NewsWhore
09-29-2006, 03:50 PM
A baby dolphin was born to mother "Serena" on 21 August 2006 at Ocean World Adventure Park in Puerto Plata. This is the first recorded and confirmed successful (live) baby dolphin born in captivity in the DR. The marine park director, Stefan Meister is optimistic that there will be many more to come. He explains that the park's female dolphins are just reaching breeding age now. Meister says that ten dolphins have already been born in the park's sister dolphin facility in the Bahamas. He expects the DR to catch up with this number.
Meister says that a name has not been chosen as the baby is too small and its gender has not yet been determined. "We are thinking of holding a naming contest for local schools with the winning kid getting a free day for their class at Ocean World," he added.
The birth of the baby dolphin coincides with a letter with recommendations made by Patricia Forkan, president of the 9.5-million member Humane Society of the United States, which recently commended the Ministry of Environment in the Dominican Republic for its forward-thinking and progressive action in prohibiting the import of live dolphins for public display. Forkan suggested that dolphin parks should maintain their collection with captive breeding. The society is opposed to capturing dolphins in the wild, explaining that it is extremely stressful and traumatic for the dolphins and can result in deaths and social disruption.
"Your decision to ban dolphin imports has placed the Dominican Republic in a leadership role in the Caribbean," she writes. "Other nations in the Caribbean should look to your government as a shining example of responsible resource management," she writes.
See http://dr1.com/news/2006/092906_Humane.shtml
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#13)
Meister says that a name has not been chosen as the baby is too small and its gender has not yet been determined. "We are thinking of holding a naming contest for local schools with the winning kid getting a free day for their class at Ocean World," he added.
The birth of the baby dolphin coincides with a letter with recommendations made by Patricia Forkan, president of the 9.5-million member Humane Society of the United States, which recently commended the Ministry of Environment in the Dominican Republic for its forward-thinking and progressive action in prohibiting the import of live dolphins for public display. Forkan suggested that dolphin parks should maintain their collection with captive breeding. The society is opposed to capturing dolphins in the wild, explaining that it is extremely stressful and traumatic for the dolphins and can result in deaths and social disruption.
"Your decision to ban dolphin imports has placed the Dominican Republic in a leadership role in the Caribbean," she writes. "Other nations in the Caribbean should look to your government as a shining example of responsible resource management," she writes.
See http://dr1.com/news/2006/092906_Humane.shtml
More... (http://www.dr1.com/index.html#13)