Vet says OKC zoo shouldn't be blamed for dolphin death

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A veterinarian said the Oklahoma City Zoo took every safety measure possible to prevent the death of a baby dolphin there over the weekend, and should not be blamed in its death.

The Sunday death of Lily, a 5-month-old Atlantic bottle-nosed dolphin, follows the deaths of three others at the zoo's Aquaticus exhibit in recent years.

Lily's death may have been caused by a bacteria, but veterinarian Joe Alexander said there is no evidence of Streptococcus bacteria in any of her organs, which killed the other three dolphins.

Alexander said the bacteria coliform was found in Lily, but that it is a very common one.

"We don't know if this bacteria is the cause of her death or not, but we do know it is the only bacteria that we are currently culturing from the lungs," he said.

Alexander, dean of the Oklahoma State University College of Veterinary Medicine, said Lily did not have a fully developed immune system in place because of her age. A dolphin calf only has a survival rate of 40 percent during its first year of life.

It will be some time still before tests might reveal any other potential causes, Alexander said.

Lily was the calf of Sandi, 15, one of two adult female dolphins leased by the zoo from Marine Animal Productions in Gulfport, Miss.

Oklahoma City's zoo suspended its dolphin shows in late October after treating Lily with antibiotics for difficulties similar to the kind she experienced Sunday before dying.

The Aquaticus exhibit lost another dolphin, 5-year-old Harley, to Streptococcus zooepidemicus bacteria in June.

Two other dolphins, Sally and Turbo, died from the illness in 1998.

Zoo officials closed the exhibit throughout 1999. It went through a major renovation and improvement, and the zoo also hired three water specialists to make sure the dolphins' living environment is contamination-free.

"I don't think this is a water or environmental problem with the zoo; I just think this is an unfortunate illness that happened with the baby that isn't connected with what went on before,"

Alexander said.

Alexander did say zoo officials should evaluate whether the program should be continued, but that he doesn't support such a decision right now.

"The exhibit is definitely good for us, and I think it is good for dolphins as a species."

Alexander also said, however, that he would feel differently if Aquaticus had lost another adult to the bacteria responsible for the earlier three deaths.

"That would have been devastating," he said.

Zoo officials announced they were restarting the dolphin shows Wednesday.