Navy dolphins and SeaWorld

I see a parent has quite rightly complained about their daughter being bitten by a dolphin at SeaWorld in their petting pools.

WDC reported this risk and incidents of previous bites some years ago, but SeaWorld were allowed to continue this circus trick. You can see our full report here Biting the Hand

One thing has always bugged me about the petting pools. Well actually a lot of things do, but one question is whether individual dolphins are being overfed or underfed? To keep the dolphins ‘keen’ to take fish from visitors, do they need to be hungry? And what happens if one dolphin gets more fish than they should? Are they withdrawn from the show?

However, I also noticed that the UK’s daily Express was reporting that US ex-Navy trained dolphins had been loaned to SeaWorld. WDC has often spoken out against the use of dolphins in military exercises, but I cannot help feeling that dolphins that have been trained in underwater combat situations should not be sent to captive display facilities to do ‘tricks’ for the general public.

I have no idea if the ex-Navy dolphins ever end up in the SeaWorld concrete tanks used for the petting pools, but it makes you wonder doesn’t it?