Flipper OD’s on Heroin

Days after a rave held at Connyland, a theme park in Switzerland, scientists caring for dolphins there found two of them dead. Apparently, they overdosed from ingesting a form of heroin substitute.

After a lifetime of training to balance balls on their nose, doing flips, and jumping through hoops, they found themselves suffocating to death when the drug affected the part of their brain which allows them to surface for air.

This tragedy was a long time coming. Marine biologists have long known that dolphins suffer in a rave environment. They don’t like the music – a marine biologist test in 2003 showed that dolphins prefer Bach, Brahms, and the occasional Kenny G. And what is up with ravers throwing their heroin in the pool? That stuff costs money. If their drugs were dolphin-friendly, like their tuna (just look for the Flipper logo on the side of the baggie) this might never have happened.

Ultimately, this is about keeping animals separate from tweakers, ravers and other idiots. Exposing these exotic animals to drugs isn’t like getting your cat high by blowing in its face. Concern is high tonight for the White Tiger Habitat at The Mirage in Las Vegas.