In contemporary times the first two purpose built aquaria for cetaceans where built in 1963 at Flamingo Park Zoo in Yorkshire and at Marineland built in the northern sea-side resort of Morecambe.
It is popularly promoted by animal-rights groups is that cetacean keeping has be banned and is illegal in the UK. This is not correct.
However by this time only three dolphinaria remained and all would have to rebuild and/or extend their existing facilities to be able to publicly display animals after 1993.
Windsor's holding company had financial problems and went into receivership in 1992. The site was acquired by Legoland Theme Parks and the animals in the park where rehoused; the dolphins going to Harderwijk Marine Mammal Park.
Brighton Aquarium's lease was sold to the Sealife Centres group in 1990 and the two dolphins and the dolphin 'Rocky' from Morecambe's Marineland became part of a dolphin release project called 'IntoThe Blue'.
Flamingoland was the last facility to house dolphins and did plan to build an extension to the existing dolphinarium to comply with the new keeping regulations but this did not come to fruition and the dolphins were moved to aquaria in Europe.
Dolphins: Kings of the Sea. A popular book sold at many dolphinariums in the 1970s. It was written by zoo vet Dr David Taylor and and Tommy Hansen the manager of Scarborough Marineland and Zoo. |