Sad news came out of Marineland, Florida on April 6, 1957, when it was reported that an 8-year-old porpoise named Algae had accidentally swallowed a 4” (10 cm) rubber ball. It lodged in his first stomach and veterinarians did all that they could to extract it.  Sadly, Algae died on the operating table.

His trainers had been using the ball to teach him how to play baseball, which consisted of Algae taking the ball in his mouth and pitching it to the batter, who just happened to be his trainer. Algae swallowed the ball while learning how to take the ball into his mouth to pitch it.