A newspaper in Florida has launched a scathing critique on marine parks like Bermuda?s Dolphin Quest saying they are exploding in number and are built upon decades of cruelty to animals.

But yesterday Dolphin Quest Bermuda said it works diligently to ensure the highest level of care for its animals and that animal handling techniques have improved dramatically over the years.

Dolphin Quest Bermuda manager Christine Mihelcic said she is still gathering facts after being contacted by about the story which ran in the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. The article quoted Dolphin Quest founder Jay Sweeney saying he was responsible for capturing at least 80 dolphins from the wild in the 1980s.

The article takes a harsh view of the industry, beginning with the story of the capture of the first Shamu. ?The modern marine park industry began with the killing of Shamu?s mother,? it said.

The paper ran the article ? understood to be one in a series of five ? after nine months of research examining the history and records of the industry.

That research included examining ?more than 30 years? worth of (US) Federal documents on 7,121 marine animals the government collected but never analysed,? the article said.

Listing startling statistics, the article said: ?Other countries still take dolphins and whales from the wild, particularly in the Caribbean, where swim-with-the-dolphins attractions have become increasingly popular.

?In the Caribbean, swim-with-the-dolphins attractions catering to tourists, primarily American cruise ship passengers, are opening at the rate of two a year.?

A conservation biologist quoted in the article put the life expectancy for dolphins at 20, though scientists are still unwilling to assign an average life span to dolphins.

?The inventory shows that 1,127 bottlenose dolphins... have died over a 30-year-plus span,? said the article. ?Of the 875 whose ages can be determined, more than half never reached ten and 83 percent were dead before 20.?

It also said Dolphin Quest founder Jay Sweeney captured at least 80 dolphins in the 1980s ? 19 of which died within five years while ten survived less than a year.

?The mortality of individual animals, like that of individual humans, may be influenced by a wide variety of factors ... and it is not always possible to pinpoint a reason for the loss of an individual,? Mr. Sweeney told the Sun-Sentinel.

Dolphin Quest Bermuda is affiliated with the Alliance for Marine Animals Parks and Aquariums, Ms Mihelcic said yesterday. The Alliance is an organisation of like industries which establishes standards and guidelines to ensure the highest care and facilities for marine animals.

It has released a rebuttal statement to the article, Ms Mihelcic said and she promised to pass that statement on to today.

?I feel very comfortable in what the Alliance has put together as a response,? she said.

Dolphin Quest Bermuda does daily dolphin assessments, she said, assessing the animals to ensure their health is ?normal?. She added that 40 years ago things were done differently because people were still ignorant about how marine animals need to be treated.

But, as time has passed and more has been learned, the techniques of handling and caring for such animals has changed drastically.