Clearwater Marine Aquarium, Marine rescue center in Clearwater, Florida, US.
The Clearwater Marine Aquarium is a marine rescue center in Clearwater, Florida, where injured animals receive medical treatment and are prepared for their return to the sea. The building includes several pools, treatment rooms, and areas where visitors can observe the animals up close.
The facility opened in 1972 in a former water treatment plant and evolved over the decades into a center specializing in the rescue of injured marine animals. Thousands of animals have been treated here since its founding, and many of them were released back into their natural environment.
The name changed from Clearwater Marine Science Center to Clearwater Marine Aquarium in the 1990s, as renovations added public areas and education programs. Visitors can watch staff bottle-feed and care for resident dolphins such as Hope and Nicholas, and see enrichment items like squirt guns and bubbles given to the animals.
Florida residents and first responders receive discounted admission when they show valid identification at the ticket desk. The premises are wheelchair accessible, and there are several rest areas where you can pause between exhibits.
Sunset Sam, a stranded bottlenose dolphin rescued in 1984, was the first dolphin in Florida to survive a beaching. Chronic liver problems kept him from release, making him the aquarium's first resident dolphin. Staff taught him to paint as enrichment, and sales of his paintings helped fund operations and the stranding program.
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