The dolphins of the Madrid aquarium zoo seem to be in poor health due to the captivity and the spectacles they are forced to in the structure. The Nature Protection Service has received a complaint based on a veterinary report that puts pen to paper and (complete with video) the status of 9 cetaceans.
I dolphins of the Madrid aquarium zoo it seems they are not in good health due to the captivity and the spectacles they are forced to in the structure. The Nature Protection Service has received a complaint based on a veterinary report that puts in black and white (and with a lot of video) the status of 9 cetaceans.
Allo Madrid Zoo Aquarium, one of the most popular attractions are the dolphins of which all the peculiarities are told: how intelligent they are, how they move in the water, the anatomy, the dangers that live in the open sea and much more. The children are then made to listen to the sounds they emit, naturally live, using the 9 specimens present in the structure.
It seems that everything is fine, as these animals also have a kind of fixed smile on their faces, but this is not exactly the case. A veterinary report submitted as a complaint to the Seprona (Service for the protection of nature) of the Guardia Civil reveals that the dolphins of the Madrid zoo are sick, suffer from eye problems and two of them (Laia and Guarina) have skin lesions.
The Spanish association Great Ape Project filed the complaint following an investigation called Operation 404 and sponsored by the international organization Sea Shepherd Conservation Society. Attention is focused on the consequences of the Madrid dolphin captivity and the complaint is accompanied by several pieces of evidence: photography is a video.
The veterinarian's report determines that the nine dolphins of the Madrid aquarium are sick as a result of captivity. All nine suffer from eye problems, possibly due to constant contact with chlorine, and two of them additionally have skin lesions.
It is obvious that this story rekindles the ethical debate on the convenience or otherwise of forcing animals into a swimming pool that should be swimming free in the sea. Aquariums, however, are convinced that they are "doing good" by carrying out educational, conservation and research work.
So commented Agustín González, a veterinarian with experience in marine fauna, after seeing the material relating to the Madrid dolphins:
“I saw the vet report and my soul jumped. So we decided to denounce them as representatives of an animal rights association. (…) It is ferocity. Dolphins swim an average of 100 kilometers a day when they are free. They get a lot of exercise. When they are in captivity they go around the pool and live all day in the same place, where they eat and defecate. They need to clean the water with chlorine, because they live among bacteria, which is why their eyes are closed "
Among other things, it underlines a little known aspect, dolphins communicate through high-pitched sounds that in a swimming pool bounce off the walls and echo, which “drives them crazy”.
The dolphin Lala also suffers from a dermatological disease, her body is full of ulcers and this certainly causes her a lot of pain, because these animals, among other things, have very sensitive skin.
“In the images it is clear that a specimen has its entire body occupied by dermatological ulcerative lesions in the shape of a crater, the lesions go from the head to the back, reaching the caudal fin. The lesions are several centimeters in diameter and are found in different stages of evolution, from inflammation, swelling, erythema, nodules, to an ulcer with a certain depth, ie at different stages of said pathology or dermatological disease ".
Guarina, another dolphin from the Madrid zoo, has another problem: he is missing a piece of his nose, which is very serious both for the pain it causes him and for the fact that the dolphins, having no hands, use their nose to "Feel".
Dolphins, then, cannot show suffering and therefore always seem happy. This deceives visitors who, many times, do not realize the pain behind the captivity of these animals.
As the veterinarian recalled: many captive dolphins fall into depression, go around continuously in circles, stop eating and sometimes even breathe (because their breathing is a voluntary act). Years ago he had made a lot of discussion about the story of the dolphin Flipper who had stopped breathing voluntarily due to the suffering of imprisonment.
The joy of the dolphins is expressed by jumping, swimming and not making the foolish protagonists of a show for tourists made to earn food. This is why if we want to see dolphins, we must go and look for them in the open sea, admiring them in all their splendor and in the height of their happy life.
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