DOLPHIN DISCOVERY AWARD WINNER AT THE 45th IMATA CONFERENCE RIVIERA MAYA 2017
- The event gathered more than 450 marine mammal specialists from the most important parks of 29 countries.
Cancún, Quintana Roo, August 2nd, 2017 - Within the framework of this important event for the industry, the 'people's Choice award' was granted to the person, group, or company that contributed more at the conference according to the participants votes. This year, Dolphin Discovery won the award for being the best host in IMATA 2017.
This was thanks to the visit that the participants made to Dolphin Discovery Cozumel, where they watched a special exhibition about dolphin's behaviors in Dolphin Discovery. During their visit, they had the chance to swim with dolphins and manatees and watch the educational program with sea lions. With all this, they could confirm the quality of the interactive programs of Dolphin Discovery and above all, the importance of the animal's welfare to the company.
Likewise, the work of Mr. Roberto Sanchez Okrucky, Director of Veterinary Medicine and Investigation of Dolphin Discovery, was given an important recognition thanks to the remarkable investigation he made about stress in dolphins. This was a comparative study of cortisol (stress indicator) between dolphins and horses, before and after an interactive program (in the case of dolphins) and one training session (in the case of horses). He worked with a sample of 35 specimens, divided into 3 groups: a) 1 to 9 years old, b) 10-20 years old, c) more than 20 years old.
"It was observed that in the case of the dolphins there was no significant difference of cortisol that indicates stress in the specimens, compared to the horses, where there existed a big difference of cortisol between the 'before' and 'after' their training", said Doctor Roberto Sanchez.
Another one of the presentations given by the Marine Mammal Specialists of Dolphin Discovery was the case of the penguins training and stingrays that live in Gulf World, a park that belongs to Grupo Dolphin Discovery, located in Florida, US. They talked about the obstacles in training this species so that they can cooperate in a voluntary way during their daily physical examinations, ultrasounds (in case of pregnancy), and during the interaction with the guests. They were able to make it through the obstacles after a few weeks thanks to their perseverance and love for these specimens.
During the same day, Dolphin Discovery presented its campaigns The home of the most loved dolphins and #IAmDolphinDiscovery. These campaigns have as their goal to inform in a transparent and honest way about what goes on behind the stage of each one of the habitats of the Group at a worldwide level, reinforcing their love and concern for the marine mammals under their care.
Later on, the poster of Zoomarine by Dolphin Discovery was presented to the participants, where Mario Libianchi, a specialist of the park located in Italy, explained the specific case of voluntary stomach pumping in the dolphins of this habitat. Also, the importance of this achievement in animal husbandry, since during this process, it was possible to track the changes in the gastric staining that indicates the presence or absence of organic material; a big achievement for the healthcare of the dolphins.
Besides Dolphin Discovery, other companies such as Delfinity, Discovery Cove, Dolphin Adventure, among others, presented subjects like shark training, changes in the behavior of animals with no reason, mothers, and breeding, innovating training techniques, etc. All this with the objective of promotive communication and professionalism through the exchange of investigations and experiences that aim to support the conservation and education of the species.
"Each experience shared during the IMATA 2017 conference is very important for an oriented investigation about the conservation of marine mammals that each one of the companies that are members of this international association carry out in the different habitats around the world", said Edgar Urbina, Director of the Specialists on Marine Mammals of Dolphin Discovery.
October 10th, 2017
