Dolphins at UWS living in terrible conditions, says experts

AsiaOne 1 Nov 14;

SINGAPORE - Poor water quality, run-down infrastructure, extended contact with humans - these were the main criticisms two visiting marine experts had on Sentosa's Underwater World Singapore (UWS), where a pink dolphin was recently discovered to be suffering from skin cancer.

Naomi Rose, marine mammal scientist at the Animal Welfare Institute said this was one of the worst facilities she had ever seen for water quality.

"The tank was full of algae and chipped paint, and the water quality was simply below standards," she said in an interview with SPH Razor, adding that while she did not want to attribute the poor water quality as causing the dolphin's skin condition, the poor water quality certainly would not assist it in healing.

"The bad water quality is much worse because they have got a dolphin with a skin condition," she said, stressing that UWS has an extra responsibility to improve the water quality because of the dolphin.

Former Sea World Orlando Florida trainer Samantha Berg noted that the dolphins were subjected to ultraviolet radiation all-day long because of the small amount of shade structure, which would also affect their skin.
Rose highlighted two main problems with the dolphin tank at UWS.

"First, the actual infrastructure is deteriorated, and there is rust and chipped paint which is extremely dangerous for the dolphins. It means that the paint has been chipping off into the water, which is something that requires the dolphins to be moved temporarily while the tank is completely drained and resurfaced," Rose said.

Berg felt that there was not anything that was salvageable from the pool's condition.

Rose said the second problem is the algae growth, which is indicative of potentially high faecal coliform, and that the water was not being kept clean enough.

"That is something UWS can deal with in the short term. Sometimes, all you have to do is manually scrub the walls and get rid of all the algae," she explained.

Berg also raised the question of why the filtration system was not taking out the faecal matter. "Are they not chlorinating it? Is it not chemically balanced? This is a situation that has to be addressed," she said.

"I'm not saying you need sterile conditions, as these animals do live out in the ocean, but you do need clean conditions, and that water is not clean," Rose added.

According to Berg, UWS needs to get in an expert on water quality who can evaluate what's going on with the water quality at the very least.

Berg and Rose were also surprised at the public being allowed to take photographs with the dolphins after the show.

"That dolphin was beached on a shallow ledge for as long as it took all the people to get their photographs taken, and it is very stressful for the dolphins to have gravity acting on them for that length of time," Rose said, while Berg added that she did not think it was appropriate for the animals to be subjected to that.

Rose also added that there was very little supervision of the public as they were standing around a very low barrier.

"This is not just an issue of the dolphins' welfare, but also a public safety issue, and it is something that can be addressed in the short term," she said.

She added that the global industry of dolphinariums have standards, but the enclosure at UWS does not meet those standards.

"There are ways to fix it, some of which are long term and some are short term, and it would be nice if the management was willing to meet to discuss them," she said.

Nevertheless, the two experts concurred in feeling that the dolphin show itself was better than most.

"It was low key and there was a great deal of educational information, relatively limited as to what they do in the wild, but it was informative," Rose said, adding that most shows were total entertainment with a lot of loud music.

Berg added that what they had observed in this brief period is the same problem that all marine parks and aquariums face, which is the inability to meet the social and spatial needs of the animals.