Anger as 40-year-old dolphin chokes to death on fake seaweed placed in its enclosure to ‘enrich’ its environment at Swedish wildlife park

Animal rights activists are up in arms after a 40-year-old dolphin died from choking on fake seaweed that zookeepers placed in his enclosure to “get rich.”

An autopsy report found that Nephele, the oldest dolphin at Kolmården Zoo in Sweden, died after he could not breathe due to artificial algae getting stuck in his throat.

Local media reported that Nephele’s death in mid-January came as a surprise. The bottlenose dolphin was perfectly healthy for a minute before moving unusually and sinking to the bottom of its enclosure.

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

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

‘What happened is very unfortunate. “We are deeply saddened by Nephele’s death,” the zookeeper’s head 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 the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency initially refused to allow their importation into Sweden, as bottlenose dolphins were listed on CITES Appendix II, which meant they could only be imported from the country where were you. 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” on the dolphins to avoid receiving another rejection.

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

‘Delphi died at Kolmården Zoo in 2007, in connection with a birth. And now Nephele is gone too.

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

The zoo’s website says: ‘We knew that dismantling the dolphinarium could take a long time, as our top priority is making sure the dolphins are safe. In the meantime, the dolphinarium remains open as usual.’

According to a scientific article published in the Journal of Zoological and Botanical Gardens in 2022, “environmental enrichment can be used to improve the well-being of dolphins in zoos and aquariums.”