It is a struggle to keep Dolphin Pacific’s dolphins fed regularly considering low budget and unavailable supplies but employees there try their best to ensure regular feedings and proper attention. It is a labor of love for dolphins’ caretakers.
Unlike other animals in care they are not fed once, they are fed all day. The Dolphins are kept active by the staff all throughout the day to keep up their mental and physical stimulation according to their head Trainor Asuka Ago.
Their diet consists of mackerel, sardines, and pike mackerel, which the staff orders monthly and may cost up to $10,000 a month.
Dolphins Pacific announced awhile back that they are running low on soda fish and terekrik (a type of mackerel). All of the dolphins consume at least 10 kilograms of fish per meal and twice a day, except the baby dolphin Macky who only consumes 1.1 kilogram per meal twice a day.
According to Nana and Asuka, dolphin trainers on shift yesterday, they would have dilemmas where they would not receive shipment and have to resort to buying from the store or local market.
Buying from local market or the store has two problems, they said. It is costly and the fish proportion is too big.
“I had bought 62lbs of fish from Happy Landing last week and it costs over two hundred dollars just for that one type of fish.” Said Asuka, the dolphin trainer.
“The fish we buy here would be red snapper, rabbit fish, and milk fish. The fish would be too big for the dolphin to swallow, so we would have to cut them ourselves and it is time consuming since there are only two of us each day and at most three which is only on weekends when our programs are open due to Covid.” said Nana.
Although local fish is not bad, imported fish is much safer for them because the fresh ones can have parasites in them.
Since the pandemic began, Dolphins Pacific have had little to no source of income for making purchases. They were able to get some grants from the government and donations from private individuals but it is a continuing struggle as they are understaffed and under paid. To the trainers, it is a labor of love. The trainers get paid little over $200 monthly for their basic needs and while they prioritize feed and care of the animals.
There are 5 staff members who rotate their shift every week. The staff work by interacting with dolphins and giving them treats, having them do tricks and drills. Each staff member has their own special skill when they interact with the dolphins. So, one staff would tell the dolphin to lie on their back to take their temperature on their rear end and another staff would do physical body exams for new scratches or minor wounds.
They prepare meals as soon as they arrive at the site every morning at 8am and at times one person can be cutting 20 fish that they buy locally and cut themselves. They always rush because the longer they take to prepare the longer it takes for the dolphins to begin their meals because training involves meals.
Dolphins Pacific began in 2001 originally having 11 dolphins in their care and today in 2021 they have 6. The older dolphins are rescue dolphins taken from run-ins with commercial fishing vessels. The 6 dolphins consist of 4 females and 2 male dolphins. The names of these dolphins are J, Layla, Roxy, Momiroi, Kei and Macky. Layla, J and Roxy are the oldest ones being 22 years old. Roxy and J are the parents of Macky, the youngest of them all. The dolphins are part of educational tour to Dolphin Bay but they were especially trained to work with children and people with disabilities.
Dolphins Pacific is a non-profit organization and would welcome contributions toward keeping these beautiful animals fed and safe.
Feeding dolphins, a struggle during a pandemic: Dolphins Pacific
