OBITUARIES
From ANIMAL PEOPLE, June 1997:
Bebe, 40, reputedly the last of the
original Flipper TV series dolphins, died
May 1 at the Miami Seaquarium, where she
was born in 1956, one year after the facility
opened. But in fact, said Flipper series trainer
Ric O’Barry, Bebe was not among the
seven dolphins who actually performed in the
series, aired 1964-1967. She was, however,
the last dolphin left from the group who were
at the Seaquarium during the filming. “We
used her mother,” O’Barry said, “and certainly
Bebe was always around, but she
wasn’t one of the performers.” Her star performing
days came later. “Bebe was an outgoing
tough old lady,” said Dolphin Freedom
Foundation president Russ Rector, who
worked with her during the 1970s and was
highly critical of the Seaquarium for permitting
her to become pregnant last year, bearing
her eighth calf in November 1996. “She
was a wonderful animal,” said current
Seaquarium director of training Robert Rose.