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SPEAKER: A string of dolphin deaths at the Minnesota Zoo has become a flashpoint for a broader debate about keeping dolphins in captivity. Documents obtained by MPR News show that behind the scenes, the zoo is worried about the mortalities and the public heat surrounding them. Zoo officials however, say the deaths had nothing to do with their decision to close the exhibit this fall. Laura Yuen has the story.

LAURA YUEN: When a young dolphin named Taijah died in February, zoo officials had a problem on their hands. Dolphins are one of the most popular attractions at the zoo. And Taijah was the sixth in the collection to die in as many years.

Staff emails obtained through the Data Practices Act, show zoo officials were worried about bad publicity in the days and weeks following the death. Those fears were warranted as news about Taijah's death spread throughout the world.

LEE EHMKE: A dolphin dies in Minnesota and people in Singapore know about it five minutes later.

LAURA YUEN: Zoo Director, Lee Ehmke, says when officials decided a few months after the death, to close the dolphin exhibit, he received thousands of phone calls and emails. Ehmke says they were split between dolphin rights groups applauding the decision, and zoo visitors outraged to see the animals go. The response shows just how divided people are about keeping these smart, fascinating creatures in concrete tanks.

The documents suggest zoo officials were paying attention to that larger debate. Taijah's death quickly prompted a high-level discussion about whether to keep dolphins on display. Kevin Willis, the zoo's director of Biological Programs, raised key questions in an email to Director Lee Ehmke.

Willis wrote, "Is the question whether we can responsibly keep dolphins, or is the question, whether anyone can responsibly keep dolphins? Maybe the question is, given that dolphins are going to die, can we stand the political and public heat in terms of maintaining a good reputation, and of course, our attendance and donors?"

When asked about the email, Willis said he wasn't personally doubting whether dolphins belong in captivity. He says he was just gathering where the conversation about the exhibit's future was headed.

KEVIN WILLIS: And I just asked, what is the framework of this discussion? Is it philosophical? Is it money?

LAURA YUEN: To be clear, Willis says he believes zoos can and do responsibly care for dolphins. And he's not convinced that dolphins in human care have any more stress than those in the wild.

KEVIN WILLIS: They're not worried about predators. They're not worried about food. They generally know everybody, there's no dolphins coming in trying to disrupt the social order. I don't know which would have more or less stress.

LAURA YUEN: The US Department of Agriculture, which regulates zoos, found that Minnesota's dolphin tanks were in compliance with federal rules. Willis points out that the six dolphins in the zoo's care died of unrelated reasons.

KEVIN WILLIS: If there was some way that we could tie the deaths together, it would be very helpful.

LAURA YUEN: The first death came in 2006, when a seven-month-old calf named Harley popped out of the water and cracked his skull. At the time, zoo officials said he smacked his head on the concrete deck when he landed. Harley's mother, Rio, died two months later of an undetermined cause. 14-year-old Ayla was euthanized after suffering complications from scoliosis.

In 2009, a calf was stillborn. Last year, 44-year-old April died of respiratory and cardiac arrest. And Taijah died in February after experiencing an ulcer that could have been related to stress. The exact cause of the death is unknown.

Taijah's medical records from the zoo showed that a fire alarm set off four days before her death caused her to act nervously. Dolphins have excellent hearing and can be sensitive to vibrations. But Kevin Willis says trainers didn't think much of Taijah's anxiety. He says it wasn't out of the ordinary.

KEVIN WILLIS: She's had the same reaction when we-- we want to install a graphic and you start drilling somewhere, that vibration is enough to get her nervous and swimming back and forth. Some dolphins react strongly.

LAURA YUEN: But Willis doesn't believe the fire alarm contributed to Taijah's deterioration. Her death was a hard blow for the zoo, which had spent years trying to breed new dolphins in hopes of making the collection sustainable. After she died, the zoo's dolphin group dwindled to two. The zoo preferred to have at least three or four to create a healthy social group.

Acquiring new dolphins is no easy task. Zoos can apply for permits to catch wild dolphins from US waters. But public pressure against such captures makes that practice highly unlikely. Zoos and aquariums rely on other breeding facilities for dolphins, but reproduction is not keeping up with demand.

Officials at the Minnesota Zoo say it's that dolphin shortage that forced their decision to close the exhibit, not concerns about the safety of dolphins in their care. Internal talking points provided by the zoo in response to our data request show officials were coached to tell the media that animal rights advocates had no bearing on the decision to get rid of the dolphins. But it's also clear from zoo documents that the controversy over captive dolphins was part of the discussion.

