Revelations about the death of Aïcko, the dolphin of Planète Sauvage – One Voice calls into question the official version and the neutrality of the experts report.
Revelations about the death of Aïcko, the dolphin of Planète Sauvage – One Voice calls into question the official version and the neutrality of the experts report.
24.07.2018
Port Saint Père
Revelations about the death of Aïcko, the dolphin of Planète Sauvage – One Voice calls into question the official version and the neutrality of the experts report.
Exploitation for shows
Aïcko died on November 6th 2016 in Planète Sauvage, before reaching the age of seven and just when One Voice was alerting the public of his alarming state of health. According to the dolphinarium, the young dolphin was suffering from an unidentified illness and would have flung himself against a wall. The » impartial » expert’s report ordered by the summary judge at the request of One Voice and at its expense is strangely lenient towards the park. One Voice contests the dolphinarium’s version and the experts report and will challenge the judges again.
One Voice had requested the services of Dr. Pierre Gallego, a specialist in cetaceans. He analysed the park’s veterinary documents and Aïcko’s autopsy report. His report is damning of the dolphinarium. Comparisons:
Months of poor veterinary care:
Although incomplete and deficient, the veterinary documents still make it possible to trace the state of health and the causes of the death of Aïcko, the young dolphin of Planète Sauvage. The medical follow-up and Aïcko’s autopsy report revealed a loss of weight of the young dolphin for many weeks, which obviously did not alert anyone, even though Aïcko should have been in full growth because of his age. May 4th2016, Aïcko weighed 179kg, October 31th 2016 it had dropped to 105kg, it would represent a loss of 30kg for a human adolescent of 75kg, in a little less than 6 months! For Dr. Gallego:
«This initial weight loss had not caused any concern to the veterinary team, whereas it is one of the first signs of cetacean disease.»
The blood tests prove that he was dehydrated, chronically anaemic, and weakened by many otherdiseases. The expert judged the analyses to be consistent, referring to a 30-year-old bibliography…
Dangerous living conditions in captivity:
The daily reports from the park show that Aïcko suffered daily aggression from the older dolphins, without obviously being able to escape from them, since they all lived in the same pool, the other two pools being at the time assigned for maternity purposes. Aïcko became their whipping boy, captivity leads to this kind of behaviour. Four days before he died, in solitary confinement, he suffered and called out for help by tapping the water with his tail, between pain and despair. But stress causes a collapse in the immune system in dolphins, which makes them vulnerable to infection.
The expert, however, only admits to « discomfort » in Aïcko, but refuses to admit that he was sufficiently stressed to fall ill, which is contrary to our specialist:
«Aïcko was viciously and frequently assaulted by the other dolphins, which has probably caused a lot of chronic stress, which can reduce the immune system and render the animal more susceptible to possible infectious diseases.
»
Dr. Gallego The supreme irony, the expert considers that dolphins in captivity avoid the stresses of foraging! It is true that the life of a prisoner, when one is locked up with his aggressor, far from the protection of his parents cannot be a source of joy and fulfilment…
Revelations about the death of Aïcko, a blunder bordering on amateurism:
For Planète Sauvage, Aïcko would have deliberately thrown himself against a wall of the pool following his illness, on the odd occasion « forced-feeding » was applied but this has no link to this…
Reading the autopsy report reveals that Aïcko had his jaw broken and his larynx was dislocated, other documents show that he was forcibly fed. Whole fish were pushed into the back of the throat (instead of administering ground fish by gastric tube), he was then returned to the water as he regurgitated through his air hole! One thing is certain his airways were blocked, and he drowned.
Our veterinary surgeon adds:
«The fact that Aïcko had his larynx dislodged during a capture and that he vomited through his air vent, and was then returned to the water without remedial action is a serious professional misconduct […]. That was the cause of Aïcko’s death.»
Dr. Gallego
For the expert, the disruption of the larynx could have occurred post mortem, but he does not exclude asphyxia due to swallowing the wrong way…
Differing conclusions from our veterinarian specialist and the forensic expert:
Dr. Gallego is unequivocal:
«In summary, the medical management of the dolphin Aïcko’s is very questionable because despite clear signs of pathological processes in progress, nothing has been implemented until October 2016. There is in addition, a flagrant medical error with Aïcko being returned to the water with a serious respiratory problem, Aïcko died as a result of his handling during his last capture, and not because of any illness. Moreover, nothing was done to solve the problem of the attacks to which Aïcko was constantly exposed.»
For his part,the expert noted shortcomings in the realization of the autopsy. But did he have a choice? We had already produced the opinions of two luminaries in the middle of all this, Doctors Mazzariol and Cassart who concluded in this direction! Let us note, all the same, vis-à-vis the dolphinarium that performed an imperfect autopsy is to preserve findings that could confirm errors in the treatment of Aïcko disease…
This expert report with its confusing conclusions, has not yet been able to deny the evidence: the aggressions, the stress, the sloppy autopsy … The one who conducted this report is visibly attached to captivity and with his own conception of animal wellbeing. Preferring obsolete decrees, he did not worry about judging Aïcko’s living conditions using the most recent methods of analysis or the applicable regulations as requested by the President of the Tribunal!
One Voice will not stop there, we will continue to collect the opinions of recognized experts until a counter expert report is carried out!
Annexes
To go further:
At the time of the facts
We had visited Aïcko a few days before his death, accompanied by veterinary Doctor Naomi Rose, and filmed him. His condition shocked us. His wounded skin showed how he was the whipping boy of adult dolphins, with no chance of escaping, as he could have done. We also noticed his thinness. We then launched a petition to stop dolphinariums and then started legal proceedings against it.
Legal aspects surrounding Aïcko
We already had a complaint of abuse against Planète Sauvage (June 7th 2016). Following this visit, we filed an additional complaint for Aïcko. On his death, we launched a referral for an expert review on the conditions of this demise, which allowed us to obtain a copy of the medical records on the follow-up of Aïcko, and his autopsy report, which we were then able to have appraised.
One Voice finally obtained an injunction order ordering the expert report on January 26th 2017. The judge reiterated one of the arguments put forward by the association, in particular that it reserved the right to continue the proceedings before the courts for violation of human rights and the dignity of animals.
What was the expert’s mission?
- Go to the dolphinarium,
- Visit them in the presence of all interested parties and gather their claims;
- Determine the cause of death of the dolphin Aïcko;
- Give an opinion on the conditions of the rearing of Aïcko the dolphin in the dolphinarium facilities, in particular with regard to the applicable regulations;
- Proceed to the hearing with all available knowledge;
- Examine all the documents that the parties thought they should communicate to them and have them issue any documents they considered useful for the performance of their duties
This expert evaluation step was extended at the request of the expert twice with two requests for additional information from the expert. He reported on May 18th 2018.
Other cetaceans defended by One Voice
- Femke the dolphin kept in Parc Asterix, which has been dying since her son Ekinox was torn away from her in July 2016, Galeo …
- Inouk, one of the five French captive orcas whose flipper was torn at the beginning of the summer, but also Wikie, Moana, Keijo and Shouka.
An appointment at the Ministry for a new decree
An appointment at the Ministry of Nicolas Hulot is set for July 26th 2018 to discuss the rewriting of the decree taken by Ségolène Royal, and cancelled in 2017 for a technical detail by the State Council.
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