OPINION: Dolphins do not belong in the desert

Monday, October 3, 2022 6:03 PM
  • Naomi Rose, Reno Gazette-Journal

For the second time in less than five years, a U.S. marine park in the desert is facing a string of dolphin deaths.

First, it was Dolphinaris Arizona, which shuttered in 2019 after half of its eight dolphins died. Now, Siegfried and Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat at The Mirage Hotel & Casino is grappling with its third dolphin death in less than six months — K2, who was only 11 years old.

The concept behind dolphins at a casino in Las Vegas was, from the outset, a massive error in human judgment. Dolphins are fully aquatic mammals found throughout the world’s temperate and tropical seas.