‘Crying Dolphin’ leads PETA protest over Miami Seaquarium allegedly underfeeding dolphins
A “crying dolphin” mascot with a “FREE ME!” sign raised high led more than a dozen PETA protesters Saturday as they chanted outside the Miami Seaquarium, raising awareness of a critical federal inspection that found the aquatic attraction underfed its dolphins.
“Miami-Dade County officials assured the public that things would change at the Seaquarium, yet Lolita continues to languish in the world’s smallest orca tank and dolphins are being starved and deprived of any semblance of a meaningful life,” PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman said in a statement.
Visitors on their way into the aquarium were met with a flurry of signs in English and Spanish reading “Lolita Suffers at Miami Seaquarium,” “Dolphins Starved, Humans at Risk” and “The animals are not for us to use, Stop the entertainment.”
“PETA is calling on officials to shut down this seedy abusement park and compel it to send these long-suffering animals to seaside sanctuaries, where they would finally be able to start recovering from their lifetime of trauma,” Reiman said. “Time’s up!”
This comes on the heels of a critical U.S. Department of Agriculture report that detailed the underfeeding of dolphins at the Seaquarium and resulting aggressive behavior by the animals.
READ MORE: Inspection finds ‘very thin dolphins’ at Seaquarium. New management defends care
The report, released on Oct. 21, found that in a July inspection the dolphins’ diets were cut by as much as 60% to encourage them to perform better during interactive sessions at Dolphin Harbor, where guests spend $159 for a 30-minute session with a dolphin.
After their daily rations had been cut, several of the dolphins began “unwanted behaviors” like biting trainers, bothering each other and breaking from routines.
One dolphin, Aries, was forced to perform even longer, once interacting with 67 guests in one day after he had his diet cut from 13 pounds of fish to three.
Seaquarium General Manager Patrick Pearson argued the dolphins were not underfed but were actually overweight and had their diets modified to reflect that.
“We would never cut a diet to induce behavior,” he told the Miami Herald.
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