Animal activists are on the warpath after a beloved dolphin passed away at a Swedish zoo after 40 years in captivity performing for hundreds of audiences.
Despite Nephele being the oldest dolphin at Kolmården Zoo, her death came as a shock. The fake plant in her tank, which was supposed to help with her 'enrichment,' ended up being the reason she couldn't breathe. An autopsy showed that the dolphin died because the fake seaweed got stuck in her throat, choking her.
Before the incident, the zoo reported that Nephele was healthy before she started "acting weird" and sank to the bottom of her home. By the time the zoo's vet arrived, Nephele was dead.
READ MORE: Kaylee Gain: Family of teen charged for attack that left girl brain damaged say she's 'real victim'
The dolphin show in the dolphinarium at Kolmården Zoo (Jeppe Gustafsson/Shutterstock)Danny Groves from the Whale and Dolphin Conservation told Newsweek: "Like us, dolphins need to come to the surface to breathe, and choking in this way must have been a traumatic experience for Nephele."
Man fined £165 after outraging the internet by dying puppy to look like Pikachu
But Bim Boijsen, the zoo's top animal doctor, told the Sun: "It was a quick process. When the vet arrived at the scene, she had already passed away. It is very sad. Nephele was a much-loved dolphin."
Boijsen also said they put the fake seaweed there to improve the animals' homes and give them something fun to do, but now they've removed it. The main caretaker at the zoo said what happened was "very regrettable" and he feels "deeply saddened" about losing Nephele.
The dolphin was believed to have been brought in under false pretenses (Getty Images/iStockphoto)According to a scientific paper published in the Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens in 2022, "environmental enrichment can be used to improve the welfare of dolphins in zoos and aquariums."
The founder of Swedish Animal rights organisation Animalkind, Daniel Rolke, claims Nephele was one of two dolphins controversially imported from Germany, and was originally called "Cindy." He said that In 1994, Kolmården Zoo bought two female dolphins named Cindy and Mandy from Hagenbeck Zoo in Germany.
They had reportedly been captured from the wild, which was "controversial," and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency initially refused to allow them to be imported into Sweden.
This was because bottlenose dolphins were on the CITES Appendix II list, meaning they could only be imported from the country where they were born or captured. Daniel believes Cindy and Mandy, who were nine years old at the time, had been caught in Florida in 1989.
He said: "Kolmården submitted a new application, in which they stated that they would conduct "research" on the dolphins in order to avoid receiving yet another rejection. So Cindy and Mandy were imported despite strong protests, and when they arrived in Sweden, Kolmården's dolphinarium renamed them to Nephele and Delphi to make people forget the connection."
"Delphi died at Kolmarden Zoo in 2007, in connection with a birth. And now Nephele is gone, too," adds Rolke.
Kolmården Zoo, which charges just £3.81 for its dolphin shows still has a dolphin enclosure with 11 dolphins in it despite promising in 2021 to close it Zoos around the world are finally coming around to the idea that keeping dolphins in captivity is cruel and outdated. One such zoo is the Kolmården Wildlife Park in Sweden, which has announced plans to close its dolphinarium.
The zoo's website states: "We knew that dismantling the dolphinarium could take a long time, as our highest priority is to ensure that the dolphins are well. In the meantime, the dolphinarium is open as usual."
Dog who 'always melts hearts' with his smile hopes to find a loving family
Read more similar news:
Comments:
comments powered by Disqus
