I saw a reference in the botos in captivity thread that Marineland of the Pacific in Los Angeles may have had botos in the early 1970s. I've looked for photos or information to confirm this, but have found nothing.
Does anyone here have memories of ever seeing botos there or otherwise know that they were there?
I don't have memories, but according to IUCN's red data book on cetaceans (1991),
"From about 1950 to the mid-1970s, a number of
Inia were captured live in the Manaus area of Brazil (Herald, 1967; Waterman, 1967), Leticia, Colomobia (Allen and Neill, 1957; Layne and Caldwell, 1964; Layne 1958) and in the Orinoco river (Gewalt, 1978; Trebbau, 1975) for export to aquaria in North America, Europe and Jan. Over 100 were taken in all (Collet, 1984; Brownell, 1984), with more than 70
Inia exported to the USA. Mortality rates were high during capture, transport and in captivity. Imports ceased because of the high cost, high mortality, and the restrictions imposed by USA legislation in 1972. Because careful records were not kept, rather little is known about the problems encountered. It appears that aggression contributed to the high death rate. Many animals died from wounds inflicted by other animals. Relatively isolated animals survived for the longest periods (10-19+ years)."
