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Wild animals are becoming a smaller part of the Las Vegas Strip

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The Mirage Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat attractions remain shuttered since closing in late September after the death of three animals over a six-month period, and given the impending ownership change at the 33-year-old Las Vegas Strip resort, the well-known amenities might never reopen.

Eleven-year-old bottlenose dolphin K2 died on September 24 at the habitat after receiving treatment for a respiratory illness. In a letter to the facility’s staff, interim resort president Franz Kallao noted that the Mirage team was working with veterinary and pathology experts to determine the cause of death, and with additional experts to conduct a thorough inspection of the animals and the facility while it closed temporarily to focus on “ensuring that we have the safest possible environment and the best care possible for our dolphins and to give our team the time they need to process and grieve.

“This is a passionate team that is fully dedicated to the well-being of our animals,” Kallao’s letter continued. “Nothing is more important to them, and this loss is incredibly painful.”

According to a September 29 National Geographic article, Maverick, a 19-year-old dolphin, died that month after treatment for a lung infection, and Bella, 13, died in April after being treated for gastroenteritis. The attraction has been welcoming guests to observe and occasionally interact with its dolphins and other animals for more than three decades, and 16 dolphins have died there, according to the nonprofit Cetabase.org, which tracks marine mammals in captivity.

Brian Ahern, a spokesman from MGM Resorts International, which operates the Mirage, confirmed last week there is no reopening date for the animal attractions and that there were “no decisions to share right now” regarding the future of the facilities and their animals. The National Geographic article reports there are seven bottlenose dolphins, four leopards, two lions, eight tigers, one two-toed sloth, one umbrella cockatoo and approximately 350 aquarium fish at the two attractions.

In December 2021, Hard Rock International purchased the Mirage from MGM Resorts for more than $1 billion and announced plans to convert the casino and hotel into a new Hard Rock Hotel at the heart of the Strip. This past summer, Hard Rock confirmed it would launch its rebranded resort in 2025, and none of the familiar Mirage amenities are expected to survive the renovations.

“We and Hard Rock are on the same page in terms of focusing on the well-being of the animals,” Ahern said. “We’ll continue working with them to keep the animals healthy, safe and comfortable following the closing of the sale of the Mirage property as well. Any future decisions will be based on what’s best for the animals.”

While it seems likely the Dolphin Habitat, along with the Secret Garden—which houses big cats owned by the estate of late illusionists and former Mirage headliners Siegfried and Roy—won’t reopen, MGM is exploring different options while working through the transition with Hard Rock.

Even without these circumstances, the presence of wild animals has been dwindling among tourist attractions and production shows in Las Vegas for years now.

“Back in the day, most of the big shows such as Jubilee, Lido [de Paris], Folies [Bergere] and Splash had variety acts in them of all sorts, and many animal acts, too. These shows have all closed,” said magician Dirk Arthur, a longtime Las Vegas entertainer known for incorporating tigers and leopards into his act. He notes that dogs, cats, fish, birds and snakes are still used in current magic shows like Criss Angel’s Mindfreak and Popovich Comedy Pet Theater.

MGM Resorts also operates Mandalay Bay’s Shark Reef Aquarium, perhaps the largest casino collection of aquatic animals, and other facilities include the Flamingo’s 15-acre wildlife habitat with tropical birds and fish. But changing trends in entertainment and Vegas attractions are far from the only factor making an impact.

National Geographic notes that many countries around the world are increasingly banning the captivity of marine mammals for entertainment, and Canada outlawed trade, capture and breeding of all cetaceans for entertainment three years ago, calling the practices unethical and cruel. Though dolphin programs continue to be more popular in the U.S., the iconic Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which announced this year that it will resume touring its big top circus in 2023 after five years of retirement, will not use animals as part of the performance.

“I think it’s really been only the five or 10 years that a massive amount of attention has been directed to the use of wild animals in entertainment,” says Carrie LeBlanc, founder and executive director of CompassionWorks International, a Henderson-based organization that works for all animals to live free from captivity. “We’ve really seen awareness grow in that time, and … I think our success in Las Vegas with companies like Cirque du Soleil has proven that people enjoy shows made of people doing amazing things.

“We don’t need to cage or confine animals into doing silly tricks to get people to buy a ticket,” LeBlanc continues. “Vegas is living proof we don’t need to do that any longer.”

CompassionWorks has been involved in dozens of protests and campaigns, including those that influenced the touring circus industry. The nonprofit organization held a protest at the Mirage on November 5 as part of lobbying aimed at Hard Rock, hoping to keep the attractions closed and find new, safe homes for its animals. LeBlanc says she’s cautiously optimistic that will happen, because the Hard Rock brand is associated with plenty of famous rock stars and musicians who oppose animal captivity.

Arthur, who scheduled some performances at Downtown’s Notoriety Live earlier this year before public protests prompted the venue to cancel his shows, says animal activist groups use mass email campaigns to create the impression that “there’s a large percentage of the population against animal shows, which is untrue.”

“Animal acts have always been a part of Strip shows, from the very beginning,” he says. “People enjoy their pets at home and have also always enjoyed seeing animals of all sorts in shows and zoos, and still do, provided the animals are treated with the utmost respect, care and love at all times. Their well-being and feelings have to come first, and they have to be having fun.”

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Brock Radke

Brock Radke is an award-winning writer and columnist who currently occupies the role of managing editor at Las Vegas Weekly ...

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