Whales and Dolphins in the U.K

sealion said:
Other than at brighton, flamingoland, knowsley, blair drummond, whipsnade and woburn, do any of the dolphin/whale pools still exist? (has woburn changed their pool since the dolphins?)
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Woburn has built an outside sea lion pool behind the original dolphinarium building but the dolphin pool in the building remain much the same, likewise with Knowsley and Blair Drummond.

The pool at Clacton remains on the pier albeit modified.

Parts of the pool for the old London Dolphinarium still exist in the basement of 65 Oxford Street apparently. And the large perplex tank at the Royalty Theatre still exists under the stage.

Morecombe Marineland was demolished. Not sure what remains at Windsor now Legoland.

Most of the other pools are now gone due to their rather temporary construction.
 
John Dineley said:
Woburn has built an outside sea lion pool behind the original dolphinarium building but the dolphin pool in the building remain much the same, likewise with Knowsley and Blair Drummond.

The pool at Clacton remains on the pier albeit modified.

Parts of the pool for the old London Dolphinarium still exist in the basement of 65 Oxford Street apparently. And the large perplex tank at the Royalty Theatre still exists under the stage.

Morecombe Marineland was demolished. Not sure what remains at Windsor now Legoland.

Most of the other pools are now gone due to their rather temporary construction.
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Ah ok, I read somewhere that the pool from the Rhyl dolphinarium is under the floor of the snooker/sports bar (The History of Defunct Marine Mammal Parks - Welsh Dolphinaria)

Also, weymouth had a dolphinarium, and now have a sealife centre-is this at the same sight light at brighton?

It is so annoying that there is nothing about brean down/sandown!
 
sealion said:
Ah ok, I read somewhere that the pool from the Rhyl dolphinarium is under the floor of the snooker/sports bar (The History of Defunct Marine Mammal Parks - Welsh Dolphinaria)

Also, weymouth had a dolphinarium, and now have a sealife centre-is this at the same sight light at brighton?

It is so annoying that there is nothing about brean down/sandown!
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Yes I don't doubt the story regarding Rhyl as boarding over the pool would be a cheaper option than filling it in - likewise with Porthcawl as the building may still exist on the fun fair site; both these pools where the same design as Knowsley and Woburn. Weymouth was a temporary pool not unlike the one we had at Skegness so I doubt if it is still there likewise Brean Down - which only lasted one season. Sandown was the old swimming pool at the Blue Lagoon. I have photo somewhere which I will scan and put on the web.
 
sealion said:
ah, how do you find all of this!? EDIT: I just read your previous post!
I wonder what remains there, time for some google earth, but i'm pretty sure it will be completely demolished due to it's prime tourist position!

EDIT: there's a new build on the site, looks to be flats or shops.
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I just have stuff I kept over the years. Sadly a lot of photos etc have got lost as I moved around. The Sandown Dolphinarium was owned by a guy called Ted Cowell, he was also involved in the Brean Down Dolphinarium. Most of the animals he had were not his but owned by an American called Charlie Riggs who had a seapen facilities on the Florida Keys. I worked for him in the mid-1970s with two of his dolphins at Cleethropes Zoo. Riggs had 4 of his animals in the UK for a year until they returned safely to the US. He also supplied the dolphins for the film "Day of the Dolphin".

[ame=http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Day_of_the_Dolphin]The Day of the Dolphin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]
 
John Dineley said:
I just have stuff I kept over the years. Sadly a lot of photos etc have got lost as I moved around. The Sandown Dolphinarium was owned by a guy called Ted Cowell, he was also involved in the Brean Down Dolphinarium. Most of the animals he had were not his but owned by an American called Charlie Riggs who had a seapen facilities on the Florida Keys. I worked for him in the mid-1970s with two of his dolphins at Cleethropes Zoo. Riggs had 4 of his animals in the UK for a year until they returned safely to the US. He also supplied the dolphins for the film "Day of the Dolphin".

The Day of the Dolphin - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Oh right, thanks. That's a shame about the photos and things. Were the Brean Down dolphins in a temporary pool?
 
sealion said:
Oh right, thanks. That's a shame about the photos and things. Were the Brean Down dolphins in a temporary pool?
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I never saw it. I was at Cleethropes that season while Charlie had his other two animals at Bream Down. By all accounts it was a round breeze block in the ground tank with a plastic liner.
 
John Dineley said:
I never saw it. I was at Cleethropes that season while Charlie had his other two animals at Bream Down. By all accounts it was a round breeze block in the ground tank with a plastic liner.
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ah, I see. not very permanent then. Are Flamingoland/Brighton the last place to still be using their dolphin pool? Dudley have had some improvements done haven't they? (Brighton have as well to put in the tunnel, but it's still the original pool).

