Last week I was passing through Coffs Harbour and decided to visit the Pet Porpoise Pool. Here are my brief impressions. Dolphin Encounter, Dolphin Swimming, Seal Swimming, Seal Swim Small. Tiny, even. Not sure exactly how big, but I'm guessing only two acres at most. And in that small space they have two large pools for the dolphins plus seating, four tanks for the Sea-Lions, one aquarium tank, a penguin enclosure and pool, a freshwater turtle pond, and a picnic area. Their map also says they have kangaroos, emus and pelicans in an enclosure behind the picnic grounds, but I managed to miss them. It took me ten minutes to walk around the entire place and see everything. It would have taken less time if I wasn't taking photos. Having said that, I ended up staying for more than an hour because I kept going back to places to try and get more photos (mainly the aquarium). Unfortunately, I arrived between shows so didn't get to see what the presentations were like. Admission for adults is $32, which is very steep for the size. But there are a couple of things built into the price that you would normally pay extra for elsewhere: Dolphin Kisses and Seal Kisses are free, and start half an hour before a show. Obviously, if their photographer takes a photo of you being smooched then you pay for the photo, but if you have your own camera there's no problem. And outside of show and kissing time there is free interaction with the dolphins poolside (if the dolphins want to play). You can pet, scratch and tickle them, and when I was there they had a football which they would catch in their mouths if you threw it to them and then bring it back to you for another go. Getting in the pools with the dolphins is also possibly, but that experience you have to pay for. The two dolphin pools are a good size, and are interconnected so the dolphins can be moved from one to another for draining and cleaning purposes. The Show Pool is separated from the larger pool by a gate, and the larger pool itself is split in two by a fence and gate, so three separate enclosures can be created if need be. The larger pool also seems to be deeper. In the Show Pool at one end a broom head is fixed to the bottom for the dolphins to scratch themselves on. The dolphins are Indo-Pacific Bottlenoses, and I think I heard them say there were five (and at least one was born at the park). The sealion exhibits are not great, but adequate. Concrete enclosures with a large wire front and a concrete tub/tank. They are not a large size, but the seals all get to go out for kisses, shows, walks and training. A sign on one enclosure said "New Zealand Fur Seal", but the occupants were both Australian Sea Lions. The Aquarium Tank was a concrete circular tank about five metres in diameter and about three metres deep (bit hard to estimate depth). Several underwater viewing windows on one side of the structure. The interior was pretty well empty except for a broken old wooden boat on the bottom and some stones - no rock outcrops or artificial reefs, just a circular tank. The fish were local species - Cobias, Drummers, Snapper, Flatheads, Bream, Perch, Cod and a single Green Turtle. The Freshwater Turtle exhibit was what you would expect from any zoo or fauna park (or maybe even the backyard of a Turtle enthusiast) - a pond (about two metres in diameter) surrounded by sand and grass, with some small shrubs and basking sites. The Turtles were Short-necks (E.macquarii) and Long-necks (C.longicollis). The Penguin area was also comparable to many you would find in zoos, with a pool of reasonable size (albeit vivid blue) and a well landscaped dune area with breeding burrows/boxes. I counted seven Little Penguins, but there may have been more in the boxes. Good signage too. There were two other displays not on the map - a three-foot fish tanks with a clown fish and some damsels, and a pair of sulphur-crested cockatoos in an open enclosure near the penguins. I'm guessing they were unable to fly, one appeared to have a very bad wing. Both were inside a shelter made of corrugated tin. The shelter was pretty crappy and looked like it had been knocked together with pieces of scrap, but I guess the cockatoos probably did that themselves, probably in less than half an hour. I did take lots of photos, but there is no gallery for the Pet Porpoise Pool so I'll just have to wait for Sim to return to create one before I post them. As always, the above review was my opinion only - I encourage everyone to visit if they are in Coffs Harbour and post their own impressions. Hix
I believe this place had a Leopard Seal some years ago, presumably obtained the same way as Taronga obtains theirs, but I wonder, when a Leopard Seal is found on a NSW coast, does it automatically go to Taronga (given their facilities are the most advanced, etc) or what?
I'm not sure if there is a protocol for leopards, but I think it would be difficult to manage at the PPP - the seal tanks aren't large enough for a Leopard and it wouldn't be able to get in or out easily. Putting it in with the larger pools would mean reducing access for the dolphins. It could be done on a temporary basis, but I don't think they could do it long term (unless they are happy to mix the seal with the dolphins). Hix
they have 5 inshore bottlenose dolpins: Bucky (m) rescued in 1970 and born around 1969 Calamity (f) rescued in 1994 and born around 1988 Zippy (m) born at the pool in 1988 - son of Bucky Bella (f) born at the pool in 2006? i think - Bucky / Calamity Jet (m) born at the pool in 2009/10 - Bucky / Calamity
I believe so. I am pretty sure I read Taronga is not allowed to release leopard seals (somewhere, I can't remember where I read it) and considering they already have leopard seals, they would most likely have the husbandry and facilities to hold them.
I remember that many years ago (probably 20 or more) they had an elephant seal which would haul out onto a wet rubberised concrete area for feeding and display - quite a sight!
Yep Ara, Sophie was there for some time as was Lady the leopard seal. PPP has an excellent reputation for rehabilitating marine animals, including many lesser-known species of cetaceans. There are facilities at back of house for stranded animals at PPP. The facility used to be at Tweed Heads. I still have a snow globe from that place One leopard seal was sent to Taronga in about 1999 (Halley) and she was dead only a couple of years later. Taronga certainly used to release leopards (off Sydney Heads). PPP doesn't look like much, but I have always been impresed with their animal care and dedication to marine animals, as well as their community work.
The Pet Porpoise Pool at Tweed Hds and the Coffs Pet Porpoise Pool are/were completely different facilities - The original "Jack Evan's Pet Porpoise Pool" was at Tweed heads from 1961 and was sold to Kieth Williams (the then owner of Sea World on the GC Spit) in the 1970/80's - and was re-named "MarineLand" before it was closed down and the animals transferred to other facilities. The current "Pet Porpoise Pool" was started in 1970/1 by Hec Goodall (who as to my knowledge used to work at Jack Evan's Porpoise Pool in th 1960's)
Apologies Jones, you're right. They were different facilities, although Hec and some staff were a link between the two (and the name transfer). The visitor interactions were also very similar. The Tweed Heads PPP used to have performing Sousa (Indo-pacific humpback dolphins) as well as inshore bottlenose.
I have recently uploaded my photos from the visit described in the first post of this thread. http://www.zoochat.com/gallery/dolphin-marine-magic Now there is a gallery for Dolphin Marine Magic (as they are now called), maybe a moderator can tag this thread appropriately. Hix
