Montini: Inmate dies at dolphin prison known as Dolphinaris Arizona
EJ Montini: Dolphinaris Arizona is a playground for humans with cash, a gulag for dolphins.
EJ Montini
Prison can be rough on health.
Especially if the inmate is innocent.
The Mexico-based company behind Dolphinaris Arizona, a swim with the dolphins atrocity near Scottsdale, on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community, said on its website that “the mission of Dolphinaris Arizona is to amaze, inspire, and empower guests, encouraging them to become stewards of the oceans and its inhabitants. We hope to deepen respect for dolphins and our natural world …”
But a prison is not "natural."
Bodie the dolphin died in prison
And make no mistake, Dolphinaris is a gulag for what was eight prisoners. Bottlenose dolphins, perhaps the second most intelligent species on earth. (Moving up fast since the last presidential election.)
The dolphins have been locked up in Stalag 101, the internment camp located just off the freeway for about a year.
And now, one of the dolphins has died.
Local activists got the word out, members of The Animal Defense League of Arizona, the Animal Welfare Institute, and Plea for the Sea first learned of the death of Bodie, a young dolphin at Dolphinaris.
Once the groups went to the media Dolphinaris issued a statement: “During this difficult time, Dolphinaris Arizona will continue its mission to educate, inspire and empower our guests through interactions with these amazing animals, encouraging guests to become stewards of the oceans and its inhabitants."
Dolphin suffered rare muscle condition
The dolphin died in September.
Dolphinaris said Bodie suffered from a rare muscle disease and was under veterinary care. The company said a necropsy was performed and found that Dolphinaris did all it could to help Bodie.
Except, of course, for the imprisonment part.
Dolphins are smart. Social. Not made to spend their lives swimming in circles in concrete ponds to be petted by paying customers.
It’s an enterprise based on cruelty meant to satisfy the curiosity of humans with money.
Yuk.
Arizona State University marine-biology expert Leah Gerber told The Republic it is "totally insane" to bring dolphins to a concrete pool in the Arizona desert. Gerber said bringing the dolphins to an unfamiliar climate and environment could have "negative implications.”
I guess so.
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