Dolphins Plus News
Dolphins Plus is proud to announce the double cataract surgery for Wono the Sea lion, a success.
 Wono, a California sea lion residing at Dolphins Plus since 1992, began to lose her sight a little over a year ago. The husbandry and training staff consulted with Dr. Carmen Colitz and her renowned surgical team. It was determined that Wono was suffering from the onset of cataracts, a natural disorder affecting aging sea lions. Two pre-surgical evaluations were performed to ensure her suitability for surgery.
A carefully designed training plan was implemented for a year prior to the surgery. Dolphins Plus staff converted Wono’s dry resting area into a fully enclosed climate controlled recovery room. The team slowly acclimated Wono to be comfortable spending increasing amounts of time in her enclosed dry resting area. Dr. Colitz prescribed a three-week rehabilitation period where Wono would need to remain dry and cool. This was done to reduce the risk of postoperative ophthalmic infection.
On Saturday the 22nd of October, at 8:30 a.m., the surgical team sedated and anesthetized Wono. Dr. Colitz felt the three and a half hour procedure was successful and without complications. Wono was returned to her recovery room and removed from anesthesia.
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Our Newest Addition, Zoe, Learns the Ropes
 Dolphins Plus’ newest addition, Zoe, is learning the ‘ins and outs’ of our structured interactive program.
At 7 months of age, she has mastered several new behaviors with her trainer, but is currently trying to get up the courage to interact with our swimmers! Follow Zoe’s training progress with the structured program! Come and visit Dolphins Plus and you might be the first swimmer to interact with Zoe!
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Dolphins Plus Assists in Dolphin Rescue
 On January 21, 2011 this calf was rescued and successfully returned to its mother in the wild by a coordinated effort involving NMFS, the Marine Mammal Conservancy, and several staff members from Dolphins Plus.
Wild dolphin populations and marine species worldwide are faced with increasing threats due to human interactions, disease and a variety of environmental stressors. Remember to make sure to properly dispose of all your monofilament fishing gear and teach others to do the same.
If you see any marine species in distress, please immediately notify the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission at 888-404-FWCC.
For the complete story, visit the website of the
Marine Mammal Conservancy.
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Movie, "The Cove", Misleads Viewers
 In a commendable attempt to bring the publics attention to the heart wrenching atrocities committed against marine mamals each year, the film makers counted some friends as enemies. The film accuses dolphin interaction programs of benefiting from the yearly slaughter of innocent dolphins in Japan. This could not be further from the truth. People protect what they know and love. Here at Dolphins Plus, we pride ourselves on the education, interaction and conservation efforts of our programs.
The Cove has many important messages. Sadly, much of the information about dolphin interaction programs is misleading, false and damaging.
For more information, please follow the link and watch this important video:
Dolphin Swim = Dolphin Kill? An Investigation of "The Cove", Part 1
Dolphin Swim = Dolphin Kill? An Investigation of "The Cove", Part 2
Thank you for your support of us and our marine mammal friends.
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In Loving Memory of LB
 Dolphins Plus and Dolphin Cove are deeply saddened to announce the loss of one of our founding dolphin family members, Littlebit (LB). Despite heroic efforts of the veterinary and animal care staff to combat a chronic liver issue, hemochromatosis, LB passed away on Friday, November 12, 2010. At an estimated 35 years of age, Littlebit lived a long life surrounded by his many offspring and soul mate, Ding-a-ling. LB gave us so much love, laughter and friendship and touched the hearts and lives of countless numbers of people. His personality and gentle spirit remain alive in our hearts and minds. We love you LB.
Always in our hearts,
The Dolphins Plus and Dolphin Cove family
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Castaway Lives in Our Memories
 Dolphins Plus is heartbroken to announce that on January 18th, 2010, Castaway, our deaf Offshore Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin, passed away.
Our staff feels blessed to have known her. Castaway taught us more than we ever thought possible about training, veterinary medicine, and unique behavior of Offshore Atlantic Bottlenose dolphins. In the short time that she was with us Castaway provided our animal training staff a first hand education in unique husbandry practices, brand new training techniques, and the importance of patience and understanding. Thank you, Castaway, for teaching us to think outside the box. You will be forever loved and missed."
