Grace Chua Straits Times 10 Sep 10;
The main pool (above) of the new Dolphin Lagoon houses two adult females and an eight-year-old male, while another adult male, an adult female and her two-year-old calf are housed in two smaller adjacent holding pools. -- ST PHOTO: MARYANNE TAN
THE Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (SPCA) has raised concerns that the Underwater World's new Dolphin Lagoon is too small for its six dolphins.
In June, it paid a visit to the new facility next to Underwater World's premises at Sentosa's Siloso Point, and wrote to the attraction's management about the pool.
'The new pool is no longer in a 'natural' setting - instead, it is now a concrete swimming pool,' the SPCA website said.
SPCA executive officer Deirdre Moss pointed out that individual pink dolphins in the wild have a home range of 30 sq km to 400 sq km.
But Underwater World's trainers and vets noted that the wild animals swim great distances to look for food, a resource provided for in captivity.
The $10.5 million Dolphin Lagoon, completed last November, houses six endangered Indo-Pacific humpback dolphins, often called pink dolphins due to their distinctive skin colour.
It was built as a replacement for the previous Dolphin Lagoon at the other end of Sentosa on Tanjong Beach, which saw its lease expire last year.
The previous lagoon had a surface area of 1ha and held 30,000 cubic m of water, or enough water to fill 12 Olympic-size swimming pools.
Underwater World did not give the dimensions of the new pool, but said it exceeded international guidelines and safety standards. It has also been approved by the Agri-Food and Veterinary Authority (AVA).
Eight-year-old male Splash, the world's first pink dolphin to be born in captivity, and two adult female dolphins are in the main pool, while another adult male, an adult female and her two-year-old calf are housed in two smaller adjacent holding pools.
And where the old Dolphin Lagoon had shores made of natural rock, the walls of the new one are smooth and man-made.
Pool size is not everything, said Dr Frederic Chua, a veterinary consultant to Underwater World and a former curator there.
The pool design took into account factors like water quality and social interaction.
The new pool also allows vets and trainers to see the animals more clearly, as it does not have a sandy, rocky bottom and is brighter, making it easier to treat the dolphins when they get injured or ill. The old pool was also prone to algae, bacteria and jellyfish.
A National University of Singapore duo, comprising a student and a researcher, is currently studying the dolphins' behaviour in captivity to find out whether the animals act differently before and after shows, which take place three times a day.
When dolphins are stressed, they stop eating, lose weight and may swim repeatedly in circles or injure themselves.
'If new information becomes available, we will apply it and redesign the pool and activities, but it needs to be evidence-based, not emotion-based,' Dr Chua said.
AVA spokesman Goh Shih Yong said the space provided for the animals surpasses international recommendations for space, water quality and animal husbandry.
'(It) exceeds the standards set by the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service of the United States Department of Agriculture, which safeguards animal welfare in the United States, as well as the European Association for Aquatic Mammals (EAAM),' he said in an e-mail.
The EAAM standards for total space for up to five animals, including hospitalisation or isolation areas, are: a minimum water surface area of 275 sq m with a minimum depth of 3.5m, and a minimum water volume of 1,000 cubic m.
For an extra animal, there must be an extra 75 sq m of surface area and 200 cubic m of water.
The SPCA letter is not the first time local animal groups have raised concerns about dolphins in captivity.
In 2003, the Animal Concerns Research and Education Society campaigned against dolphin performances, saying they put undue stress on the animals. It also added that the previous Dolphin Lagoon was too small.