Dolphin held in captivity for 40 years suffers horrific death after plastic thrown into tank

A dolphin that was held in captivity for 40 years suffered a horrific death.

The oldest dolphin at Sweden’s Kolmarden Zoo, Nephele died after choking on some plastic that was thrown into her tank.

Popular with crowds after ‘performing’ there for decades, she had some fake seaweed in her tank which was supposed to be a boost to her mood.

The dolphin was a popular feature. Credit:YouTube/Diversia

But instead, a check-up found that the plastic plant had got stuck in her throat, killing her instead of making her happier.

Before her tragic death (reported to be in January this year), the Swiss zoo said she was fine, but then started to act strangely and sank down in her tank.

And unfortunately, Nephele died before the zoo vet could help her.

Head animal doctor at Kolmarden Zoo, Bim Boijsen told local media: “It was a quick process. When the vet arrived at the scene, she had already passed away. It is very sad. Nephele was a much-loved dolphin.”

Boijsen added how the zoo places these fake plants to the tanks to make them more fun and ‘stimulate the animals’, but they have now removed all of them.

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Danny Groves, Head of Communications at Whale and Dolphin Conversation, commented on the sad death for Newsweek.

“Like us, dolphins need to come to the surface to breathe, and choking in this way must have been a traumatic experience for Nephele,” he said.

As reported by Dolphin Project, Daniel Rolke, founder of The Animal Rights Alliance in Sweden, says Nephele was once ‘Mandy’ and was bought by Kolmarden with Cindy in 1994.

Getty stock image

“The purchase was controversial, and at first, the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency refused to allow them to be imported into Sweden, as bottlenose dolphins were on the CITES Appendix II list, which meant that they could only be imported from the country where they were born or captured. Cindy and Mandy, who were nine-years-old at the time, had been captured in Florida, United States in 1989,” he said.

After the submission of a new application referencing ‘research’ on the dolphins, the pair were imported and renamed Nephele and Delphi to ‘make people forget the connection’.

“Delphi died at Kolmarden Zoo in 2007, in connection with a birth. And now Nephele is gone, too,” he added.

The zoo in Sweden announced back in 2022 that it would be closing its dolphin exhibit. However, a number of dolphins remain at the zoo, while it continues to face criticism.

LADbible has contacted Kolmarden Zoo for comment.

Topics: Environment, Animals, World News

Jess Battison

Jess is an Entertainment Journalist with a love of all things pop culture. Her main interests include keeping up with the Twitter girlies, waiting for a new series of The Traitors and losing her voice at a Beyoncé concert. She graduated with a first in Journalism from City, University of London in 2021 and has previously worked at MyLondon.

@jessbattison_