The news of a dolphin born on the 9th of February to mom, Khethiwe, at Durban’s uShaka Sea World first broke on the 17th of February. On the 18th of February, the calf was reportedly “doing very well”. uShaka went on to say via their Facebook page that “uShaka Sea World staff are monitoring our new arrival around the clock, but are confident that "Baby" will grow to be a fit and healthy dolphin.” However, the very next day, uShaka spokesperson, Ann Kunz, broke the news that Baby died on the night of the 18th. Less than 12 hours after the calf, according to uShaka, was confidently “fit and healthy”.
It’s not uncommon for dolphin calves to die within their first few weeks. There are many contributing factors. Most agree that such factors are exacerbated when calves are born in captivity. Some suggest that it is estimated that less than 20% of those born in captivity reach maturity.
Newborn calves must swim continually to stay afloat as their tails are soft and often take weeks to become rigid enough for efficient swimming. Mothers will progressively take the calf longer and deeper underwater so as to increase the calf’s lung capacity. For calves born in captivity, cramped in a small and shallow tank, this mother–calf interaction, vital for its survival, is severely hindered.
Many may die from infection caused by a weak immune system. Antibodies from the mother need to build up and stabilise the calf’s immunity. Calves are particularly prone to develop a wound infection as every scratch on their delicate skin is potentially lethal until their immune system develops. It has been observed that mothers in captivity will attempt to guide the calf away from the walls of their concrete tanks to avoid such injuries.
Gabrielle Harris, head trainer at uShaka Sea World, reports in an in-house bulletin (Bulletin #22 of 1995-1996) that: “When a dolphin calf is born, its senses and swimming skills are not fully developed. It relies on its mother to find its bearings. Scientists have even postulated that the whiskers that the young calves have for the first few years of their lives are nature’s way of helping the youngster find its mother’s slipstream. It must be very difficult for a mammal to give birth in the ocean. In a dolphinarium, these problems are compacted because of the fact that the animals have to negotiate walls in their pools. Bearing this in mind, it is important to remember that the new calf’s immunity has not developed until it has suckled successfully. Therefore, any injury incurred has the possibility of becoming septic and killing the youngster. Cases such as this have been extensively reported.”
uShaka’s answer to this? A “maternity pool” – which is essentially a net fitted into a pool. Yet, despite such precautionary measures, captive-born babies are still dying far more often that their wild counterparts. According to another uShaka Sea World bulletin (Bulletin #29 of 2002-2003), “Frodo, our fecund bottlenose dolphin, gave birth to her eighth calf. She was cared for in the maternity pool, together with three dolphin “midwives”. Initially, all appeared fine but after day nine it became apparent that Frodo had rejected the calf and elected to end its life.” A post mortem confirmed “death by trauma”.
Perhaps the biggest mystery surrounding the birth of Baby is her paternity. Out of the 11 dolphins held at Durban’s Sea World, 8 were born at the facility – all being the offspring of either Gambit (male), Kelpie (male), and Frodo (female). Gambit is grandfather and Frodo grandmother to Khethiwe’s calf. The only male not related to Khethiwe is Kelpie; and therefore is the only male suitable for breeding with Khethiwe. Kelpie is 30 years old and has only successfully sired one female twenty years ago. What this means is that, as the father of Baby remains reportedly unknown, with 5 possible sires, there’s a four-out-of-five chance that Khethiwe’s calf was the product of inbreeding.
An undisclosed source has since confirmed that, despite contradictory statements to media, Sea World staff knew that Gambit sired Baby, meaning that Gambit was both father and grandfather to the calf. This in violation of internationally accepted captive breeding guidelines and ethics. WAZA (World Association of Zoos and Aquariums) stipulates to its members that the primary goal of captive breeding is retention of genetic diversity in the captive population.
uShaka Sea World's Gavin Drysdale stated during an interview with East Coast Radio on 17thFebruary that Baby’s paternity was a mystery. When pressed during a follow-up interview with East Coast Radio on 20th February, two days after Baby’s death and following wide-spread public criticism, Gavin Drysdale said: "Our scientists and biologists are totally assured that there are no inbreeding issues here. We do manage the population well and we fully understand how the dolphin pods work [and] how their reproduction happens in the wild.”
Despite his total assurance and understanding of a dolphin’s reproduction, he would not name the father of the baby, or state whether a DNA test had been conducted and concluded in the three days since his first interview to confirm that Baby was not the product of inbreeding.
Alarmed by uShaka’s dwindling gene pool, local NGO “POD SA” enquired from Judy Mann, head of SAAMBR, back in February of 2013, the nature of uShaka’s breeding programme. Judy Mann ignored repeated requests to provide any information of the sort.
When asked to comment on the birth and death of Baby, Norma Patrick of “POD SA” said: “We, at POD South Africa, find it disturbing that a facility operating on public funding refuses to answer basic questions regarding the animals in its care. We particularly found it disturbing that uShaka did not announce that Khethiwe was expecting, leading us to believe that they have experienced miscarriages or still births in the past. It is also alarming that they did not announce the birth of the baby dolphin until a week later. One would assume from this action that they have had deaths of newborns. As there is a large international interest in dolphins in captivity, it is of concern that a “scientific” centre chooses to hide evidence from the world. A facility with nothing to hide would be open and amenable to the sharing of information.”
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| RIP Baby |
Soon after uShaka Sea World went public with the news of the birth of Baby, social media were abuzz with many South Africans expressing their concerns regarding the unknown paternity of the calf. Many went on to question the ethics of breeding in captivity for entertainment purposes. Instead of uShaka Sea World responding to these concerns and reassuring the public, any comment considered at all challenging was immediately deleted and the author of the post blocked from further commenting on any of uShaka Sea World’s future posts. We feel it is inherently dishonest to remove posts that are expressing a sincere concern regarding the animals in its care. In effect, it gives a distorted and corrupted view to members of the public, shareholders, and international tourists that the South African public unquestionably supports not only its often questionable operations, but also approve of keeping and breeding dolphins in captivity, even if it is through inbreeding. It amounts to censorship and restriction of freedom of speech.
Update:
After Ocean Watch SA raised concerns regarding the circumstances surrounding the birth and death of Baby, in a letter dated 28 February addressed to PAAZAB (African Association of Zoos and Aquaria), SAAMBR Acting CEO, LK Oelllermann, stated that “Based on the gross post mortem carried out by uShaka Sea World’s resident veterinarian and the independent pathology report, we believe that the dolphin calf died of nutritional deficiency (the report cites a “negative energy balance”).” Mr Oellerman denied inbreeding depression as a contributing factor to Baby’s death, but would not elaborate on her paternity, saying only that staff “will be embarking on a full re-evaluation of [their] current dolphin management strategy as soon as possible.” When Ocean Watch SA further pressed for clarification on Baby’s paternity, our requests went unanswered.
According to a news article dated 6 March, Sea World’s Gavin Drysdale said the death of Baby was attributed to an infection which was exacerbated by “nutritional deficiency and mis-mothering”. He added that despite speculation surrounding her paternity, no genetic tests were conducted to determine Baby’s sire.
uShaka Sea World – funded by the City of Durban; its former CEO facing mounting corruption charges – once again shrugs off any and all accountability.
Written by Mia du Plessis
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