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Castaway Participates in Hearing Test
 Castaway
participates in her first hearing test at Dolphins Plus!
Audio evoked potential(EPA) testing is a non-invasive
means of testing a dolphin’s hearing. EPA can be
used to test the entire frequency range of hearing in
a dolphin within a single test session. This form of testing
hearing allows for animals that are deaf, such as Castaway,
to have their hearing tested as well.
Through EPA, the dolphin's hearing is tested
by measuring the electrical activity generated by the
brain in response to a sound. The sounds are computer
generated and played for the dolphin through speakers,
called "jawphones", placed by suction cups against
the dolphin's lower jaw. The lower jaw is where dolphins
would receive sound in their day to day lives. The dolphin's
response is measured by computer analysis of electrical
activity in the dolphin's brain which is received through
a collection of transducers on the dolphin's head.
The sense of hearing is the most important
of the senses to dolphins because of their use of sound
to communicate, hunt, maintain social bonds and navigate.
Identification of hearing problems allows behavioral issues
to with training to be better explained. This knowledge
helps the animal care staff to modify animal care and
husbandry procedures and potentially increase the overall
quality of care for Castaway.
Castaway preformed the EPA test with flying
colors. She remained calm through-out the 52 minute test
and seemed to be enjoying all of the extra attention.
The animal care awaits the results of the hearing test
in the up coming weeks!
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IMATA Presentation a Success
 Two
Dolphins Plus animal care staff, Sarah Sayre, senior trainer,
and Marylou Wright, supervisor, presented their joint
paper, “Disabled But Not Discounted: A Case Study
of two Tursiops Truncates”, at the 36th annual International
Marine Animal Trainer’s Association Conference in
Cancun, Mexico, November 9th- 15th, 2008. “Disabled
But Not Discounted: A Case Study of two Tursiops truncates”
focuses on training disabled animals to participate in
interactive educational programs. The presentation and
paper focused on two Dolphins Plus residents, “Jessica”
and “Castaway”, who with innovative and consistent
training have overcome their respective disabilities to
become productive members of the Dolphins Plus population.
Jenna Rouse, internship coordinator for
Dolphin Cove, Dolphin’s Plus’ sister facility
also attended the conference. The two facilities co-hosting
a booth at the conference career fair. This was the first
time the two facilities have been represented at the career
fair.
Download and read the breif here: Disabled
but Not Discounted Brief
Download and read the full document: Disabled
but Not Discounted Full Documents
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Castaway is Doing Better Everyday
 Castaway
has become a star, opening her new "Cuddle with Castaway"
program in July of 2008! The "Cuddle with Castaway"
program offers a unique opportunity to interact in an
up-close and personal experience with an offshore bottlenose
dolphin while standing in waist deep water. Castaway seems
to bask in the one-on-one attention that she receives
from her trainers and guests.
Castaway also seems to be the husbandry training star
of Dolphins Plus. Husbandry behaviors are voluntary medical
behaviors that the dolphins participate in, allowing our
staff to keep them healthy and happy. In just a few short
months Castaway has mastered voluntary urine, voluntary
fecal, voluntary blow hole culture, voluntary blood draw
and voluntary hydration!
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Dolphins Plus Presents at IMATA
Two
Dolphins Plus animal care staff, Sarah Sayre, senior trainer,
and Marylou Wright, supervisor, have been selected to
present their joint paper, “Disabled But Not Discounted:
A Case Study of two Tursiops Truncates”, at the
36th annual International Marine Animal Trainer’s
Association Conference in Cancun, Mexico, November 9th-
15th, 2008. “Disabled But Not Discounted: A Case
Study of two Tursiops truncates” focuses on training
disabled animals to participate in interactive educational
programs. The presentation and paper focuses on two Dolphins
Plus residents, “Jessica” and “Castaway”,
who with innovative and consistent training have overcome
their respective disabilities to become productive members
of the Dolphins Plus population.