Does anyone know what's going to happen to the clacton pier pools? The sealife centre there don't use them do they?
 
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(I've reposted this because I didn't think anyone would realise I had written more if I just edited the above post-it won't let me edit it again.)

Does anyone know what's going to happen to the clacton pier pools? The sealife centre there don't use them do they?
 
sealion said:
(I've reposted this because I didn't think anyone would realise I had written more if I just edited the above post-it won't let me edit it again.)

Does anyone know what's going to happen to the clacton pier pools? The sealife centre there don't use them do they?
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is there a sealife centre on the pier?
What happened to the sea lion show on the pier?
 
Does anyone know if windsor ever kept a pilot whale? I recall reading somewhere that they housed one briefly between killer whales
 
I vaguely, and I stress it is vague, hearing that another sort of while (can't confirm if it was a pilot whale) was kept at Clacton because it had got into stress and came quite far insure. I'll do some research!
 
John Dineley said:
I never saw it. I was at Cleethropes that season while Charlie had his other two animals at Bream Down. By all accounts it was a round breeze block in the ground tank with a plastic liner.
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Then it's no wonder animal rights groups in the UK have so much ammo when it comes to keeping Dolphins within the UK when kept under these sorts of conditions, If collections ever want to see them again they will have to build a first class exhibit for them like they have in the USA so that means spending some money and not trying to do it on the cheap as many have done before ;)
 
Pilot Whale etal

MARK said:
Then it's no wonder animal rights groups in the UK have so much ammo when it comes to keeping Dolphins within the UK when kept under these sorts of conditions, If collections ever want to see them again they will have to build a first class exhibit for them like they have in the USA so that means spending some money and not trying to do it on the cheap as many have done before ;)
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Well one should look at the context of the time this occurred the pool at Brean Down was constructed in 1974. Zoo Licensing didn't exist in law until 1984. Moreover the Klinowska report created new regulations for cetacean keeping that had to be implemented by 1993. None of the remain UK dolphinaria complied with the new pool sizes – primarily on depth; pools having to be around 24 feet deep. Only Morecambe came anywhere near this with it’s main pool being 18 feet deep. Ironic really as it was the first purpose built dolphin facility in the UK in 1964.

Morecombe Marineland. Europes First Oceanarium

The SeaQuarium at Clacton is not a SeaLife Centre owned by Merlin. It runs along the side of the old swimming/dolphin pool. There are photos of it here:

http://www.zoochat.com/722/seaquarium-clacton-pier-121523/

Some picture of the remains of the dolphinarium here:

The Clacton Pier Dolphinarium

As for pilot whales. Flamingoland (aka Flamingo Park) did have plans to capture animals in the Faeroe Isle where there was a drive fisheries. They did bring one animal back to Flamingoland called Winnie in August 1966. It was housed in the old original dolphin pool which is now the reptile house before the building if the existing dolphinarium which now houses sea lions. There is some news footage somewhere on Pathe News web site but I can not find it. Some photos here:

Pilot Whale - Flamingo Park Zoo - 1966

The person feeding the whale is Francis Rendell who was Head Trainer at Flamingo Park in it's early days.
 
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I have vague memories of the Dolphinarium in the Funfair at Porthcawl , South Wales . It think it was a small circular raised pool . I notice there is a reference to it on the Closed Dolphinaria web-site .
 
John Dineley said:
The SeaQuarium at Clacton is not a SeaLife Centre owned by Merlin. It runs along the side of the old swimming/dolphin pool. There are photos of it here:

http://www.zoochat.com/722/seaquarium-clacton-pier-121523/

Some picture of the remains of the dolphinarium here:

The Clacton Pier Dolphinarium
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So it is just being left. I'm surprised the pier owners/local council haven't ordered it's removal. I guess it would cost them too much. There must be something nice that could be done with it.
 
Just managed to dig out this book where i read about the pilot whale.

Quote from Anthony Smith 'Animals on View'

"Quite the most sensational offering was the killer whale which, when aged 10 ate 175 lbs of fish a day, weighed three and a half tons and put on virtuoso display of power , speed, agility and (belying all those stories of a killers unfailing ferocity) friendliness.

Alas, but Ramu was getting too big for the pool when still only half grown-a big bull can reach 6 or 7 tons. Therefore this superb animal was sold to California making the journey by air and slung in a special strecher.

A pilot whale is ramus replacement and will live with the dolphins in the windsor dolphinarium"

Not sure if the pilot whale ever reached windsor? The way they say "will live with the dolphins" indicates it may have just been planned?
 
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