Looking back through this thread, I don't see a discussion about the USDA report from July 2022. This report made me so sick and so upset for the animals at this "zoo." The director of animal training instructed the trainers, without consultation from the (very limited) vet staff, to cut the diets of their dolphins by as much as 60% in order to get them to participate more in the interactions and swims they sell by the dozens each day. Some dolphins when from eating 12 pounds of fish each day to just 4. They were observed losing weight with bones showing, and were eating/biting forgien objects and demonstrating aggressive/abnormal behavior.
One of the main arguments that people use against cetacean captivity is "they starve the animals so they'll perform." In the civilized zoological world, that has always been such a misreprsentation of the truth without any understanding of operant conditioning. But Miami Seaquarium, in their unending quest to be as problematic and half-baked as possible, went above and beyond to make that hyperbole a reality at their park. Any respecatble facility at the very minumum feeds their animals an appropriate diet.
Beyond the direct cruelty this hands down to their individual animals, this is also a devastating show of carelessness and disrespect towards proper zoological facilities that are fighting for their social license to operate and are so desperately trying to educate the public that the animals are indeed well cared for and loved. It shows that this facility cares nothing about their own animals' welfare, the greater good of conservation, or the livlihoods of real people across dozens of facilities around the world. This is one of the most disturbing things I have read about any major facility in North America, and I'm stunned and saddened that MSQ is still American Humane and AMMPA certified. This place is far from humane.
