West Edmonton Mall Dolphinarium Video
- Thread starter Cat-Man
- Start date
In 1985 four wild-caught dolphins were placed in the pool at West Edmonton Mall, at that time the largest shopping center on the planet. Over the years five calves were born but they all came out either stillborn or died shortly afterwards. I think that it was 2004 when the last dolphin was shipped off to a different aquarium and for the past decade the gigantic mall has had sea lions. The tank was atrociously small for dolphins but for pinnipeds it is certainly larger than numerous other examples at other establishments.
Thanks for your opinions, I'm often guilty of misjudging the size of the species! Is the view in this video the entire pool? You are correct, it was 2004/05 when the lazy dolphin was moved to the Florida Keyes.
Interesting question - do you think that dolphins could ever be successfully kept in a mall environment providing the pool was big enough etc?
Interesting question - do you think that dolphins could ever be successfully kept in a mall environment providing the pool was big enough etc?
The video can no longer be viewed on ZooChat but I did see it initially on Youtube and the footage essentially shows the entire pool. The sea lion show that has been part of the mall for the past decade is nothing too exciting, but the "kissing" part always makes me cringe because pinnipeds have large teeth and it seems like an unnecessary risk. Having said that I've never heard of any bites to visitors and I'm not sure if there are still photo opportunities to "kiss" sea lions but there were as of a few years ago. I've been leaning towards the notion that cetaceans in general do not belong in captivity (except for rescued animals) and so dolphins in an overwhelmingly crowded shopping mall is a recipe for disaster.
I spent the first 10 years of my life in Edmonton (1975-85) and I can remember seeing baby tigers and black bears in all-glass enclosures within the shopping mall, as well as flamingos and lots of macaws in basic metal cages.
30 years ago near Sydney there was a bulluens lion safari park that had a dolphin pool smaller than this with 4 dolphins. When l as there late 80's they were trying to get a permit to bring in another female. Not really sure how much longer it stayed open but l don't think it was long.
The Dolphin complex at West Edmonton Mall was actually slightly more expansive than meets the eye! Along with the main pool, there were two other pools to the complex. A smaller off exhibit one that would be drained for medical reasons, and a second pool, larger than the medical pool but smaller than the show pool, that allowed for underwater viewing of the dolphins.
Perhaps a bit sadly,however, the dolphins seemed to give a large preference to being in the medical pool or show pool, as I can recall perhaps one time when I saw a dolphin in the underwater viewing pool, over the many times I visited while they were there (the attraction has gotten rather worse over the years, and I visit rarely now)
The facility itself wasn't actually half bad for the time when it was constructed, being ~25-30 feet wide, ~40-50 feet long, and I can't recall where I heard it but I believe the pool is about 17 feet deep, and personal observations from going on the submarine ride solidify that. It still currently falls under the legal size requirements requirements for housing bottlenose dolphins in Alberta, and actually surpassed them somewhat! The size of the habitat was was hardly the undoing of the animals, but rather the management of the animals. If they had used proper barriers to ensure that it would be more difficult to throw things into the pool, and used different water treatment protocols, I would not be surprised to see they still house dolphins today. The calf survivability could have probably been helped by better water management as well, however sometimes despite the absolute best of care they still sometimes fail to thrive.
The mall still does do Sea Lion kisses (and a swim with the Sea Lions program that just opened up a few years ago), however in the past 5-7 years, the mall has severely cut down on anything that really made it noteworthy. Although there are still the large attractions, many of the themed areas have been drastically scaled down, or removed all together, and now the mall is distinctly losing what once made it special. It now feels like visiting any other bland mall (aside from ridiculous crowds and more walking), as opposed to an adventure, like it used to. Quite sad, really.
Perhaps a bit sadly,however, the dolphins seemed to give a large preference to being in the medical pool or show pool, as I can recall perhaps one time when I saw a dolphin in the underwater viewing pool, over the many times I visited while they were there (the attraction has gotten rather worse over the years, and I visit rarely now)
The facility itself wasn't actually half bad for the time when it was constructed, being ~25-30 feet wide, ~40-50 feet long, and I can't recall where I heard it but I believe the pool is about 17 feet deep, and personal observations from going on the submarine ride solidify that. It still currently falls under the legal size requirements requirements for housing bottlenose dolphins in Alberta, and actually surpassed them somewhat! The size of the habitat was was hardly the undoing of the animals, but rather the management of the animals. If they had used proper barriers to ensure that it would be more difficult to throw things into the pool, and used different water treatment protocols, I would not be surprised to see they still house dolphins today. The calf survivability could have probably been helped by better water management as well, however sometimes despite the absolute best of care they still sometimes fail to thrive.
The mall still does do Sea Lion kisses (and a swim with the Sea Lions program that just opened up a few years ago), however in the past 5-7 years, the mall has severely cut down on anything that really made it noteworthy. Although there are still the large attractions, many of the themed areas have been drastically scaled down, or removed all together, and now the mall is distinctly losing what once made it special. It now feels like visiting any other bland mall (aside from ridiculous crowds and more walking), as opposed to an adventure, like it used to. Quite sad, really.
I'm sorry the video has been moved everybody. If you google 'West Edmonton Mall Dolphinarium' the video pops up at once.
Thanks for all your opinions and thoughts guys. I'm personally glad they're no longer at the mall. I am sorry to hear about the Mall losing it's 'special touch' but I have to say that it's possibly a bit far saying it is just like any other mall - I have never seen a mall with an indoor water park before
Thanks for all your opinions and thoughts guys. I'm personally glad they're no longer at the mall. I am sorry to hear about the Mall losing it's 'special touch' but I have to say that it's possibly a bit far saying it is just like any other mall - I have never seen a mall with an indoor water park before