Second dolphin death reported at Dolphinaris in Arizona

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (KSAZ) - Officials with Dolphinaris in Scottsdale say a female bottle-nose dolphin died early Tuesday morning.

According to the statement, the 10-year-old dolphin, named Alia, had displayed some unusual behaviors in the past few days, and was being monitored.

Dolphinaris Scottsdale released a statement:

"Alia was with her dolphin companions and her caretakers when she died. Alia will be greatly missed, she was a lively and loving part of the Dolphinaris family. The Dolphinaris team is dedicated to providing each of its dolphins with the highest standard of care in accordance with the industry's best practices, as well as federal and international regulations."

Officials say Alia came to Arizona from Six Flags Discovery Kingdom in Vallejo, Calif., and was born in SeaWorld Orlando in 2007. A cause of death has not been determined, and a necropsy will be performed. The results will reported when they become available.

Meanwhile, PETA Foundation Deputy General Counsel Jared Goodman has released a statement on the death.

"This is the second dolphin to die prematurely in less than a year at Dolphinaris, where dolphins who should be swimming up to 60 miles per day in the ocean are trapped in a tiny tank in the Arizona desert. Dolphin interactions and swim-with-dolphins encounters are notoriously deadly for dolphins who collide, jump out of pools, ingest foreign objects, or fall victim to viruses and funguses. Dolphinaris is responsible for this dolphin's death, and PETA and Dolphin Free AZ will hold a memorial on Wednesday afternoon in a call for everyone to stay away from Dolphinaris's deadly tanks."

Back in September 2017, another bottlenose dolphin named Bodie died at the facility located near Loop 101 and Via de Ventura. Per Dolphinaris, "Bodie had been experiencing a rare muscle disease and was under constant veterinary care. The veterinary team consulted with experts throughout the United States and Europe in hopes of finding a cure. Unfortunately, no solution was found."

Activists like Danielle Riley have long raised questions about the park's viability in the desert, and with Alia's death, those concerns are resurfacing.

"We show know why they're dying, see the reports" said Riley. "And I think that Dolphinaris needs to come clean with what's actually happening inside their facility."