Three Dolphins Die Within Six Months at Mirage Hotel, Las Vegas

By Mark J. Palmer

Three captive dolphins have died at the Mirage Hotel in the past six months, held captive in tanks behind the casino/hotel along the Las Vegas strip.

This should not surprise us, although usually dolphin facilities are a bit better at hiding the deaths of animals so the public does not notice. In all, 16 dolphins have died at the Mirage – a dolphin death every two years for the facility. The dolphins occupy three concrete tanks, where dolphins perform every few hours.

The facility has long been criticized by animal welfare experts due especially to the lack of shade on the tanks. In the wild, dolphins can and do swim at depths and do not surface as much as they have to in small, shallow concrete tanks. In the Nevada desert, they are vulnerable to sunburn and other sun damage.

Two of the recent dolphin deaths were attributed to lung ailments, while the third reportedly died from gastroenteritis. The stress and boredom suffered by dolphins in captivity appears to weaken their immune system, causing stomach problems and infections that often lead to premature deaths. In the wild, bottlenose dolphins can live to age 65.

As is typical of dolphinariums, the Mirage refused to share the health records of its dolphins with a reporter from National Geographic. This information is kept secret by all the major aquariums, such as SeaWorld, that keep marine mammals. They are hiding the basic fact from the public that dolphins and whales do poorly in captivity, as their health records would confirm.

The Mirage is in transition, being purchased by the Hard Rock Hotel chain, which plans to turn the hotel into a Hard Rock Hotel, complete with giant guitar on the façade. But the fate of the dolphins is unknown, despite efforts by the International Marine Mammal Project (IMMP) of Earth Island Institute and the Animal Welfare Institute in recommending the dolphins be transitioned to seaside sanctuaries. So far, the Hard Rock response has been non-committal on the fate of the dolphins.

Keeping dolphins in the high desert of Las Vegas always was a bad idea. A similar facility in Arizona, Dolphinaris, near Scottsdale, also experienced a die-off of its dolphins. It shut down in 2019, moving its surviving dolphins to a facility in the Caribbean, which unfortunately poses severe water quality problems.

Las Vegas does not need dolphins in small concrete pools to entertain the masses, and dolphins are not toys or circus clowns.

All cetaceans – whales and dolphins – should be protected from being captured at sea or being bred into captivity. In confinement, they suffer for years, and often die an early death. Dolphins and whales currently in captivity should be retired to seaside sanctuaries, where we can take care of them without interfering in their lives or demanding they entertain human audiences for food.

With your continued support, IMMP will continue to monitor developments at the facility and advocate for the health and well-being of the dolphins held in captivity, until the last tank is empty.

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The International Marine Mammal Project of Earth Island Institute is dedicated to ending captivity all over the world. We are seeking an end to capturing cetaceans in the wild in places like Taiji, Japan and Russia’s Sea of Okhotsk for sale to abusive entertainment facilities. We are advocating for the establishment of seaside sanctuaries to retire captive dolphins and whales that cannot be released into the ocean. Please help with a donation to our work. Thank you!