Mississippi Coast marine center facing backlash over sea lion’s death

The U.S. Department of Agriculture has issued an official warning to Gulfport’s Institute for Marine Mammal Studies for water quality issues that may have contributed to the death of a California sea lion.

The warning led a national animal rights group called Stop Animal Exploitation Now to file a complaint this month with the federal agency’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, which has oversight of IMMS.

The incident in question stems from the March 2020 death of a sea lion named Jester.

The sea lion underwent surgery in Gulfport for an ulcer on his eye and died under anesthesia.

A USDA report from March 2021 noted that the tank which Jester was housed had too high of chlorine levels, which could have led to the ulcer in Jester’s eye that required surgery.

“There is no question that chlorine is irritating to the eyes,” facility management stated in the USDA inspection report. The report notes that four out of five of the sea lions that had access to the highly chlorinated water had “ocular issues.”

“Chlorine may contribute to the development and worsening of eye disease in captive sea lions,” the inspection states.

Changes made

Moby Solangi, director of the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies, says all the issues have been corrected.

Indeed, in the USDA’s most recent report on Feb. 28, 2022, the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies had no complaints.

Michael Budkie, the co-founder of Stop Animal Exploitation Now, wants the USDA to go further.

“These are wild animals, and they should not be kept in captivity,” he said. “There is no way an enclosure in a place like IMMS can be adequate.”

Over the last decade, the push to free large marine animals from captivity has picked up speed, particularly with the release of Blackfish in 2013.

Those with this position say that animals such as dolphins and monkeys simply require too large of habitats to live a good life and enclosing them in cages is cruel to the animal.

Solangi says it’s not that simple.

“These are animals that are sick or injured, and we provide them a home,” he said. “The reason we have these animals is because they couldn’t be released … if we didn’t take them, they would be euthanized. The very reason we got them is because they couldn’t be released into the wild.”

Research facility

In addition to the complaints listed by the USDA, Budkie also takes issue with the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies being registered as an exhibitor and lacking a research license which requires additional levels of regulations to protect the animals.

Any facility doing research on animals in captivity is required to have a research license by the USDA. The Institute for Marine Mammal Studies has an exhibitor license, like what a zoo would have, not a research one.

Solangi maintains that the research done by the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies is not on any animals they display, but on animals in the wild which is legal.

“These animals fall under public display, we do not do research on these animals,” Solangi said. “Our research is going out and looking at the population and movement patterns of dolphins and other organisms.”

Under the research section of the IMMS website, it lists research done on wild animals, such as what Solangi references.

Solangi says that the Institute for Marine Mammal Research does good work making education about the ocean fun, working on conservation efforts and rehabilitating sick animals to send back into the wild.

Ocean Adventures Marine Park is also located at IMMS.

This story was originally published June 12, 2022 at 8:30 AM.