SeaWorld Orlando ends public dolphin feedings; guests can still touch, take photos with them

ORLANDO, Fla. – Guests at SeaWorld’s theme park in Orlando, Florida, will no longer be allowed to feed the dolphins.

Visitors in the Dolphin Cove area Monday were still able to touch and pet any dolphins that approached them, but the park was no longer selling $7 trays of fish to entice the aquatic mammals.

Starting next month, guests will be able to buy 10-minute packages — starting at $15 a person — that include touching the dolphins and having photos taken with them under a trainer’s supervision.

A SeaWorld spokeswoman told the Orlando Sentinel (http://goo.gl/utQQud ) that the new program is similar to popular ones in SeaWorld’s San Diego and San Antonio parks.

An 8-year-old girl made national news in 2012 after her father posted a video of a dolphin biting her arm during a feeding at the Orlando park.

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Information from: Orlando Sentinel, http://www.orlandosentinel.com/

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