They do have that much. And they do have orcas. Along with the CITES listings confirming orcas were indeed imported into China, I have seen pictures of orcas at the facility.
it is fairly certain Chimelong does have killer whales - there are photos of them - but they are not on show (and may not be on the actual site) and hence are not publicised and will not be on their website. Generally their whales and dolphins do not go on show until they are trained for shows.
It's not 100%, but there is a strong chance that Chimelong has some of the Russian orcas. I've heard claims that they have as many as 9, know anything about that? Anyway, along with training, I would guess that Chimelong also needs time to build their exhibit. (especially the case if they really do have so many orcas) If they do have orcas, it's almost certain that they'll dedicate a lot of space to the attraction, so it could be a while before a tank and other facilities are finished.
I think the number nine is just taken from figures of animals imported into China. There's no proof of how many are at/owned by Chimelong because Chimelong isn't saying anything. But there are photos from Chimelong, taken by trainers, so they almost certainly are present.
my quote above is from 2012. I just came across a photo of one of the Hector's Dolphins at the Napier Marineland, uploaded to a blog last year. Zoo Reviews, arlluk: Captive Hector?s Dolphins* Hector?s... With some text:
It would be no surprise if Chimelong got nine Orcas, but indeed there is no proof of it. If one zoo would have the capacity to deal with such a group it would be them though. Unfortunately there is no way to find out how many they got until they go on-show.
I figured as much. I wouldn't be terribly surprised if Chimelong got that many orcas, it's a pretty big place and they're almost certainly seeking to make orcas into a major attraction, big numbers are better AND make for a better breeding program. It's just that 9 seems so high, especially for a place that hasn't had them before. And with other big aquariums in China, it's not like Chimelong is the only place for them to go. There is at least one other place that a lot of people are speculating is getting Russian orca, but as with Chimelong, it's all speculation right now. Never thought that orcas would be hidden for so long.
Tumblr has some pretty active animal/wildlife communities. Plenty of blogs that are great with digging up obscure information and photos. And since cetacean captivity is such a big topic, I've seen lots of interesting stuff on that. Like this color photo of the Dall's porpoise the US military tried to train. And here is a rescued spectacled porpoise that was briefly kept alive in captivity. If you're searching for photos, it might be a good idea to ask around on some of these blogs. If you guys want, I can try to dig up some other interesting photos I've seen on the site.
When beached cetaceans die in captivity after being rescued, is it merely mental or physiological stress or is it because the cause of standings is unknown + untreated?
Generally its due to the fact that when an animal strands it is in extremely poor health to begin with, and it would have died regardless of circumstance.
In May 1966 Marineland of Florida rescued four Risso's dolphins (Grampus griseus) from a stranding on Crescent Beach. There were two males and two females. Unfortunately, the two females succumbed within the first couple months in captivity but the two males - named Dennis and Elsworth - after the men that found them survived. They would leap their full length from the water during six daily shows to be hand-fed 30-35 lbs. of squid each day. They were each about 11 feet in length and weighed approx. 650 lbs. They were the only members of their species on display in the Western hemisphere at the time. On October 31, 1968 they had to cut their teeth with bolt cutters because they were behaving aggressively to the bottlenose dolphins that shared their tank. Dennis and Elsworth died in 1969 and their death made UPI News worldwide.
