And even if she nurses the animals back to health, many can't survive when released back to the wild. The majority of the kids we get in here die when they go back. It's an incredible loss of resource. What we need to do is find a way to hold them until they can survive in the wild and keep the ones that can't safe and healthy. With a marine mammal center, animals that can't be returned will turn into exhibits or research projects.
Backers worry more about filling the center with people.
Without a consistent flow of admission money, the center won't be self-sustaining. Initial feasibility studies will be presented Friday to the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority, a board charged by the Legislature with approving the financial viability of the project. Though the complete studies have yet to be made public, their authors say the authority should be pleased despite the fact that the numbers of visitors expected are lower than what backers first projected. Dale Fox, president of an Alaska-based tourism marketing firm and the author of one of the feasibility studies, determined 265,000 people will travel to the center the first year, with 300,000 passing through the doors by the fifth year. Fox tallied the number of expected tourists, cruise ship passengers and Alaska residents who would visit Seward during a given year.