, the aquarium’s chief executive officer. “We’ve set the criteria that the needs and interests of the dolphins will come first, and that hasn’t really been tried yet.”
The National Aquarium’s mission is to advance understanding and protection of cetaceans by offering a natural environment in which the colony of dolphins in our care will thrive.
All of the dolphins will remain in human care for the remainder of their lives since all but one started their lives at the Aquarium. The oldest dolphin they have is 44 years old.
The dolphins will be able to swim with other sea life and enjoy a much larger area in which to swim at the sanctuary.
The transition from the National Aquarium to the sanctuary will end in 2020. The public will able to view the dolphins in their new and larger living space.
“Scientists say dolphins, which are highly intelligent, need the freedom to express themselves in their own habitat, and need to be able to form the tight social groups essential to their well-being.”
Aquarium officials have debated various options on what to do with the animals for five years which led to their decision. The public can still view the dolphins at the Aquarium.
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Finally someone got it right. Marine Mammals belong in the wild. Taking them from their natural habitat is wrong and causes many psychological issues that impacts their lives negatively.
I sure hope SeaWorld gets a clue and follows their lead.
Finally, someone’s using their heads and putting the animals first. Times have changed and so have people’s attitudes. They’ve been living in a prison for a long time. I wish people would’ve woke up decades ago on the cruelty of keeping animals stuck living in “tubs” to make a buck. I don’t like zoos, circuses where the animals are basically beaten into submission and not fed if they don’t perform to their “standards.” If someone can find a way to profit off of animals’ misery, they will. I think we should do the same to those perpetrators as they’ve done abusive toward animals. An eye for an eye!
That should be Working Girl, not Working. 🙂
Hooray! Finally! So happy! :))
HIp Hiip Hooray!
The sanctuary image looks gorgeous. I can’t wait for this to happen. SeaWorld can do this too. They certainly have the money to fund it except they don’t care about their orcas or other marine mammals. I can’t stand them.