Lolita IS Dying, let's talk about it.
Russ Rector
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The Rectory
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cjloungin
Aug 5, 08 - 3:33 PM |
still miss Daphne
Northwest Florida Aquarium Investigates Dolphin Deaths Daphne, a female pantropical spotted dolphin, died at Florida's Gulfarium on ... Veterinarian Forrest Townsend says Daphne died of liver disease and related ... www.wjhg.com/news/headlines/7279211.html - When these animals die because trainer don't have the time to take full care of them, double check records and stay in contact with vets who is to blame? And where is the justice? This animal died of an overdose and it means alot to me that she is not forgotten. Daphne was one of the greatest animals I have ever known. She had so much personality. You really had to earn her trust and respect. If you weren't careful she would quickly take things over. Before I worked with her, I would watch her. She would be asked to do a behavior (trick) and she would hurriedly do what was asked. Then she would fly over to the trainer for her reward. If she did not get it fast enough she would position herself vertical in the water and start slapping the trainers' thigh with her pec fin (front flipper). If you did something to make her mad she would fly by and smack you with that pec fin too. She was a mess. Once I started working with her I really began to appreciate her personality. She was so tough acting but would get scared by the smallest thing. If you got in to swim with her with food she would stay right with you. If you got in without food, you go a fifty, fifty shot. Get a toe bit or get to touch her. Once she began to trust me, I found that she liked to play. She loved to play touch me if you can. She would come up right out of reach and wait for you to reach out for her. Then she would do several fast circles around and then dart off a few feet. There she would stop to look back and make sure that you were still trying to get her. Daphne would let you catch up a little and then she would do this little wiggle of excitement and take off. She liked it when her food bucket was taken underwater to feed her. If you let her food start floating out of the bucket, she would get aggravated and star t shaking her head at you while making short high pitched sounds. It was obvious that she was fussing. I always though that was so funny. I would some times do laps in that pool with my flippers one. I had good flippers and moved petty fast. Daphne would either ride the small wake that I was making or she would zig zag in front of me the whole way down. Once she really began to trust me, we really had some fun. She loved to be spun in circles. She would lay on her side horizontally in a U shape. I would hold her pec fins and spin her as fast as I could. She would keep every muscle in her body tight and streamline, and every now and then she would throw in a little help from her tail. She loved the speed. When I had extra time and sometimes on my day off I would go in and just and swim with Daphne and her pool mate Kiwi. One day while we were playing keep away, I always lost, and I thought I might jump from the side of the pool and get a little extra speed. The first time I did it, I actually touched her. She got so excited. This became a regular game for us. They began to recognize a certain posture that I would show them to symbolize that I jumping in the pool. We had a lot of fun with that game over the years. Daphne did not take well to handing over her tail. Once she would freely give it to you, she really liked for you to pull her as far out of the water as you could (by the tail) and push her as fast as you could back down into the water. Like I said, she liked speed. Sometimes I would go to the bottom of her pool and wait for her to join me and then I would push off the bottom as hard as I could and spinning a couple of times on the way up. Just at the surface of the water she would dart off and take a breath and head to the bottom wanting to do it again. Of course Kiwi liked this to so Daphne had to wait for her turn. Sometimes she would get upset and go to the shallow and sulk for a min. We also had a thing where she would be right in front of me and I would take her pec fins. I would give the three rock backs and on the third, I would push her over my head. This would send me shooting to the bottom of the pool and her shooting halfway across the pool. She was only about 5 and a half feet long and 175 pounds. When anyone goes in the pool to scrub Daphne goes crazy. She bites at the brush 900 miles an hour. If you didn't let her chew on the brush ever now and then she would start doing high pitched vocals in your ear. Some days she just wanted companionship. I could float in the shallow and she would come and lay across me. Sometimes she would just put her rostrum (mouth part) over my shoulder and we would swim very slowly around the pool. Daphne also liked to just look at you. She would role onto her side so she could hear and she would just look at you. She loved to be sung to. Sometimes I would come in and she would be in such a bad mood. I could just ask for her pec fin and look at her and say a few things to her in a very soft voice, and her whole mood would change. Daphne was defiantly one of a kind and she was so dear to my heart. I just wanted to share a few things about her. She is already greatly missed. RIP my doodle bug I will never let you be forgotten. |
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