Dusty, Sea World Gold Coast’s new ‘star’ baby dolphin, was hugely celebrated in the Australian media and was excitedly visited by thousands of Sea World patrons, yet he mysteriously disappeared not long after he was born. Sea World stopped promoting the little calf, and it seems the public and media never noticed or questioned why?
Image: BlackCove© Gemma, Jinx and Dusty February 2017
Black Cove discovered that Dusty, the ‘ambassador’ calf died sometime after February 2017, presumably before his first birthday. But no public announcement of his death, nor its cause (sources say from a bacterial infection) was made by Sea World, and the public seem oblivious to the fact that he is dead. Gemma and Sunnie, two other pregnant Sea World dolphins must also have lost babies around that time too, as no new dolphin additions to the Sea World ‘family’ were joyously announced by the park that year.
*Update – Black Cove learned in October 2019 that a dolphin calf was indeed born at the park mid 2017 and Sunnie is believed to be his mother. Named ‘Dougy’, this calf’s birth, just like Dusty’s death, was never publicly announced and he was quietly indoctrinated into Sea Worlds Affinity presentations.
With neither Dusty’s death nor Dougy’s birth announced by Sea World, one cannot help but to suspect a deliberate concealment, a sleight of hand when keeping this information from its paying public.
Has Dougy simply been palmed off as Dusty? After all how many of us can tell dolphins apart… right?
Why didn’t we notice Dusty’s disappearance at the time?
One wonders why the public (or media) haven’t asked after Dusty or looked to celebrate his milestones? Perhaps, the fact no one has noticed that Dusty has vanished, demonstrates the true nature of the public’s attendance at these entertainment facilities. People simply go to Sea World, the ‘family’ park, for an entertaining day out. They see and pet some animals, a short lived thrill that ticks off that bucket-list item and then they simply go home. Patrons don’t seem to consider the animals that remain in the pools, those bred or rescued into the never-ending merry-go-round existence of working to provide humans a few hours of self-indulgent fun.
People saw the cute new baby dolphin Dusty, and then they simply forgot all about him.
But maybe it’s not entirely the public’s fault they didn’t question what happened to Dusty, after all Sea World is a well-oiled entertainment marketing machine; it manages the publics perception of what happens at the park very well. Perhaps we were all just conveniently distracted, when four months after celebrating Dusty’s birth, a new cute fluffy bear cub arrived.
The next baby animal attraction.
Polar Bear Liya gave birth to twin cubs in April 2017. One cub died shortly after the twins arrival, but surviving cub ‘Mishka’ went on to become the parks new animal ‘ambassador’ and star of the show.
The death of Mishka’s twin, followed by the continuous media promotion of the little Polar Bear’s milestones at the park, perhaps helped us to forget all about poor little Dusty the dolphin, who sadly had no milestones celebrated at all.
Always Be Polite
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