The following is from the Minnesota Zoo's Dolphin blog:
Training is really moving along with April and Allie. We have been working on many new fun and routine behaviors, and they have been rising to the occasion.
For example, we have been training April and Allie to stay with their trainer when we move a channel gate, which connects the four dolphin pools. The sights and sounds of our moving gates are new to both of them and it takes a while for new animals to get comfortable with this. April and Allie have been doing so well that we were able to close the gates to the front pools. Why is this so important? Being able to move animals between pools and separating them for various reasons is always important for animal management reasons (including veterinary procedures) but on a simply routine basis, it allows us to clean the pool. So when April and Allie “gated” successfully the other day, we took advantage of this opportunity and started to clean the pool. SCUBA diving to clean the pools is a big part of our job and something we do on an almost daily basis.
Now you may ask, "Why is this post so significant?" Well, about a week prior, Kitten and I, as we do almost every Wednesday visited the zoo. Kitten likes two things about the zoo, dolphins (which she calls dolpins) and monkeys. Mostly the dolphins. Well, Kitten was a little crabby that morning so Cub gave her this little rubber, neon orange novelty ball (about the size of a quarter). She put it in her coat pocket...now I ask you, what self-respecting two-year old uses their pockets?! We, of course, forgot about the ball and headed off to the dolphin show. We normally show up to the show quite early to get our seats, in the middle, top of the stadium. Kitten then took out the ball, I told her to put it back in her pocket and as she was putting it back in? Yep! You got it! Bounce, bounce, bounce! The ball slipped out of Kitten's hands and bounced down the stadium...now I thought all I would have to do is go to the bottom of the stadium and fetch it, of course not! It bounced and bounced and then hit a guard rail and BOUNCED! All the way into the dolphin tank. Ploink...and it sunk...all the way to the bottom of what apparently is a 20 foot tank.
Now, no one witnessed this, I could've scooped up the little leopard and left. But having attended the dolphin show numerous times, I know the trainers don't want foreign objects in the pool so I trudged on down to the zoo volunteers and told them the situation. Stressing that we did not need the ball back, it was an accident and we are so sorry! Kitten of course is sad that she has lost her ball. So we return to our seats and happily wait for the show...until. A couple of minutes later the trainers come running out, shouting to clear the stadium, get the dolphins into the back pools! Everyone out! Oh, goodness what has my little leopard done?! Now is the time to make a quick exit. Kitten is sad that she has now lost her ball and the dolphin show has been shut down. As we were exiting we saw the SCUBA diver go in.
The next post in the dolphin blog is the above. Coincidence? I wish!
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