This was part of a letter sent to some young chums.
Hello Girls.
You asked your Mum about me being a dolphin trainer. So here is the story. Your Mum might have edited and rude bits. I will send you a photo of me with one of them.
In the late 1960s a zoo and holiday park was opened near Pickering called Flamingo Park. I had met the boss while busking in a pub and we got on well. He was a big Skiffle and Rock/Pop fan and we had some great sessions.
I was looking for a summer job before university and he said I could work as an odd job man and busk in the pub he has built a few nights. Just as a drif-in not being paid but would do OK out of tips and he would pay me as well. An amateur always does better as people will join in and not wait to be entertained. They see the guitar and ask if I could give them a song.
The zoo was in the news as it was flying in two dolphins [mother and young daughter] from Florida . The first ever into Europe.
They arrived OK with their trainer called Chuck.
I helped unload them and get them into their pool.
It was obvious to me and the zoo vet that the round pool was much too small. All they could do was swim round in circles and nothing else.
My job was to keep the pool clean and change the filters every few hours as the water soon became full of bits of food and shit. Plus to make sure the temperature was kept right.
Chuck said we must not contact the dolphins and only feed them by throwing in herrings six times a day. They needed at leat four weeks to settle in. Then he took off on holiday--he was on big wages and a six month contract.
The vet and I got everything going well. I had to stay there all night in case of anything going wrong.
They were beautiful animals and just swam round squeaking to each other. I really started to feel that the whole thing was very cruel. I spent a lot of time studying them and noticed that when I stood by the edge of the pool to throw in their fish [frozen and defrosted] they would squeak more and come closer to me.They also used clicking sounds and sometimes sounded like birds. They have a big range of sounds.
The vet noticed that they gave out certain sounds when he called them, and different ones when I did.
At one stage he wondered if they were training us! We got the boss to call them for food and they made different ones again. He was a bit pleased.
These wonderful animals were created to roam the oceans and "play"--I had seen them in the surf in Barbuda--and later I saw the tame one that made his home in Dingle harbour--he became a huge tourist attraction. Look up "Funghi--Dingle" There are dozens of tourist boats that go out to see him and he puts on a great show sometimes.
I had been told never to try feeding them by hand or making any contact. Chuck said training them was very difficult and I must obey his rules.
No one but the boss, the vet and me were ever to go into the shed that covered the pool. One night the vet came in and I said I was going to try holding a fish at the edge of the pool just to see what happened and he said he would watch out for me and said to try it. I laid down and called out Cookie [mother] and patted the fish on the surface.
I nearly fell in! She glided over slowly, took the fish in her mouth very gently and I gave her nose a pat. Off she went! I did the same for Flipper who was guided over my her mother and she took the fish and swam away.
The vet and I started to wonder how much truth Chuck was telling us.
The next day I was scooping out some water to test for chemicals etc and the plastic bowl slipped out of my hand. I was about to get a big net we kept for removing rubbish from the water and amazingly Cookie put her nose into the bowl and brought it back to me! We then got a bit braver and the vet brought in a floating quoit, threw it in and within seconds Cookie brought it back and stopped at the edge so he could take it off her nose. The real game changer was when we threw in floating kids football. It first Cookie just headed it around and then chucked it out the pool. After a few more goes at this she hit it straight at the vet and he caught it.
We decided that either they had been trained, or hardly needed any training. Seemed Chuck was a con man.
We got the boss in to show him what was going on and he said nothing but rushed off and talked to the head man at the dolpinarium in Florida to asked a lot of questions. They confirmed both doplphins has been given basic training but not to jump through hoops. He also said that our pool was too small for big tricks and was surprised that Chuck had not finished his job and returned to the USA.
It was when talking to the Americans that we discovered that the pool had been made about only 20% of the size that was specified. We told the boss and he agreed to make it six times bigger. Not just to make the dolphins happier but also that we could get them to do great tricks by jumping out the water through hoops. And we could get five times more visitors in the place per 10 minute session.
There was a bank holiday coming and the boss asked if we could start putting on a 10 minute show and talk about the dolphins? There was space round the pool for 40 visitors and if he charged 10 shillings a head he was looking at serious money! So I had to put a script together and line up the tricks. First the boss wanted a press day--big opening--it was massive--TV .Mags.Papers. Radio. First dolphins in Europe. It was a big story as there was a popular movie around at the time and everyone loved dolphins.
I spent the day bull-shitting and when we spotted a tasty media lass in unsuitable clothing we offered her the chance to kneel down by the pool and hand feed them. It was a shame suspenders were out of fashion! The day was a huge success and the zoo phones melted down after with folks trying to book.
The great fun was that Chuck was shacked up with hooker in Scarborough and saw it all on the local TV evening news.
He was sacked and I was given a smart jacket with Trainer on the back! We soon taught them to throw back a ball at a height that we could catch it-throw it back and so on. I set up goal posts by the pool and asked Leeds United to send some of the team along with cameras from YTV ( our local TV station ). It went a treat. Gary Sprake was in goal-threw the ball in and Flipper banged it back to him and he saved it-then threw a fish in to encourage them. We told him to move to the edge of the posts and not to save the next one. The cameras were warned and sure enough the ball flew past him and a mighty cheer went up. Then Don Revie was interviewed and said he would like to put Flipper on his books. It was great TV.
The rest of the summer season went really well and they kept the dolphin area open all winter. Bus parties came from all over the country. I was on a really good wage and not doing much busking. I considered staying on as my full time job. But even though I had failed my exams and university was not an option I decided to quit while I was ahead. They hired a young couple to take over my job; a marine biologist and a vet so I taught them all I knew and they were there for about four years. With the new big pool they could put on a great show and it was obvious that the dolphins were happier. I knew from their squeaking and behaviour. They have hundreds of different sounds. Very intelligent animals.
So that is how I became the first dolphin trainer in the UK, and Europe!
Amazing what playing guitar in a pub can lead to.
I went back a few times to see them and the strange thing was that when I called out their names they wizzed straight over and put their heads up while I gave them a scratch on their noses. The new trainers had found that they reacted in a similar way when they called them and the baby one would do a belly roll and lie on her back for the lass to "tickle" her.
They loved the job but felt guilty having them cooped up; even in a decent pool. I stopped going after I moved away.
Dolphins can live for 40 years or more in the wild but I heard that "my two" died after five years.
The whole adventure taught me a lot. It was my first job other than selling fresh mackerel to the guest houses in Saltburn. I used to catch about 60 on the 5am tide and knock on the doors at about 8 am. After a few weeks the owners were chasing me down the street as they had never had such fresh fish! I was 12 at the time and it was a real thrill.
You learn something from every thing you do if you keep an open mind.
I am not preaching-just handing on some advice!
Dolphin David.
