I would imagine the pool is about as old as the zoo (opened 1972) or thereabouts. As to why no dolphins, not sure. There were plenty of local dolphinariums around in the 70s, but the management probably decided that the upkeep and lack of salinity in the pool was the negatives for keeping dolphins.
The current Blackpool enclosure was opened in 2010 - although is on the site of the original pool built on the 70's - and I don't for a second believe it was ever intended for dolphins. The design of it is not suitable at all.
@Zia you are obviously correct with the date, but mention of dolphins has been seen before on here! @tetrapod was obviously way off the mark as to the age of the exhibit!!
I believe there may have been aspirations to keep dolphins - but not in that pool without significant refurbishment. Sloping sides, not deep enough and no holding pools? It clearly doesn't follow even the design features considered necessary in the 70's.
Aspirations to keep dolphins in the 70s or with the new current pool?? I assume the former but I've heard more surprising things!
No, the new pool!!! You obviously haven't read enough of the thread! Although to be fair @tetrapod confused things!
I would say neither - if there were aspirations then I don't believe they included using either of the new / old pool (the new one is a refurb of the original pool). Tbh I believe the aspirations were mainly rumoured when the site was taken over by the Parques Reunidos group around 2003 - they run other oceanariums and I keep cetaceans in their Spanish parks.
You have all been sucked in by great marketing from Blackpool Zoo. The sealion enclosure is exactly the same as the original one - it is not new. It just had a refurb with nice looking mock-rock on the back wall and a new perspex window front. Have a google for old photos to make the comparison. The dimensions of the pool have not changed, and as I said before the original intention was to house dolphins. Anybody looking at it with current eyes can see that it would be woefully too small now, but that wasn't necessarily the case when it was originally built. So no I wasn't way off the mark.
Then you would be wrong re: circa 70s Blackpool Zoo.The exhibit hadn't changed dramatically under the local council until the Spanish group's makeover. It didn't surprise me when I was told by very long-term staff about the original proposal. Thankfully it never eventuated. Blackpool would never have considered dolphins after the Spanish owners took over in 2003. Firstly I doubt a current UK zoo would ever consider housing cetaceans in the current environment. Certainly not one that isn't based alongside the sea. Secondly BZ is way too small a footprint. Thirdly the sealions are a big enough draw in themselves.
Hence the words 'neither' and 'rumoured' in my post. If you read what I've said properly you'll see that I don't believe either the original pool, nor the refurbed version would ever have been designed for or considered for dolphins. I can believe (as in - I would not be suprised if) there were aspirations to keep dolphins in the 70's / 80's but it does not follow that the sealion pool was intended for this purpose. It clearly wasn't.
I'm aware that the current pool is a refurb of the original - which is why I believe neither were intended for dolphins. Edit to add - we're obviously not going to agree on this. You believe what you have heard - I do not. It is however, a very nice sealion pool.
I accept that in your view that there was no chance of Blackpool's pool ever being used for dolphins. However you should really look at what other collections were doing at a similar time: The Dolphinarium (Sea Lion Show) - ZooChat That pool at Whipsnade is smaller than Blackpool's. As I said before in current eyes it looks ridiculous to think BZ might have considered dolphins, but probably not with a 70s vision of zoo management. And just for a bit clarity, I worked at BZ a while back with the sealions (so I know the original setup very well), and also with a number of very long-term staff. While I appreciate your comments, I'll take their word on this subject. And yes I agree as sealion pools go it is a good size. They have also had a good breeding record.
This is a good theory but actually I think Playa Patagonia (CZ sealion enclosure) can house males and did house 1 along with 2 females when the enclosure opened. They quickly died, however and were replaced with the 5 young females still there today- they have just chosen not to go out of their way to breed them. Also 1:5 and young may be too many individuals for the enclosure. The enclosure was completed in 2003 and at the time was the most expensive enclosure built.
No, the prior statements were correct - the glass in the underwater tunnel is neither thick nor strong enough to meet minimal safety requirements for housing a bull sealion.
Looking back, although it may have originally been stated that the intention was to breed in the pool (hence the off show birthing pool), what probably happened is after or maybe before it was opened CZ may have been told they could not house a breeding male because of the tunnel, so just housed the current (at the time) male and 2 females then went on the safe side instead getting 5 young females when the previous died. It seems likely that now if they ever breed it will be through A.I. However, although sealions normally live for about 25 years and Colchester's are approaching that, they might not pass for a while anyway, maybe A.I could be used if a couple of the current females die.
I have no idea to be honest. Oops. I kind of just assumed it was but that is a fair point, it might not be, my bad.
