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Credit: Gulf Marine World ParkThis week, law enforcement officials and officials from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) raided the Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach, Florida, searching for answers as to how four dolphins died in the past few months under mysterious circumstances.
The FWC was refused access to the theme park earlier this week and returned with police and a search warrant.
Last October, three bottlenose dolphins were killed at the park, and a fourth died earlier this month when it crashed head-first into the shallow end of the pool during a public performance. For months, activists have been secretly filming the conditions in the park, including finding dolphins swimming in tiny pools filled with murky green water.
Phil Demers, the executive director of Urgent Seas, a Canadian-based marine non-profit, told The Guardian:
The conditions at Gulf World are among the worst we’ve ever observed. The sheer number of dead dolphins over such a short period of time is shocking and inexcusable, yet Gulf World continues to operate without repercussions. You can’t unsee those conditions once you’ve seen them.
Hopefully, authorities will act with some sense of urgency, and unless those dolphins and other animals are removed as soon as possible, we can assume more will die.
Urgent Seas used drone footage and undercover guests to document the conditions for the dolphins at Gulf World. They also organized protests outside the park to get the FWC to remove the 12 remaining dolphins from captivity.
The US Department of Agriculture (USDA) was also involved in the raid on Thursday and told reporters that it had cited Gulf World multiple times dating back to 2014.
The most recent citation came in January when inspectors found sea lion pools rusty and in disrepair, with paint flaking into the water; cracked and broken concrete around a dolphin pool with powdered concrete in the water; and no shade for dolphins.
Today, at my direction, FDLE and FWC executed a search warrant at the Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach.
While this investigation is in the beginning stages, we will not tolerate any animal abuse in Florida.
— Attorney General James Uthmeier (@AGJamesUthmeier) March 27, 2025
The USDA report also said that six maintenance workers and seven animal care employees had left the park in the last three months, and it no longer had the staff to properly care for the animals.
While the USDA and FWC continue their investigation, the 12 dolphins remain at the park, and according to its website, Gulf World remains open.