Jenna Rouse, internship coordinator for
Dolphin Cove, Dolphin’s Plus’ sister facility
will also be attending the conference. The two facilities
will be co-hosting a booth at the conference career fair.
This will be the first time the two facilities will be
represented at the career fair.
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Castaway's Sporting a New Look!
 Castaway
continues to adapt to her new environment. She is building
healthy relationships with the Dolphins Plus human and
dolphin family. Her level of cognition and memory retention
also continue to improve. Once a day she is also having
interactions with some of our guests. Castaway enjoys
tactile stimulus very much and her new touch program seems
to be accelerating her comfort level with her surroundings.
With a history of sunburn, we are helping
Castaway with her sun protection. Pictured here is her
sunvest which seems to work well, though it is presently
being altered.
Overall, Castaway has become a much beloved
member of our finned family! We learn more about her everyday
and look forward to sharing her unique story with all
of our customers.
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Castaway is Doing Great!
Castaway
continues to expand her horizons at Dolphin’s Plus.
Her roommates have expanded to include dolphins Sarah,
Samantha, L.B., Ding, and our new calf Julie, as well
as Sugar the sea lion! Castaway continues to learn new
behaviors everyday and seems to be greatly enjoying the
learning process. Some of her new favorite behaviors include,
jumping, vocalizing, fluke presentations and blowing bubbles.
Since arriving at Dolphin’s Plus Castaway has more
than tripled her behavior repertoire.
Castaway is only the second known case of a deaf dolphin
in a managed care facility. Therefore, this is a new frontier
for everyone involved! Due to Castaway’s inability
to hear, husbandry training continues to be challenging.
The new training techniques developed to work with Castaway
were presented at the 2008 IMATA (International Marine
Animal Trainers Association) conference to a great reception!
Overall, Castaway has become a much beloved member of
our finned family! We learn more about her everyday and
look forward to sharing her unique story with all of our
customers.
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1st Annual Educators Development Course
 Twelve
participants from South Florida, Michigan, and Aruba took
part in the first, annual professional development course
for educators at Dolphins Plus and Island Dolphin Care
on August 1-3rd 2007. The course was developed and taught
by the Dolphins Plus and Island Dolphin Care research
and education staff. The classes consisted of over 20
hours of lectures and field trips, including marine mammal
biology and conservation topics and an introduction to
some of south Florida’s unique marine ecosystems.
Each participant received a binder of extensive lecture
notes, classroom activities, and image/video compilations
to use in their classrooms. Dolphins Plus and Island Dolphin
Care hope that fostering a greater understanding of and
appreciation for dolphins will inspire a sense of stewardship
for their environment and related conservation issues.
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Baby Dolphin Born
 Dolphins
Plus welcomed its newest addition to our dolphin family
on August 19th, 2007 at approximately 1:30 a.m.
Dinghy gave birth to her fourth healthy
calf fathered by our largest male dolphin, L.B. Mother
and baby are swimming and interacting well with each other.
Darkly colored and energenic, the baby is already showing
plenty of personality by exploring its environment, swimming
away from its mothers side, and spending time with its
father.
The staff and visitors are enjoying hearing
the calf's vocalizations, observing it nursing from Ding
and watching the day to day changes in this little baby
dolphins first months of life.
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Castaway Welcome Home
Castaway
was introduced to her new roommates, Sarah and Samantha
(both adult females), on July 30, 2007. They spent a few
days getting to know each other, and things are going
exceptionally well! Lucky for Castaway, her current trainers
are the same individuals who worked with her at MMC. This
provides her with lots of comfort, as she has become quite
attached to her human caretakers. At MMC, Castaway was
accustomed to frequent “socials”, so the Dolphins
Plus trainers swim with her everyday. She loves to play
with her human toys almost as much as they love and adore
her! Some of her favorite things to do include surfing
off humans swimming in her lagoon, diving under water
with her human toys and swimming belly-to-belly, and playing
with her rubber ducky and rings.
Castaway is only the second known case of a deaf dolphin
in a managed care facility. Therefore, this is a new frontier
for everyone involved! Due to Castaway’s inability
to hear, husbandry training continues to be challenging.
