Outrage after 40-year-old dolphin chokes on fake seaweed placed in its enclosure to ‘enrich’ its environment in Swedish wildlife park

Animal rights activists have taken action after a 40-year-old dolphin was suffocated to death by fake seaweed that zookeepers had placed in the enclosure for ‘enrichment’.

An autopsy report found that Nephele, the oldest dolphin at Sweden’s Kolmården zoo, died after becoming unable to breathe due to artificial seaweed getting stuck in her throat.

Local media reported that Nephele’s death came as a surprise in mid-January. The bottlenose dolphin was completely healthy for one minute before it moved in an unusual manner and sank to the bottom of its enclosure.

Bim Boijsen, head veterinarian at Kolmården Zoo, said: “It was a quick process. When the vet arrived on the scene, she was already dead. It’s very sad. Nephele was a beloved dolphin.’

Boijsen said the artificial seaweed, which has since been removed from the enclosure, was added to provide “environmental enrichment” and “stimulate the animals.”

the artificial seaweed, which has since been removed from the enclosure, was added to provide ‘environmental enrichment’ (File image)

‘What happened is very regrettable. We are deeply saddened by Nephele’s death,” the chief zookeeper said.

According to the founder of Swedish animal rights group Animalkind, Daniel Rolke, Nephele was one of two dolphins controversially imported from Germany, and was originally named ‘Cindy’.

“In 1994, Kolmården purchased two wild-caught female dolphins named Cindy and Mandy from the Hagenback Zoo in Germany.

‘The purchase was controversial and initially the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency refused to allow their import into Sweden because bottlenose dolphins were on the CITES Appendix II list, which meant they could only be imported from the country where they were located. born or captured.

‘Cindy and Mandy, who were nine years old at the time, had been captured in Florida, United States in 1989.

‘Kolmården submitted a new application, in which they stated that they would conduct “research” into the dolphins to prevent them from being rejected again.

According to the founder of Swedish animal rights group Animalkind, Daniel Rolke, Nephele was one of two dolphins controversially imported from Germany (File image)

Kolmården Zoo, which charges just 50 kroner (£3.81) for its dolphin shows, still has 11 other dolphins in its enclosure despite promising in 2021 to close it (File image)

‘So Cindy and Mandy were imported despite strong protests, and when they arrived in Sweden, the Kolmården dolphinarium renamed them Nephele and Delphi to make people forget the connection.

‘Delphi died in 2007 at Kolmården Zoo, due to a birth. And now Nephele is gone too.”

Kolmården Zoo, which charges just 50 kroner (£3.81) for its dolphin shows, still has eleven other dolphins in its enclosure despite promising in 2021 to close it.

The zoo’s website states: ‘We knew that the dismantling of the dolphinarium could take a long time, as our top priority is to ensure that the dolphins are doing well. In the meantime, the dolphinarium is open as usual.’

According to a scientific paper published in 2022 in the Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens, “Environmental enrichment can be used to improve the welfare of dolphins in zoos and aquariums.”