I
previously visited Misaki Park in 2014.
My contemporary impressions of the park can be read at Misaki Park (July 26, 2014).
On
that previous visit, I did not have time to watch the dolphin show, so this
time I made viewing the show a priority.
Recently in many western countries, the issue of keeping cetaceans in
captivity has grown into a very heated debate.
In April 2015, the World Association of Zoos and Aquariums (WAZA)
temporarily suspended the membership of the Japanese Association of Zoos and
Aquariums (JAZA) over a controversy related to the drive fishery method used at
Taiji village in Wakayama Prefecture to collect wild dolphins for sale to
aquariums. (WAZA reinstated JAZA’s membership
after JAZA’s member zoos and aquariums voted to refrain from buying dolphins
caught in drive fisheries.) At the time
of this post, Misaki Park is listed as a member on the JAZA homepage, so I assume
that Misaki Park does not acquire dolphins from Taiji.
The
below two photographs of the exterior of the dolphin show venue, “Shiny Stadium”,
were taken on my previous visit.
Penguin
exhibit
This
photo of the Humboldt penguins was taken on my more recent visit.
Admission
to the dolphin show cost 500 yen. This
is in addition to the 1350 yen it cost to enter Misaki Park. The dolphin show venue
included a main performance pool in front and two smaller pools in the rear.
The
main performance pool appeared to be somewhere between 20 to 25 meters wide,
about 15 meters from front to back, and about 4 meters deep. The two holding pools appeared to be about 5 to
8 meters wide. There might have been other pools somewhere on the property, but
I could not see any.
I
counted 7 trainers working with 6 dolphins.
Since it was a very cold winter day, there were few visitors in the park
overall, and there were only 32 visitors in attendance at this performance.
The
dolphins used were Bottlenosed dolphins and Pacific white-sided dolphins. They performed tricks such as fetching balls,
twirling hoops on their snouts, and jumping.
The performance was not as choreographed and impressive as the dolphin
show at Wakayama Adventure World, and unlike at Adventure World, the trainers
here did not dive into the pool with the animals. (See Wakayama Advenure World, February 15, 2018).
Whenever
I observe these dolphin shows, I marvel at the intelligence of the animals and
the dedication of their trainers. But,
at the same time, I think a lot about the debate over keeping dolphins in
captivity. I do not know enough about cetaceans to judge whether a certain pool is large enough for the dolphins to thrive in captivity
(and some aquarium critics say that no pool can be large enough), but after
having observed wild Bottlenose dolphins swimming in the ocean off of Kumamoto
Prefecture, (see Dolphin Watching in Amakusa, March 25, 2016) these pools
somehow seem very small.
(Note: All photos taken in
this post were taken during visits on July 21, 2014 and February 13, 2018. The comments in this post are based on
observations made during the latter visit.
Conditions may have since changed. Please check it out for yourself.)