In order to communicate with her, Castaway’s trainers
have developed a variety of innovative techniques, and
they plan to present their training research and discoveries
at the 2008 IMATA conference.
All in all, our big, happy family just got bigger! We
are excited beyond words to have Castaway join our salty
home. She has been welcomed with open arms, plenty of
TLC, and lots of fish, of course!
For more information about Castaway and her story, visit
www.marinemammalconservancy.org.
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Castaway's Story
 “Castaway”
originally stranded on “Castaway Cove” (thus
the name) near Vero Beach, FL on November 11, 2006. She
is a female Atlantic Bottlenose dolphin (offshore ecotype)
and is estimated to be 25-30 years old. She was transported
to “Mote Marine Laboratory” (MML) where she
was treated and rehabilitated until being deemed releasable
by National Marine Fisheries Service.
An ultrasound exam at MML revealed that Castaway was
pregnant in her third trimester. On January 30, 2007,
MML working with the team from “Harbor Branch Oceanographic
Institute” transported Castaway back to the Vero
Beach area and attempted to release her four times. Each
time she drifted back to shore. The decision was made
by the “National Marine Fisheries Service”
(NMFS) to bring Castaway to the “Marine Mammal Conservancy”
(MMC) in Key Largo. The MMC-facility is a large natural
lagoon – an environment suited for Castaway. MMC’s
task: to further rehabilitate her as well as to provide
a safe place for her to have her calf.
When Castaway arrived at MMC she was very distressed
and disoriented, even aggressive. But over the next several
days she began to settle down and accept food. After only
a few hours of being cared for by MMC, the senior staff
noticed that Castaway did not respond to any acoustic
signals the way dolphins usually do. She showed no reaction
when the medical staff slapped the water with their flat
hands to get her attention and did not turn when staff-members
entered the water. The suspicion: Castaway could have
a severe hearing problem. On February 18, 2007, David
Mann, an Assistant Professor from The University of South
Florida performed an AEP, (Audio Evoked Potential) test
on Castaway and determined her to be deaf.
Castaway thrived under the care of staff at MMC and became
an extremely healthy, social and robust dolphin. On June
11, 2007 after a very brief labor, she gave birth to a
male calf who unfortunately survived only four days. Castaway
underwent her post-partum transition with no real difficulty
other than a temporary decrease in appetite.
In the weeks that followed, Castaway’s appetite
returned; her condition and apparent well-being improved
continuously in the care of MMC until she could be safely
transported to Dolphins Plus.
Dolphins live in a world of sound and use their vocalizations
and echolocation for interaction with other pod members
as well as for finding food, navigation, and to avoid
predators. Due to the fact that Castaway is hearing impaired
and has unique learning patterns, NMFS deemed Castaway
“non-releasable” and decided that she would
ultimately reside at Dolphins Plus Research and Education
Facility in Key Largo. This facility has a long history
of providing permanent, healthy and happy home environments
for non-releasable stranded marine mammals, as illustrated
by Sugar, our rescued sea lion and resident family member
since 1984. As a participating member of the southeast
stranding network, Dolphins Plus has a moral obligation
to care for all non-releasable stranded marine mammals
placed in our care, regardless of their ability to participate
in the interactive swim programs with the general public.
Dolphins Plus is committed to the long-term care and proper
socialization of Castaway with members of her own species
at her own pace.
On July 25, 2007, in a mid-afternoon 8-minute transport,
Castaway was relocated to Dolphins Plus. She is continuing
behavioral enrichment to enhance her social skills, which
will enable her to integrate smoothly into her new dolphin
family. The attending veterinarian present during transport
was pleased to note that Castaway handled the transition
well. Once in her new surroundings, she accepted a meal
immediately, which we feel is a testament to her calm
nature and comfort level in her new environment.
Castaway currently resides with Sarah and Samantha, two
adult female dolphins in a natural sea-water lagoon.
Castaway, as she has been named, is doing extremely well
in her new environment. To learn more and follow the story
take a look at the Marine
Mammal Conservancy website.
