7 min read Fifth Animal Dies At SeaWorld In 8 Months

Yet another marine mammal has died at SeaWorld. The entertainment park announced on Saturday that Dart, a 12-year-old Pacific white-sided dolphin, had passed away at SeaWorld San Antonio. He was the fifth known marine mammal to pass away at a SeaWorld park in the past eight months. While the cause of Dart's death is not yet known, SeaWorld said he had been under veterinary care for "health-related issues." Pacific white-sided dolphins usually live to be roughly 36 to 40 years old.

A Pacific white-sided dolphin performs at SeaWorld San Antonio. | Flickr/Nan Palmero

SeaWorld also said that one of Dart's companions, Betty, a 37-year-old wild-caught Pacific white-sided dolphin and the oldest of the park, was under "24-hour veterinary care for indications of inflammation or a possible infection." SeaWorld's treatment of its dolphins has previously come under scrutiny. Back in August, Dr. Heather Rally, a marine mammal veterinarian who works with PETA, witnessed what looked like infectious lesions on the back of SeaWorld Orlando's bottlenose dolphins, who are kept in an area where visitors can pet and interact with them.

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"They were consistent with an infectious origin ... they weren't normal," she said at the time. "Not only are these dolphins likely to be stressed and therefore immunocompromised, they're also being exposed to a much larger amount of bacteria [than wild dolphins are] because they're being exposed to people who haven't washed their hands." The Pacific white-sided dolphins appear to live at Beluga Stadium, where they perform in the Azul animal show with the belugas and a number of captive exotic birds, and do not appear to have direct contact with the public. However, the public is able to swim with the belugas and share "touch, hugs and kisses" with them. Of course, captivity in general can lower animals' resistance to infections and other diseases - and Dart is just the latest in a string of deaths at SeaWorld. He is at least the fourth marine mammal to die at the San Antonio location since July, though the park said "there are no apparent connections between these deaths."

Pacific white-sided dolphins in the wild. | Shutterstock