A zoo task force that met to determine the future of the exhibit was briefed on the growing influence of groups opposed to keeping dolphins and whales in tanks. Despite that controversy, crowds at the Minnesota Zoo adore the dolphins. At a noontime training session, hundreds sitting on concrete steps cheer the two remaining dolphins, Allie and Semo.

[CHEERING]

Semo is believed to be approaching 50, making him the oldest male dolphin in human care. This geriatric star is like the Billy Crystal of show dolphins. He jumps arcs across the pool, and in the next beat, he's dribbling a ball with his nose.

[CHEERS]

13-year-old Dana Marble of Eagan grew up watching Semo. Dolphins have been part of the state zoo since it opened in 1978. And the animals are still a big draw for kids like Dana and her friends.

DANA MARBLE: It's always really fun to just see them. They're so happy all the time.

WOMAN: Yeah, they are.

DANA MARBLE: And it just like it always brings a smile whenever you see them.

LAURA YUEN: Yet, the aging Semo can't do the tricks he used to. And a few years ago, the zoo scaled back the high flying shows to shorter and less demanding presentations. The zoo's decision to close the exhibit was the nail in the coffin for what zoo officials have described as a dysfunctional dolphin group.

Many of the families cheering in the stands, want the dolphins to stay. But activists and scientists who oppose dolphins in captivity, hope other zoos and aquariums across the country will follow Minnesota's example. They say these highly social animals don't thrive in captive settings, even if they appear to be enjoying themselves.

LORI MARINO: It's an illusion. That dolphin's smile is an illusion.

LAURA YUEN: Lori Marino is a neuroscientist at Emory University.

LORI MARINO: The fact that they are active during the shows and seem to be happy doesn't mean that they are.

LAURA YUEN: More than a decade ago, Marino co-authored a ground-breaking study showing dolphins could recognize themselves in the reflection of a mirror. At the time, that kind of self-awareness was proven only in humans and chimps. Marino's research on captive dolphins advanced scientific understanding of the animals.

But the two dolphins that were Marino's test subjects died of infections shortly after they were transferred to new facilities. And that led her to a conclusion that would become a personal crusade.

LORI MARINO: What we were doing is manipulating these individuals' lives in a way that was really causing them a lot of damage. And I started to feel that that was not something that I wanted to participate in anymore.

LAURA YUEN: Marino now considers herself a scientist-advocate and opposes any research on captive dolphins. She says saltwater pools like the one at the Minnesota Zoo, cannot duplicate a dolphin's natural ocean environment where it can swim tens of kilometers a day. She says dolphins swim, not only for food, but as part of their social life.

LORI MARINO: The tank, even the largest tank in the world is a small, fractional percentage of what their natural range would be. There really is nothing about the captive situation that is natural.

LAURA YUEN: And Marino says the stress is compounded if a dolphin is trying to flee a bully in the tank. Semo, for instance, has been known to show aggression toward his poolmates, especially young males. One email from Kevin Willis describes Semo's tendency to, in his words, "whomp on the other dolphins." Marino and others say that kind of aggression could have caused Harley, the calf, to jump out of the water and fatally crack his skull six years ago.

LORI MARINO: The problem with captivity is that there really is no way for these individuals to work out their differences. There's no way to go. So in the wild, if there was aggression, the way that they would work that out would be to disperse. But in a tank, you don't have that option.

LAURA YUEN: A dolphin at the Brookfield Zoo in Chicago last year, suffered a similar fatal injury. In that case, the animal may have collided with another dolphin as they jumped into the air. But proponents of captivity say, keeping dolphins under close watch is what has brought us closer to the animals. They say it's through these captive settings that our understanding of dolphins and our love for them has grown. Again, zoo director, Lee Ehmke.

LEE EHMKE: I think it's really ironic that the semi-deification almost of dolphins among some people probably didn't happen until dolphins were brought into captivity in the '50s and '60s when they first came into marine parks. That's where people really got to experience how incredible these guys really are. Before that, many people assumed they were just fish.

LAURA YUEN: Industry experts say, the zoo's decision to find new homes for the dolphins doesn't portend any kind of national trend. 44 zoos and aquariums in the US display dolphins, and that number has held steady over the years. The Minnesota Zoo plans to renovate its aquarium exhibit this fall, and then introduce fish and stingrays into the pools where dolphins once swam.

Fish might not be as exciting as dolphins. But they'll probably be a lot less controversial. Laura Yuen, Minnesota Public Radio News, Apple Valley.