Dolphin Quest Welcomes Second Dolphin Birth
Only days after “Bailey” gave birth, Dolphin Quest has welcomed another new arrival with “Ely” giving birth at around 6pm on Saturday [Apr 5]. Ely, named after Ely’s Harbour in Sandys Parish near Fort Scaur, was born at Dolphin Quest Bermuda in June of 2003. Since then, she has connected with thousands of schoolchildren, summer campers, and visitors to Bermuda.
“We are so proud of our thriving dolphin family. The first few days and weeks of a young dolphin’s life are extremely critical, and our highly experienced team will closely monitor moms and calves around the clock in the coming weeks,” says Christine Mihelcic, General Manager of Dolphin Quest.
Ely and calf bonding after the birth:
A spokesperson said, “Through active participation in Dolphin Quest reproductive studies, Ely, together with other dolphins, veterinarians and trainers, is helping scientists better understand the increasing pressures on wild dolphin populations.
“At Dolphin Quest, with excellent maternal nutrition and neonatal care, our infant survivability is almost 90%, while dolphin researchers believe that due to pollution, habitat destruction, and depleted fish stocks, dolphins born in the wild have a much more difficult time surviving.
“Please join Ely and Dolphin Quest in our efforts to better understand and improve the odds for wild dolphin babies. You can help by visiting Ely at Dolphin Quest [as a portion of program fees supports critical marine research], taking the pledge to purchase only sustainable seafood, or by joining Dolphin Quest in funding crucial wild dolphin population studies like the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program, and tell them Ely sent you!”
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Category: All, Environment, News
This is sickening. Those poor dolphins. Destined for a life in captivity. Swimming around in circles – never knowing life in the vast ocean. UK banned dolphinariums in 1993 and many other countries followed suit. It’s time we got with the programme. This is animal cruelty – it’s not education and it’s not conservation. It’s about $$.
I agree, its like Africans coming over during the Middle Passage !
I totally agree with you! It is very sickening.
3 Dislikes from Dolphin Quest employees!
Let those poor dolphins out into the Atlantic! And for goodness sake, don’t let any more be born in captivity. There is no reason to have this kind of attraction anymore. People can learn all about animals via film, tv, internet. It’s cruel to keep dolphins penned in. Time for Dolphin Quest to go.
Totally agree, shall we start a campaign? Free Dolphin Quest Dolphins!!
Yes that is a great idea!!!
I’ve spoken to a lot of Bermudians on this subject and the majority feel the same as we do!!
I’m in
That would be a death sentence for most of the dolphins.
It is better to live free for a day than live 100 years as a slave.
Yes to live free for a day would be better than to live 100 years as a slave. However, just letting a captive creature go without any regards to its well being in the real world is cruelty. They are captured animals, they are not slaves, your analogy is off base.
You do not need to equate them to anything other than they are captive wild animals. While I do not have a huge problem with captive animals being kept in environments that give them enrichment, I do hve issue with these dolphins living in a bathtub.
What you need to do is complain about their living space, and while it might meet a minimum requirement, is that what we need to be known for? Keeping dolphins in a minmally required space? If there were two, perhaps it would not be as bad. But 9, that is unecessary.
What bothers me most is how Dolphin Quest states how they are there to educate, yet when asked questions about their animal’s living conditions, the routine response to adults and school aged children alike is ” Well, they must be happy because they keep having babies.” Fact- Man and Dolphins are the only two mammals that have sex for pleasure. All others only have sex to procreate. So no, it is not that they are happy. They may be bored and just plain randy.
The dolphins are there to make money, and to produce other dolphins to be shipped off to other locations to make even more money.Have there been any scientific studies on their muscle conditions? Do they ever get to utilize their true speed and agility? Do they have full range of motion in their bodies?
Equate it to having a great dane in a small studio apartment with a 10×10 garden and never letting it out of that confinement. You will find its muscle development to be hindered, and its physical ability to move therefore hindered as well.
800,000 thousand gallons may be more water than is required, but 800,000 gallons in a shallow divided pool system does not mean it is adequate for them to live.
Reading this it almost sounds as though the Dolphin Quest statement was written in response to negative comments on the birth of the other dolphin last week. It seems they are trying very hard to spin a positive light on the cruel captivity of these beautiful animals. I understand the need to observe animals to help them in the wild, but surely we should stick to funding the programs which only monitor them in the wild? DQ have even suggested donating to the Sarasota Dolphin Research Program.
And if it would help to observe captive babies, do we really need more than one of them at a time?
I’d actually like to know whether these births are the result of natural or artifical conception? Bernews would you know the answer to that?
It occurred to me that natural conception would only occur if the pod were happy to do so in their current environment. Personally I do not feel that artifical conception should be allowed under these circumstances, due to the small size of the pool. Some species will actually stop reproducing under such circumstances…I wonder if this is true of dolphins?
The Dolphin Quest dolphins are artificially-conceived.
Thanks for confirming!
The DQ pools were only meant to be temporary following the hurricane. If not suitable larger facility is available in Bermuda then they should cease with their breeding program, it’s just not right to actively bring these young dolphins in to the world. Their pool is directly linked to the ocean, you can’t tell me they don’t know that there’s something more out there…
Oh My Goodness, the plot thickens!!!!!! This just gets worse and worse..
I am VERY skeptical that they use AI at Dolphin Quest .
Are you speaking for DQ as an employee or just speculating ?
Keep watching folks, lets see if there are still two additions in a few years from now. Heart breaking stupidity.
Do we need to call in Maury to find out if they have the same father?
I am going to the Zoo.
Think about it.
I used to like the zoo, but have changed my mind on that, too. Only possible reasons I can think of to keep animals caged are that they are injured, so wouldn’t survive in the wild or they are the last of their species and part of a breeding preservation programme. Would prefer to see the zoo close when the existing captive animals die; they could still run educational programmes, but no live animals, please! Same goes for circus animals.
Last time I went to a circus was in 1955 at White Hill.
Zoo’s are great when monitored properly.
How else would my grand daughter even see an elephant or an endangered species.
Let em all die?
Hell; we kill each other in the thousands each day.
We take away the animals habitant to make furniture
We strip mountains to access coal
We overfish
We pollute rivers and streams
More plastic in the oceans than there are in 100 Walmarts, stocked.
Shalom.
A wildlife sanctuary is a much better alternative to zoos. Keeping animals in cages is just wrong. If animals are dying out, there are other alternatives to throwing them into zoos. See the tiger conservation project in India.
Unfortunately man has created a situation that without zoos, many species would be exinct today. Zoos are needed to preserve thousands of species that man has threatened to wipe out. Most are now moving to much more natural habitats, with enrichment programs. While they are not ideal, they are necessary.
These beautiful creatures,with brain mass larger than that of man ,sonar communicative ability,gestures and sound vocabulary perhaps as complex of Chinese language….are bing exploited for profit….I put it to you dolphin quest….could you have your show in open water?…call them at show time…reward them with food…………do you think they would come?…so you could line your pockets?….