#poxvirus

Etiology: poxvirus

Transmission by skin contact, autoinocculation

Incubation 2 weeks to 2 months

Flesh-colored, yellow waxy papules with central umbilification

Can be itchy

Small 2-6 mm, usually 1 - 20 papules

Trunk in children. Genitalia in adults

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The…

Please note: I am far from experienced with dolphin pox. I actually specialize (if you can call it that) in cetacean mass stranding triage - I have more experience dealing with critically sick, stranded animals and those who are undergoing rehabilitation than I do with captive dolphins. While I don't see the SeaWorld stock every day in person, I do know people who go there often and post pictures. I have NOT made any of my assessments below based on those photos (you'll see why), but rather from my in-person visit and discussions with members of animal care (who, in my opinion, are some of the most informed members on the dolphin pox condition because hey - they're working with and assessing the health of those dolphins every single damn day). I am NOT taking anybody's side in this issue but rather just reporting the facts as I see them as well as throwing in a bit of my personal opinion.

If you don't like what I have to say, leave it. Thanks for your cooperation and remember that I am in no way, shape, or form affiliated with SeaWorld Parks.

I spent the majority of yesterday at SeaWorld Florida with the Dolphin Cove pod. After hearing and seeing many, many, many rumors, articles, and discussions on it, I figured it was about time to go down to investigate myself. Y'all know me - I don't like to form opinions based on what others say.

Below, I'll try to answer some of the questions and arguments I've seen floating around the Interwebz as well as inform my readers on some other problems local dolphins are facing that are more worthy of attention.

Do SeaWorld Florida Dolphins have poxvirus?

Yes. The National Institute of Health states that dolphin poxvirus results in a thickened stratum externum and ballooning degeneration and eosinophilic intractyoplasmic inclusions in the stratum intermedium; the virus is listed as a result of stress, environmental conditions, and general health (source). But wait - that's all in the abstract of the article. Upon reading the entire article, who's main purpose is to simply describe dolphin pox, I found this quote:

Other similar cases have been noted, yet the association between stress and dolphin pox is still tentative. These

observations suggest however that dolphin pox is more

than a skin disease. It may provide a useful visual clue

to general health and stress in captive and free-ranging

dolphins (5,6).

The references in this particular quote are:

5. GERACI, J. R. and D. J. ST. AUBIN. Stress and diseases in the

marine environment: insights through strandings. In Biology of Marine

Mammals: Insights Through Strandings. J. R. Geraci and D. J. St. Aubin,

Editors. pp.23-233. Springfield, Virgina: Nat. Tech. Inf. Serv. PB-298 890.

1979.

6. GERACI, J. R., S. A. TESTAVERDE, D. J. ST. AUBIN and T. H. LOOP. A

mass stranding of the Atlantic white-sided dolphin, Lagenorhynchus acutus: a study into pathobiology and life history. Nat. Tech. Inf. Serv. PB-289 361. 1979.

Notice how the quote simply says that poxvirus is a skin disease. That's all it is. A skin disease. Additionally, it says the pox MAY be an underlying factor for other general health assessments. The article mentions a few of these, such as a captive dolphin that would get an outbreak of pox when he was moved from an outdoor pool to an indoor pool with other animals and poorer water quality and a dolphin held in an open sea pen who wound up having gastric ulcers. Furthermore, the article says that the disease is endemic in some populations, which in my opinion is what is happening at SeaWorld Florida. I've seen poxvirus on their cetaceans numerous times over the years and it really hasn't affected the general health of the animals.

Talking to members of the animal care department has further convinced me that this outbreak of dolphin pox isn't anything overly big. The staff said that they're monitoring the health and behavior of the dolphins on a daily basis, and assured me that the animals would be taken off display if anything serious was afflicting a particular individual (I have seen them take critically sick, injured, or orphaned dolphins back to North Support quite a few times). They have some of the senior-most staff and supervisors of the park down with those dolphins every day and were actively doing husbandry procedures with the animals in their care.

Feast your eyes, people. Two of the senior trainers here are actively assessing the health of this dolphin with clearly visible skin lesions. This assessment went on for a good thirty minutes and let me tell you - they checked every inch of this individual.

No inches were spared!

So while yes, the SeaWorld dolphins have poxvirus and it is present in the nursery, stadium, and cove, it's not much to worry about. Let's think of this, logically:

Would SeaWorld want to display an overly sick dolphin? No! Especially with the Blackfish controversy, the company is being kept on its toes. No zoological institution worth its salt, for that matter, would happily display something that is in poor health. Let's recall some of the things that the park has done:

Put Bossa in North Support before she died

Put Starla in North Support when she was orphaned and critically malnourished

Shutting the entire Shamu Stadium when Taima had her baby cut out was giving birth

As secretive as the park may be in some areas, there is really no reason for them to hide an otherwise healthy animal. Why would they, when they can still make money off of them by having them participate in dolphin feeds and up-close tours? That's actually a loss of profit and a bad business angle - more mouths to feed = more $$$. It also means that they have more backups just in case a dolphin doesn't feel like participating in a session (which is totally okay, by the way - they're still going to get fed the proper kcals).

The members of animal care were also very adamant about how much they care about and love the animals. I couldn't agree with this more - these people aren't in it for the money or fame, they're in it because they love animals. They consider their ward to be part of their family and will gladly be paid peanuts and have holidays away from family to be with their flippered friends (this is where I point you over to the wonderful The MIddle Flipper for more of the insights of being a marine mammal trainer). There's no profit for them to gain over displaying a sick animal, rather they'd be the first ones to get it into quarantine and under constant supervision from a veterinarian (as if that doesn't happen anyway).

Instead of focusing our attention to the outbreak of dolphin pox in SeaWorld, let's divert it to actual animals that need actual help. Drive east on I-4 from SeaWorld and go until you hit the beach. From there and about one-hundred miles (give or take) south, there is a rather large lagoon with its own population of dolphins (as well as other, just-as-important marine life). This lagoon is called the Indian River Lagoon, and it is the most ecologically diverse estuary in North America. Many scientists often identify dolphins as a keystone species, which is a species of organism that reflects the overall health of an environment. The ongoing study of bottlenose dolphins in the lagoon reveal that these animals are sick and undergoing an unusual mortality event (UME) due to the runoff of pesticides and herbicides, pollution (dumping in the lagoon), overfishing, and a myriad of other human-related problems. Like, these dolphins are ridiculously sick - they have lobomycosis, morbillivirus (although not so much as the offshore population), and herpes. To quote the Hubbs-SeaWorld Resarch Institute (one of the main organizations who are conducting the long-term study of the IRL dolphin population),

They have found antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a high incidence of tumors, heart problems, cancers, stomach ulcers, skin lesions, genital herpes and other ailments previously thought rare in dolphins. As many as half the dolphins studied in the lagoon so far suffer from some form of chronic infectious disease, suggesting compromised immune systems.

Additionally, up to twenty-three percent of the IRL dolphins had triclosan in their blood, which is an ingredient common in most antibacterial hygiene products such as soap, mouthwash, and toothpaste. All the chronic diseases that these dolphins have is affecting their mortality and fertility and is decimating the population as a whole. If the dolphins are doing this poorly, think of how the rest of the extremely fragile environment is doing.

Finally, I want to show you what some of the extremist anticaps are doing. I'm just going to show you the photo because it speaks for itself: