Brookfield Zoo's Dolphin Effort Criticized

BROOKFIELD, IL — An animal protection group is protesting a federal decision to allow three bottlenose dolphins to go to Brookfield Zoo and then to Coral World in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Coral World, the group says, is in a polluted body of water. Zoo officials, meanwhile, defended the decision.

Recently, the National Marine Fisheries Service approved a permit for the Chicago Zoological Society, which runs the Brookfield Zoo for the Cook County Forest Preserve District, to import the three dolphins for display at Brookfield and Coral World, according to the Animal Welfare Institute.

Naomi Rose, a marine mammal scientist for the Washington-based institute, said she was disappointed in the federal agency's decision to approve the transfers. She said she suspected the dolphins would be at Brookfield for a brief time before going to Coral World.

"These three dolphins are captive-born, but have spent their lives outdoors," Rose said in a news release Tuesday. "If they are moved to a concrete tank at the Brookfield Zoo, it will be a stressful transition. As for Coral World, a sea pen for dolphins should never have been built in such a polluted body of water."

In a statement Wednesday, the Chicago Zoological Society said it works with Coral World and other members of the North American Dolphin Consortium to maintain a sustainable population of dolphins in managed care. The society said it received a permit to move two of its bottlenose dolphins as a result of a breeding loan from a Bermuda facility.

Coral World has undergone and passed inspection by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service and the dolphin consortium, according to the society's statement. The facility also has surpassed all known regulated environmental conditions and maintained maximum safety standards set by the federal government, the society said.

"Our commitment to welfare standards for all of our animals, regardless of where they are, will always remain at the highest levels," the statement said.