Cobie, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin at the Texas State Aquarium, died recently from a complication of pneumonia and genetic disease. Rachel Denny Clow/Caller-Times
It was inevitable. Recently we experienced the loss of Cobie, one of our Atlantic bottlenose dolphins. Cobie had developed pneumonia over the summer, which was aggravated by a disease that caused excessive and improper storage of iron throughout the body, a disease his mother also had. Had Cobie lived in the wild, he likely would have had a far shorter life.
In any event, our staff and many in this community were saddened by the loss.
The inevitable part of this story was the opinion piece in Wednesday's Caller-Times with a provocative and patently false headline.
The column by John Crisp attempts to make a case against mammals in aquariums and marine parks. It is very telling that these types of individuals only make themselves known when an unfortunate incident such as Cobie's death makes the news....