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Robert O. Stevens DVM Joins Dolphins
Plus
 Dolphins
Plus is pleased to welcome Dr. Robert O. Stevens as a
full-time marine mammal veterinarian to our facility.
Dr. Stevens has over 30 years of experience in caring
for and treating marine mammals and other exotics. His
career has included 8 years of service with Sea World,
4 years of consulting with Disneys Living Seas and a 17-year
private exotic animal care practice.
In his new position, Stevens will be responsible for
marine mammal health at Dolphins Plus, Dolphin Cove and
at the Marine Mammal Conservancy as needed.
We welcome Dr. Robert Stevens to the Florida Keys and
wish him the very best in his new endeavors.
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Dolphins Plus Attends a
Marine Mammal Conference
 Two
Dolphins Plus educators/scientists, Marylou Wright and Jill
Richardson, Ph.D., attended the Society for Marine Mammalogy’s
16th Biennial Conference in San Diego, California in December
2005. The conference lasted five days and was one of the
largest to date, with over 2500 attendees. They worked in
conjunction with Kate Banick from the Marine Mammal Conservancy
to present data generated from the rehabilitation and release
of 11 rough-toothed dolphins in Key Largo, Florida. Their
oral presentation, in addition to a scientific poster, were
selected from thousands of applications for presentation
at the conference. Only 25% of all of the applications were
accepted, so this was a great honor to both Dolphins Plus
and the Marine Mammal Conservancy. They also hosted a booth
during the week of the conference, during which time they
networked with hundreds of educators, students, and scientists,
in an attempt to bring Dolphins Plus to the forefront of
marine mammal research and education. We are very proud
of our staff educators and scientists and look forward to
an exciting future for both Dolphins Plus and the Marine
Mammal Conservancy!
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MMC Releases Rough-Toothed
Dolphins
 The
Marine Mammal Conservancy (link) is a non-profit 501 (c)
(3) IRS designated organization located in Key Largo,
Florida. Their mission is to rescue, rehabilitate, and
release stranded marine mammals, as well as to provide
a suitable “retirement” location for animals
that may not be suitable for release. Their most recent
success story involved 11 rough-toothed dolphins who were
stranded off of Marathon Key on March 2, 2005. These dolphins
were successfully rehabilitated and released back into
the environment on May 3 and September 12 2005.
This was the largest, and most successful,
simultaneous release of marine mammals to date. For information
about their program, volunteer opportunities, or donations,
please visit their website at Marine
Mammal Conservancy.
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Dolphins Express Their Artistic
Side
Two
of our dolphins are playing with paint and expressing
themselves in a brand new way. L.B., our alpha-male dolphin,
is very passionate about his new creations. He takes great
care in creating the perfect shape and style with each
brush stroke. Samantha approaches her painting with flare,
often spinning around in circles between each stroke.
Everyone at Dolphins Plus is buzzing about the new artwork,
which is currently available in our gift shop.
Little Bit, or L.B, paints with great intensity. While
holding the brush sideways in his mouth, he varies his
strokes from broad slashes to carefully crafted circles.
He often backs away from his painting mid-stroke to assess
his work before continuing on in his creation. L.B. has
taken to painting with excitement and intensity, and it
is currently his favorite activity. When he sees his trainer
approaching with paints and paint board in-hand, he whistles
excitedly in anticipation. According to his longtime trainer,
Holli, “L.B. is very proud of his work and appears
to enjoy this unique special activity.”Samantha’s
first painting resembled a ballerina, with light, fluid
strokes dancing across the page. Unlike L.B., Samantha
holds the brush in the front of her mouth when making
her strokes. This seems to render greater control over
each colorful swatch. Samantha exhibits her delight while
painting by dancing in circles between brush strokes.
She is often seen following her trainer off the platform
so that she can get one last look at her beautiful piece
of artwork.
Samantha and L.B. may have started something big here
at Dolphins Plus. Painting has become a thoroughly enjoyable
experience for both the dolphins and the trainers. We
think this might be a sign of great things to come and
foresee a very colorful future for these and other budding
dolphin Picassos!
Visit
our Gift Shop Dolphin Paintings Section
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