Sweet Theresa :)

I love my job. Most people think my job is wonderful and happy all the time. Unfortunately, this isn't always the case. We do work with animals that have shorter life spans than us humans so we have to deal with the circle of life. As happy as it is when we get new animals in or have new little ones born into the family, it is extremely sad when one of our family members passes away. On Wednesday morning, May 4, 2011, Theresa, DRC's oldest dolphin, passed away due to complications of old age. Theresa was amazing. We don't know her exact age (yet) since she was not born here at DRC, but we believe she is in her mid 50's. Dolphin's natural life expectancy is only about 25 so she has more than doubled that.

Theresa was wild caught back in the mid 50's. She spent 8 years with the Navy down in Key West. She broke out of her habitat there and swam up to Milton Santini's Flipper Sea School (which is now DRC) twice! On the second time she did this, the navy decided that she clearly wanted to be here in Marathon, so Milton Santini took her in. She has lived there ever since. This means she was there when this facility opened, there when it was sold to a researcher wanting to study cognition, and then when the facility was passed on to Mandy and his wife Jayne who are the current Presidents of DRC. Theresa has been there longer than any other dolphin and person at DRC. She is the true "founder" of our facility. She has taught all the trainers so much over the years. She had a wonderful spirit, loved to interact with the guests and her trainers, and always knew how to put a smile on your face. One of my good friends Jill, who comes to visit DRC often wrote this about Theresa and I thought it was so sweet I asked her permission to post it here on my blog...

Things I learned from Theresa:

1. Be silly every day.

2. Treat everyone like a friend

3. steal kisses whenever possible

4. don't always do what is expected of you

5. treat life like a game

6. be lighthearted

7. laughter is a great way to solve any problem

8. stop taking yourself so serious

9. love your friends and family with fierce protectiveness

10. be grateful for the little things

As you can tell Theresa was an amazing dolphin and will always have a special place in my heart. Her spirit will never be forgotten and will continue to shine at the Dolphin Research Center!