{"id":235118,"date":"2022-09-30T23:59:40","date_gmt":"2022-10-01T04:59:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=235118"},"modified":"2022-10-05T18:29:15","modified_gmt":"2022-10-05T23:29:15","slug":"mirage-las-vegas-closes-habitat-after-3rd-dolphin-death-this-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mirage-las-vegas-closes-habitat-after-3rd-dolphin-death-this-year\/","title":{"rendered":"Mirage Las Vegas Closes Habitat After 3rd Dolphin Death This Year"},"content":{"rendered":"

Following its third dolphin death this year \u2014 its second in September alone \u2014 The Mirage hotel and casino has closed Siegfried & Roy\u2019s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat until further notice. No reopening date has been set.<\/p>\n

\"Mirage
K2 is one of three bottlenose dolphins who died this year at the Mirage at under 20 years old. In the wild, bottlenoses live between 40 and 50 years. (Image: independent.co.uk)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

According to The Mirage, the dolphin \u2014 an 11-year-old bottlenose named K2 \u2014 died of a suspected respiratory illness last Saturday. The same suspected cause of death was given earlier this month for a 19-year-old bottlenose named Maverick. However, final necropsy results have not been received for either animal. In April, a 13-year-old bottleneck named Bella succumbed to gastroenteritis.<\/p>\n

K2 was very vocal, energetic, loved his toys and was a joy to be around,\u201d interim Mirage president Franz Kallao wrote in a memo to his staff. \u201cHe always made us smile.\u201d Kallao added that the closure would help \u201cfocus our efforts on ensuring that we have the safest possible environment and the best care possible for our dolphins and to give our team the time they need to process and grieve.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

During the closure, a Mirage representative told the Washington Post,<\/em> the San Diego-based National Marine Mammal Foundation will examine the venue\u2019s veterinary care, water quality, and filtration system. On April 27, the attraction passed a routine inspection by the Department of Agriculture\u2019s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, according to the Post<\/em> report.<\/p>\n

The wild animal attraction \u2013 which also houses several big cats \u2013 was last closed in March 2020 because of the pandemic shutdown.<\/p>\n

Not Much of a Habitat<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Bottlenose dolphins typically live 40 to 60 years in the wild, according to the National Marine Fisheries Service. However, the average survival time in captivity for all bottlenose dolphins who live for more than one year is 12 years, 9 months and 8 days.<\/p>\n

According to The Mirage, 14 dolphins have died from a variety of causes and at a range of ages since the attraction opened in 1990. Three were at least 25 years old, and three were youngsters. Activists, however, count 16 deaths.<\/strong><\/p>\n

According to the Mirage\u2019s website, the attraction opened with \u201ca focus on scientific research, education, and conservation outreach.\u201d Not according to Naomi Rose, a\u00a0<\/strong>marine mammal scientist with the 501 (c)(3) nonprofit animal activist group, Animal Welfare Institute.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere are no publications that I\u2019m aware of using the dolphins at The Mirage that are valuable to conservation of wildlife goals,\u201d she told\u00a0The Nevada Current<\/em>\u00a0in April, adding that the only Mirage research is in captive husbandry. \u201cIn other words, how can we keep these animals alive longer and breeding better?\u201d<\/p>\n

Hard Questions for Hard Rock\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Hard Rock International, the Florida-based company that purchased The Mirage from MGM Resorts International for $1.075 billion last year, plans to rebrand the resort, including demolishing the entire front of the property. The fate of the Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat has not been announced, though neither is expected to survive the rebranding.<\/p>\n

The fact that Hard Rock apparently hasn\u2019t given it much thought, or at least not to the point where they\u2019re willing to say something to the media, isn\u2019t promising,\u201d Rose told the Current<\/em>. Referring to the popular documentary about a killer whale held captive by San Diego\u2019s SeaWorld, she explained: \u201cThis is the post-Blackfish<\/em>\u00a0world we\u2019re living in, and if they\u2019re unaware that the zeitgeist has shifted, that\u2019s not being very savvy, business-wise.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Rose said she thought the Hard Rock should look into transferring the dolphins to a sea-pen sanctuary instead of another zoo. \u201cIf they don\u2019t think about this more carefully, they\u2019re going to end up looking bad when in fact, they really have almost nothing to do with this issue,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following its third dolphin death this year \u2014 its second in September alone \u2014 The Mirage hotel and casino has closed Siegfried & Roy\u2019s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat until further notice. No reopening date has been set. According to The Mirage, the dolphin \u2014 an 11-year-old bottlenose named K2 \u2014 died of a suspected […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":78,"featured_media":235119,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3313,82013,81886],"tags":[83025,83024,82657,81994,82376],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMirage Las Vegas Closes Habitat After 3rd Dolphin Death This Year - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Following its third dolphin death this year \u2014 its second in September alone \u2014 The Mirage hotel and casino has closed Siegfried & Roy\u2019s Secret Garden\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/mirage-las-vegas-closes-habitat-after-3rd-dolphin-death-this-year\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mirage Las Vegas Closes Habitat After 3rd Dolphin Death This Year - 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