Dolphins play before a training session in Siegfried & Roy’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat during the reopening of the Mirage Thursday, Aug. 27, 2020.
Friday, Sept. 2, 2022 | 4:57 p.m.
One of the Mirage's resident dolphins has died of a lung infection, the Strip resort said in an announcement today.
Maverick, a 19-year-old bottlenose dolphin, died Thursday, Mirage interim president Franz Kallao said in a message to resort employees.
Kallao wrote that he was “heartbroken” by the dolphin’s death and he offered his condolences to the caregivers and trainers who work closely with the animals at the Mirage’s Secret Garden and Dolphin Habitat.
Another Mirage dolphin named Bella died earlier this year from a gastrointestinal illness.
“Our animal care team works closely with marine animal experts and veterinarians to ensure our dolphins are continually monitored and receive the very best care, year-round,” Kallao wrote. “Nothing is more important than the health, safety and happiness of the animals entrusted in our care”
Bottlenose dolphins under human care typically live about 28 or 29 years, which is as long or longer than they generally live in the wild, according to the Alliance of Marine Mammal Parks and Aquariums.
